Wigan Album

As a young girl Harriot took to the stage and performed in Wigan. Her mother a Mrs. Entwistle, of Irish origin, had married Mr Entwistle of Wigan when her daughter was 3 years old. She herself was a celebrity in her day upon the provincial stage. Harriot's father unknown but believed to be a Lieutenant Mellon.
They used to make the provincial circuits from theatre to theatre on foot, carrying by turns little Harriot in a large Cremona violin. Mr Entwistle was a “Fiddler” and lived in Wigan originally.
Success came when she left for London and performed at Drury Lane but the greatest influence took place when she met and married Thomas Coutts, the banker, who had three daughters from his first marriage. He was some 35 years her senior but they remained happily married for ten years despite strong family opposition.
When he died in 1822 she was left with considerable wealth and a 50% share in Coutts Bank and showed remarkable skill, after her husbands death, in her ability to help run the business.
She re-married in 1827 the 9th Duke of St Albans, a man 20 years her junior, and so becoming the Duchess of St Albans. At her death in 1837 she left the bulk of her estate £1.8 million (about £200 million in today’s terms) to the youngest of Thomas Coutts grandchildren, thus returning the fortune to the original family. She had already given an allowance of around £1 million a year in today’s terms, to her first husband’s 3 daughters.

Thanks for that bit of history Keith, you live & learn a little more everyday.

Thank you Helen. I thought she did rather well for a lass who started on the Wigan stage at the age of 10! Apparently she had a vivacious character and was a genial and generous host, not just because she had money (that obviously helped) but it seemed that was her nature.

Thank's Keith. A great piece of theatrical Wigan history. The Duchess was quiet the lady. Another Wigan lass worth a look was Eliza Winstanley. Leaving Wigan with her family for the then dusty streets of Sydney in the 1830's she would go on to becoming the first real star of the Australian stage and much more. Largely forgotten in her adopted homeland it would be only fitting she is recalled in the town of her birth.

GW thank you for the added reference. Quite a coincidence, two formidable ladies of a similar era, with Wigan connections making their considerable presence felt in the world of entertainment and beyond.

I like your mezzotint, Keith. I also believe that it's by Charles Turner, after Sir William Beechey's version (oil-painting?).
And the Winstanley's, eh? I've read that they intended to sail to America from Liverpool but as there wasn't a ship available they chose Sydney instead - Thinking on the go, or what. Thanks.

Yes Phillip, I thought the print gave a clearer image than the painting.

You'd chosen-well Keith. And a very good Item from yourself.

I bet she didn’t wear that frock in a Wigan winter. Not without a woolly vest underneath anyway.
No wonder they had to invent Vick Vapour Rub.

DTease: Just imagine that you had been there in the 1800s, look at her gorgeous eyes, her gorgeous kiss lips, and look at her absolutely gorgeous
Puffs on her sleeves, not to mention her gorgeous bank balance, then she puts her finger up and says, John your friend has walked in, and I would say , Oh yes it's DTease nice fellow Duchess, but just be careful, he's very handy with the old vic's vapour rub, especially when you stoke his cauliflower ear..

John G, did you know that if you have a bad cough and you rub the bottom of your feet with Vic Vapour Rub and then put your socks back on, you will sleep cough free for hours,
Well, that’s what my Mam told me when I was little.

DTease: It's funny you should mention that because I tried it, just before I went to bed I put vic vapour rub on my feet, I didn't cough but I was dog tired, I couldn't go to sleep because me feet were on fire.