The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as Dora Jordan first saw it. It held 2,000, and drew its audience from all social classes; no other theatre was so big, so splendid, so conscious of a long and great tradition.
While Drury Lane was rebuilt in the 1790s, Sheridan’s company moved to the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket. It was from this stage that Dora faced a hostile audience in December 1791, booing and hissing her for her association with the Duke of Clarence, and won them over by her courage and good humour. ‘Nothing in the play that night was quite so good as that moment,’ wrote James Boaden, who was present.
The Revd Matthew Peters, painter and chaplain to the Prince of Wales, specialized in Shakespearean scenes, and this portrait shows Dora on stage in ‘Elizabethan’ costume, perhaps as Beatrice in Much Ado, or as Mrs Ford in The Merry Wives, or even Ophelia: ‘Nell of Clarence plays Ophelia tonight at Richmond,’ wrote Horace Walpole in August 1795.
John Russell’s pastel of Richard Brinsley Sheridan dates from 1788, showing him much as he was when he became Dora Jordan’s employer at Drury Lane in 1785. Their lives ran strikingly parallel outside the theatre as well as in: he was ten years older than her, but they died in the same week, having worked together for a quarter of a century. Both came from Irish backgrounds, both were scarred by the humiliations of their early years, both put aside their griefs and relied on their skills, charm and toughness to make the world do their bidding. Befriended by Charles James Fox and the Prince of Wales, Sheridan rose with unprecedented speed and grace through the layers of English society; he was acclaimed for his plays in the 1770s, appointed by Garrick to succeed him at Drury Lane in 1780 and found a seat in Parliament in the same year. His tragedy was that, unlike Dora, he felt ashamed of the theatre and put his best energies into politics and the social round of the Whig aristocrats, fatally neglecting Drury Lane and his genius as a playwright.
Another John Russell pastel, of Mrs Jordan, dated 1792, is one of the most attractive of all the portraits of her. She looks gentle and serene, partly perhaps because she is pregnant, although the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage in August 1792. By framing her face in pale powdered hair and a high-necked white bertha, Russell focuses on her dark eyes and bright cheeks and mouth; the long nose and chin are recognizable, but softened. This is the face, you feel, that her children knew best.
Romney’s painting of Dora as ‘The Country Girl’ was begun in November 1786. ‘Jordan-mania’ made her much in demand as a sitter, and he made at least three copies, selling one to the Duke of Clarence in 1791 for seventy guineas.
Bushy House, standing in its own vast park next to Hampton Court. In this idyllic setting Dora and the Duke settled in 1797 and brought up their large extended family; seven of their children were born here, while she continued her career in London and the provinces, and he remained unemployed.
‘The great family picture by Hayter’, a group portrait of the FitzClarences, children of Dora and the Duke, was painted at Windsor after the Duke became King in 1830. His bust stands in the middle; Henry, the only one to die young, appears in a portrait on the wall, and the Romney represents their lost mother. It went to Augustus on the death of the King.
This Beechey portrait of Dora wearing a white Empire dress with a golden stole is of particular interest because it shows her in nontheatrical costume, quietly dignified, standing against a background representing her country estate. The effect is to assimilate her image to portraits of aristocratic – or even royal – ladies. As in his earlier portrait, he gives her hair a reddish tinge. This picture was in the family of the Earls of Munster, descendants of her eldest son George, until 1984, and is now owned by the De L’Isle family, into which her daughter Sophia married.
Bibliography
1. Unpublished Material
Letters of Mrs Jordan and miscellaneous papers relating to her in the Huntington Library, California
Letters of Mrs Jordan and the Duke of Clarence in the Royal Archives; also the journal of Queen Victoria
British Library manuscripts: letters by Mrs Jordan; letters by the FitzClarences; typescript by Hoppner’s granddaughter Mrs Cromarty
Letters of the Duke of Clarence, Sophia FitzClarence and others held in the De L’Isle Archive at Maidstone
Royal Physical Laboratory Archive
Sir John Soane’s workbook and other papers held at the Sir John Soane Museum
Ledger of Sir Francis Chantrey in the Royal Academy
Other letters by Mrs Jordan and the FitzClarences in private possession
2. Newspaper
The Times
3. Biographies of Mrs Jordan
Boaden, James, The Life of Mrs Jordan (2 vols., 1831). Boaden knew his subject personally, printed some of her letters to him, and wrote with great warmth and feeling, even though he felt obliged to be circumspect in his remarks about the reigning monarch. His book is an indispensable source, vivid and sympathetic. There are inaccuracies, and he gives rather more theatrical information than most readers could possibly want, but he is a good, companionable writer and brings his subject to life.
