Let’s talk about the macabre: was Byron truly so original

Dressing up in macabre costumes and seeking to frighten others for pleasure has been

Lord Byron

considered as entertainment for centuries. The Victorians loved their gothic reconstructions and the Tudors loved the intrigue of hiding behind masks and dressing up so they could pretend to be someone else. Then the infamous Lord Byron set up his group of wild friends at his ancient, mostly fallen down, Newstead Abbey. There they drank their toasts from the crown of a monk’s skull while playing blind man’s buff with his pet bear. Byron also loved to dress in false monks’ robes and to lead his friends in ceremonies. There is also the picture of him in his Turkish costume which again professes how much he liked to lead fashion and act a part.

: A replica of Byron’s monks’ disguise

: The actual clothing warn by Byron

Byron liked to be one of the ringleaders in shocking others with his macabre behaviour. For instance setting Shelley, his young mistress and her sister to writing ghost stories on a dark stormy night abroad; the tale that became Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. But was Byron really as original as he would have had his friends think? Or was he flattering another man, a man, by his actions, I would guess he revered for achieving shocking acclaim years before Byron.

You may have heard of the Hellfire Club, set up by Sir Francis Dashwood, Lord le Despencer. The Hellfire Club was established long before Byron’s birth. To the left is Dashwood, dressed as both a monk and in eastern attire.

But the similarity in Byron’s behaviour extends not only to his choice of costumes but also his choice of macabre games and there setting.

Sir Francis also loved a mock ceremony and while Byron had inherited his abbey, Sir Francis had rented one solely to host his ceremonies. You can read more about Medmenham Abbey on the board in the picture below.

When the Hellfire Club met the men wore their monks’ robes the women wore masks to cover their identity and they went by pseudonyms.

Byron’s last supper in England, that he ate in the company his closest friends (those who knew his most shocking secrets and overlooked them), is often spoken of. Yet Sir Francis took his ceremonies much further towards the shocking by naming his clubs superiors as twelve men, the apostles. These twelve men wore different robes to those who were deemed inferior. Sir Francis saw himself as the group’s antichrist and toasted the devil.

The distinction of the superior members of the Hellfire club

The members of the Hellfire Club in 1762

Sir Francis began clearing out the tunnels of the former mine in 1748 to create his network of caves. He dug down into a hill beneath his family church and set up his inner temple, where only his apostles might go, 100 meters, exactly beneath, the church. He rented Medmenham Abbey in 1750 probably about the time the caves were also finished and the clubs pattern of macabre ceremonies began.

The Hellfire Club’s gatherings in the caves began in the banqueting hall, where after a dinner, served by Dashwood’s servants, they entertained themselves in the niches about the room. Then the twelve superiors separated themselves from the crowd and walked on through more symbolic tunnels, over an underground stream (the river Styx) to the inner temple where no one knows what they got up to because none of them told the tale.

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The Marlow Intrigues: Perfect for lovers of period drama

The Tainted Love of a Captain #8 – The last episode in the Marlow Intrigues series

The Lost Love of Soldier ~ The Prequel #1 ~ A Christmas Elopement began it all

The Illicit Love of a Courtesan #2

The Passionate Love of a Rake #3

The Scandalous Love of a Duke #4

The Dangerous Love of a Rogue #5

The Jealous Love of a Scoundrel #5.5

The Persuasive Love of a Libertine #5.75 now included in Jealous Love, (or free if you can persuade Amazon to price match with Kobo ebooks) 😉

The Secret Love of a Gentleman #6

The Reckless Love of an Heir #7

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Brief stories from The Battle of Waterloo ~ General Uxbridge

Lieutenant General Henry William Paget, who became 2nd Earl of Uxbridge and Marquis of Anglesey (1768-1854)

As I said in my last brief story, when I visited the site of the Battle of Waterloo for the bicentenary, it was the personal stories of those who fought there which inspired my emotion and General Uxbridge’s story is one of those that could have come out of a novel.

General Uxbridge, as he was at the time of the battle of Waterloo, began his military career in the 7th (or the Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars). He became Colonel of the Regiment in 1801. He commanded the cavalry in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular wars. But he was then wrapped up in a real romantic, rakish, scandal, as he seduced the wife of Henry Wellesley, a political envoy, who happened to be the future Duke of Wellington’s brother. Henry Wellesley’s suffering was described by Viscount Castlereagh in a letter to King George III on the 5th June 1809. “He was overwhelmed by domestic misfortune.”