Anon., The Great Illegitimates, or Public and Private Life of that Celebrated Actress, Miss Bland, otherwise Mrs Ford, or, Mrs Jordan, late mistress of H.R.H. the D. of Clarence, now King William IV by a confidential friend of the departed (1832?). This is less scurrilous than its title makes it sound. It offers some information and documentation not found in Boaden, and is generally sympathetic to its subject. A shorter version appeared in 1886(?), still anonymous, and less offensively called The Life of Mrs Jordan; this edition is not illustrated, and lacks the appendix containing Helen Maria Williams’s interviews.
Sergeant, Philip, Mrs Jordan, Child of Nature (1913). Straightforward but uninspiring.
Jerrold, Clare, The Story of Dorothy Jordan (1914). Established Mrs Jordan’s date and place of birth for the first time, and printed some unpublished letters. Jerrold, previously a royal biographer, was stirred to passionate indignation on behalf of her subject.
Aspinall, Arthur (ed.), Mrs Jordan and Her Family, being the Unpublished Letters of Mrs Jordan and the Duke of Clarence, later William IV (1951). A pioneering edition of Mrs Jordan’s letters, done at the behest of the fifth Earl of Munster, and using the letters then in his possession (which later passed to the Royal Archives) as well as those from the Huntington Library. The notes are excellent, but the letters are cut – in the case of one letter culpably – and set in an unsympathetic narrative: see my Foreword.
Fothergill, Brian, Mrs Jordan: Portrait of an Actress (1965). Written at the suggestion of Thomas Goff, descended from Mrs Jordan through her youngest son Augustus, this is a sympathetic and scholarly account of her life, with much stress on the theatrical aspect. It relies, however, on Aspinall’s edition of the letters.
There are also many essays on Mrs Jordan in collections on eighteenth-century actresses and others, among them Gerard, Frances A., Some Fair Hibernians (1897); Simpson, Harold, and Braun, Mrs Charles, A Century of Famous Actresses 1750–1850 (1913); Melville, Lewis, More Stage Favourites of the Eighteenth Century (1929) – none reliable but all entertaining.
4. Journals and Letters
Burney, Fanny, Diary and Letters of Madame D’Arblay, edited by her niece (7 vols., 1842–6) and Hemlow, J. (gen. ed., Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (12 vols., 1972–1984). Unparalleled account of the court, its activities and personalities, by one of Mrs Jordan’s most intelligent contemporaries, shocked by some aspects of the actress’s life and activities, but able to do her justice.
Lewis, Lady T. (ed.), Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry (1865). Gossip with Horace Walpole.
Clark, Mrs Godfrey, Gleanings from an Old Portfolio (3 vols., 1895–8). Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart, a shrewd observer of the late eighteenth-century scene, theatrical and social.
Granville, Lady (ed.), Private Correspondence 1781–1821, Lord Granville Leveson-Gower (2 vols., 1916). Valuable for Lady Bessborough’s marvellous letters.
Bessborough, Earl of, and Aspinall, Arthur (eds.), Lady Bessborough and Her Family Circle (1940). More of the same.
Woodforde, James, The Diary of a Country Parson, Beresforde, John (ed.), (5 vols., 1924–31). Woodforde’s many visits to the theatre in Norwich, Somerset and London are particularly interesting.
Glenbervie, Sylvester Douglas, Lord, Diaries (1928). Trivial but lively.
Chapman, R.W. (ed.), The Letters of Jane Austen (2 vols., 1932). For general background, also reference to the Country Girl and to her sister Cassandra’s enviable proposed visit to the theatre to see Mrs Jordan.
Lewis, W.S. (ed.), The Correspondence of Horace Walpole (48 vols., 1937–83). Walpole’s correspondence has been edited many times, but this Yale edition makes all others superfluous.
Boswell, James, London Journal, Pottle, F.A. (ed.) (1950). Sets the scene of mid-eighteenth-century London, streets and lodgings and theatres, better than any other source.
Bessborough, Earl of (ed.), Georgiana: Extracts from the Correspondence of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1955). Lady Bessborough’s younger sister, another important contemporary of Mrs Jordan and Sheridan.
Griggs, E.L. (ed.), The Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (6 vols., 1956–71). There are several references to Coleridge’s admiration for Mrs Jordan.
Coburn, Kathleen (ed.), The Notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (4 vols., 1957–90; vol. 4 ed. with M. Christensen).
Aspinall, Arthur (ed.), The Correspondence of George, Prince of Wales 1770–1812 (7 vols., final vol. published 1971). Essential background material on the royal family. Also
The Letters of King George IV 1812–1830 (3 vols., 1938).
The Letters of Princess Charlotte (1949). All these contain references to Mrs Jordan and the Duke of Clarence.
Marchand, Leslie A. (ed.), Byron’s Letters and Journals. For general background, and in particular vol. 3, Alas! The Love of Women 1813-1814 (1974) has reference to Mrs Jordan’s performance. Garlick, K., and Macintyre, A. (eds., vols. 1–6) and Cave, K. (ed., vols. 7–16), The Diary of Joseph Farington (1978–84). Another rich source of gossip.
5. Memoirs
Wilkinson, Tate, The Wandering Patentee; or a History of the Yorkshire Theatre from 1700 (4 vols., 1795). Vol. 2 is especially good on Mrs Jordan. Wilkinson knew and worked with her mother and her aunt before he saved her from destitution and helped to make her a star. Everything he writes is delightful, and he gives a wonderful account of the relatively closely knit world of the eighteenth-century theatre, about which he knew as much as anyone.
Boaden, James, Memoirs of the Life of John Philip Kemble (1825). Boaden’s first theatrical biography, flattering to Kemble and with many references to Mrs Jordan.
Kelly, Michael, Reminiscences (1826; 1975 edition Fiske, R., ed.). Kelly worked with Mrs Jordan and knew her well, but is very circumspect in mentioning her, perhaps because by the time he wrote his memoirs he prided himself on his friendship with King George IV.
Reynolds, Frederic, The Life and Times of Frederic Reynolds, written by himself (2 vols., 1826). Jolly, self-regarding account by London playwright, born in 1764, of his varied experiences in the theatre and society, some involving Mrs Jordan.
Barrington, Sir Jonah, Personal Sketches of My Own Time (2 vols., 1827). Barrington knew Mrs Jordan in Dublin in 1809; his son went to school with hers, and he made inquiries at Saint-Cloud after her death.
Mathews, Anne, Memoirs of Charles Mathews (4 vols., 1838–9). A treasure trove of information, with some letters from Mrs Jordan and several stirring tributes to her from the best known and best loved of her acting contemporaries.
Adolphus, J., Memoirs of John Bannister (2 vols., 1839). An account of Mrs Jordan’s favourite leading man, who was said to resemble her in voice and appearance.
Bulow, Gabriele von, A Memoir (1897). Gives a view of King William IV in later years.
Greville, Charles, Memoirs, Fulford, R., and Strachey, L. (eds.) (1938). More gossip.
Hart-Davis, Rupert, The Arms of Time (1979). Tells of his descent from Elizabeth FitzClarence and the Earl of Errol.
6. Sheridan
Moore, Thomas, Memoirs of the Life of R. B. Sheridan (2 vols., 1858). The first biography, loyal and funny.
Rae, W. Fraser, Sheridan: A Biography (2 vols., 1896). Excellent account of his subject, and also gives many quotations from letters by the Linley sisters describing Mrs Jordan.
Sadler, Michael T. H., The Political Career of R.B. Sheridan (1912). Gives in an appendix Mrs Sheridan’s letters to Mrs Canning about the Duke of Clarence.
Gibbs, Lewis, Sheridan (1947). Good short biography.
Lefanu, William (ed.), Betsy Sheridan’s Journal (1960).
Price, Cecil (ed.), The Letters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (3 vols., 1966). Packed with information and evidence of the often strained relations between Sheridan and his theatrical employees. Bingham, Madeleine, Sheridan: The Track of a Comet (1972). Another sympathetic and thoughtful study, but sources not always given.