Henry’s wife, Lady Charlotte, daughter of the 1^st Earl of Cadogan, had run off with Lord Paget (who was later the 2nd Earl of Uxbridge). Lord Paget had eight children with his first wife, who were left behind, and Lady Charlotte left four children. In 1810 Henry Wellesley and Lord Paget (Uxbridge) obtained divorces from their respective wives (note Paget’s wife was also discovered to be having an affair – you wonder then how many of the eight children were his ~The Dangerous Love of a Rogue style 😉 ). Paget then married Lady Charlotte, and was sued for £24,000 for the harm he’d done, a huge sum in that day.

Robert Ward wrote to Lord Lonsdale about the affair on the 8^th March 1809. ‘Lady Charlotte Wellesley seems to have been the utter victim of her seducer, after resisting him long and sincerely; she has even often retained Sir Arthur Wellesley near her in public for the express purpose of avoiding Lord P’s importunities. She has written to Arbuthnot, W’s friend to say she knows she has consigned herself to perdition and unhappiness for life but was irresistibly driven to it by what she could not avoid. Lord P. has written in a similar way to his father, adding he had sought death frequently in Spain, to avoid this misfortune and that the greatest benefit that could now befall him wd. be to have his brains blown out. Wellesley is like one distracted’ Lonsdale wrote again three days later. ‘I was correct I find what I stated respecting the elopement, and Ld Uxbridge, half heart-broken, has written, Pole tells me, in these words to Ly. Charlotte, “Madam, I implore you as an old and dying man, to restore to his father a son; to disconsolate a wife, her husband, and to unprotected children, their father, Uxbridge.” Ly.Charlotte resents this as a letter that would not have been written to a housemaid, and Lord P. is profligate enough to intimate to his father that he joins in the resentment. The times seem indeed to be out of joint.’

Of course for Lord Paget’s and Lady Charlotte’s first year, officially, together they were ostracised by polite society as they lived together while still being married to others. Wellington was furious and Uxbridge’s military career was over for a while. But at least when he was called to a pistol duel on Wimbledon Common by Col Henry Cadogan (Charlotte’s brother), he acted honourably. When Cadogan missed, Uxbridge refused to return fire, knowing himself to be in the wrong.

Wellington commanding the reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo June 2015

Wellington’s next encounter with Uxbridge was not until the Battle of Waterloo, when Uxbridge, now as a General was appointed to lead the cavalry. When Wellington received the news that he must fight with Uxbridge he said, “Lord Uxbridge has the reputation of running away with everybody he can, I’ll take good care he don’t run away with me.”

Uxbridge was considered one of the heroes of the battle though, even by Wellington, and following their victory was appointed the rank of Marquis (Marquess in today’s spelling).

He was injured in the battle though. When he was caught in the leg by a cannonball. He was watching the battle with the Duke of Wellington and responded. “By God, sir. I’ve lost my leg.” To which Wellington replied. “By God, sir. So you have.”

The French cannon fire from the near ridge at reenactment of The Battle of Waterloo, Belgium, June 2015

It was near the end of the battle, and Uxbridge was carried off the field and taken back to the inn which Wellington was using as his headquarters in the village of Waterloo, where his damaged leg was amputated. John Robert Hume, the surgeon, recorded Uxbridge’s operation in his notes, and pointedly mentions Uxbridge’s silence, bravery and calmness throughout the operation, when he would have had no painkillers. The only indication that he found it difficult was that he commented on the knife perhaps being too blunt. The surgeon would have first cut a flap of skin if possible to fold over the amputation site, to enable better healing.

The owner of the inn M. Hyacinthe Joseph-Marie Paris asked if he could bury the leg of one of the heroes of the battle in his garden, and he gave it its own tomb stone. People then came to visit the inn and the tomb for years to see the place where Uxbridge’s leg was buried. It became a monument which macabre tourists favoured.

This is the inscription recorded on the stone in the garden of the inn, in Waterloo village.

The leg was taken from the grave at one point and rather gruesomely displayed in the Wellington museum which is now established in the inn, but after complaints it was reburied, and now it is believed to have gone missing. However, the museum does have the artificial leg which Uxbridge used following his amputation, which was the first ever moving prosthetic leg as far as anyone is aware.

Lord Uxbridge lived on into his 80s with Charlotte and regularly when people asked him how he was, the answer that he gave was, ‘I have one foot in the grave.‘

🙂

There are still more Waterloo stories to come, follow my blog via email not to miss them.

*********It’s the lase weekend for the discount of The Lost Love of a Soldier**********

If you would like to read my fictional story set around the lead up to the Battle of Waterloo, then now is the time to do it, Harper Collins have put on some amazing deals this month to commemorate the battle. In one country the deal only lasts two weeks, though, I have not put the amounts as they are different in different countries, just click on the cover of The Lost Love of a Soldier in the side bar to find out your great cut price deal.

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Look at all the book covers in the side bar to see the fictional stories I write… especially the limited time offer for Magical Weddings, which contains my story,

The Jealous Love of a Scoundrel