7. Biography and History
Hitchcock, R., An Historical View of the Irish Stage (2 vols., 1794). Information about Mrs Jordan’s mother and her working world. Genest, John, Some Account of the English Stage from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830 (10 vols., 1832). See vols. 7 and 8 in particular, which give summaries of Mrs Jordan’s career.
Oxberry, William, Dramatic Biography and Histrionic Anecdotes (vol. 1, 1835). Oxberry saw Mrs Jordan act, and reported his impressions. Huish, Robert, History of the Life and Reign of William IV (1837). A hostile account of the King, with lots of gossip.
Walsh, J. E., Sketches of Ireland Sixty Years Ago (1847, 1911 edition). Good on the background from which Mrs Jordan came.
Raymond, George, The Life and Enterprises of Robert William Elliston, Comedian (1857). More background to the stage world.
Russell, W. Clark, Representative Actors (n.d. but after 1870 and before 1880). Handy potted information.
Fitzgerald, Percy, The Life and Times of King William IV (2 vols., 1884). The standard work for many years, it omitted any reference to Mrs Jordan or the King’s ten children by her. Littlewood, S. R., Elizabeth Inchbald and Her Circle (1921). Old-fashioned biographical study, almost no sources given, but still useful. Fulford, R., The Royal Dukes (1933). Witty and good on the royal background; entirely unsympathetic to Mrs Jordan.
George IV (1935). Makes the best case he can.
Hanover to Windsor (1960). A trace of sympathy for Mrs Jordan has crept in at last.
Leslie, S., Mrs Fitzherbert (1939) and The Letters of Mrs Fitzherbert (1940). Gives letters from George FitzClarence to Mrs Fitzherbert’s adopted daughter.
Baker, H., John Philip Kemble (1942). Full and scholarly.
Macqueen-Pope, W., Theatre Royal Drury Lane (1945). Enthusiastic theatre history.
Hopkirk, Mary, Queen Adelaide (1956). A sympathetic account.
Watson, J. Steven, The Reign of George III (1960). Ever useful.
Clark, William S., The Irish Stage in the Country Towns 1720–1800 (1965). Good specialist study.
Ziegler, Philip, King William IV (1971). Scholarly and readable apologia, entirely fair to Mrs Jordan although less so to her children.
Hedley, Olwen, Queen Charlotte (1975). Superbly researched, with a mass of fascinating detail.
Highfill, Philip H., A Biographical Dictionary of Stage Personnel, London 1660–1800 (1982). Essential reference work.
Kendall, Alan, David Garrick (1985). Informative, with many illustrations.
Fraser, Flora, Beloved Emma (1986). The most recent and excellent life of Lady Hamilton.
Pocock, Tom, Sailor King: The Life of King William IV (1991). Especially good on the naval background.
8. Art History
Fisher, Joseph, Etched Reminiscences (1847). Fisher recorded the Chantrey cast of Mrs Jordan in the Ashmolean.
Jones, George, The Personal Recollections of Sir Francis Chantrey (1849).
Jackson, E
. N., History of Silhouettes (1911). Plate xxxiv is of Mrs Jordan as Hippolita.
McKay, W. and Roberts, W., Hoppner (1914).
Armitage, Harold, Francis Chantrey (1915). Describes the statue of Mrs Jordan and locates it in Mapledurham.
Millar, O., The Later Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen (1969). Essential information and references.
Penny, Nicholas, Catalogue of European Sculptures in the Ashmolean Museum. Vol. 3 (1992). Gives the story of the destruction of the Chantrey casts.
9. Places
Ripley, Henry, History and Topography of Hampton-on-Thames (1885). Anecdotes of Bushy and Hampton village.
Law, E., History of Hampton Court Palace (3 vols., c. 1900). Section on Bushy.
Humphris, E., and Willoughby, E. C., At Cheltenham Spa (1928). Much good material, but few sources given.
George, Dorothy, London Life in the Eighteenth Century (1930). Describes many aspects of the city in which Mrs Jordan was born and to which she returned in 1785.
Maxwell, Constantia, Dublin under the Georges (second edition, 1956). The town in which Mrs Jordan grew up.
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