The Beauty of Her Age: A Tale of Sex, Scandal and Money in Victorian England

by Jenifer Roberts

  Foxwold, Horace Pym’s house in Kent, featured in the 1985 Merchant Ivory film A Room with a View, as the home of the Honeychurch family. Several of Yolande’s paintings were in the house during filming, as well as many pieces of objets d’art which she had given him over the years. When Pym died suddenly in May 1896, at the age of fifty-one, he was worth £12.5 million in today’s money.

  Another building connected with the Lyne Stephens name, a little before Yolande’s time, is Chicksands Priory in Bedfordshire. Yolande was still in ballet school when Charles Lyne Stephens rented the priory. By the time he gave up the house, she was at the height of her celebrity in Paris and would soon captivate London for a third time.

  During the Second World War, Chicksands was used as a listening post for the team at Bletchley Park working on decoding the German Enigma code. After the war, it was used as a US Air Force base and is now the Officers’ Mess of the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre. Among the pictures displayed on its walls is a coloured lithograph of The Melton Breakfast, in which a youthful Stephens sits unobtrusively on a sofa while several men of title lounge about in the foreground.

  Five of Yolande’s paintings hang today in the National Gallery in London. Two were handed over by Horace Pym from her apartment in Paris: Portrait of a Lady by the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, and Virgin and Child with Saints and a Donor by Gerard David. Two more were acquired at the sale of her collection in 1895: Cardinal de Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne, and Philippe-François d’Arenberg meeting Troops by François van der Meulen. The fifth painting, La Gamme d’Amour by Watteau, was bequeathed to the gallery in 1912.

  Several items of furniture in the Victoria and Albert Museum were also handed over by Horace Pym. These were described on Yolande’s inventory as: ‘a sofa and four easy chairs of carved and gilded wood covered in old Gobelins tapestry of the time of Louis XIV or Louis XVI; an old Louis XV chest of drawers of rosewood ornamented with gilded bronze objects, the upper portion being of red Italian marble; and two triangular lamps with three lights of old Sèvres china.’

  These nationally owned works of art with a Lyne Stephens provenance are dwarfed by the size of the Wallace Collection on display in Hertford House in London. Sir Richard Wallace brought his art collection to Hertford House in 1872; twenty-two years later, his widow left the house and the collection to the British nation. When Lady Wallace died in February 1897, she was worth a little less than the value of Yolande’s assets in her own name. These two Frenchwomen, born in poor circumstances in Paris, both married Englishmen of fortune, became custodians of art collections of immense value, and died in their old age less than three years apart.

  Harry Claremont’s eldest daughter Sybil married Sir Edmund Bedingfeld of Oxburgh Hall, a fifteenth-century moated manor house in Norfolk, one of the most romantic houses in England. Brought up in the Catholic faith because of Yolande’s influence on her mother, Sybil was a suitable bride for this long-established Catholic family. In 1950, she was instrumental in saving Oxburgh Hall from demolition and giving the property to the National Trust. It seems appropriate that the white-marble portrait bust of Yolande, sculpted in Florence by Lorenzo Bartolini, stands in the entrance hall, the first work of art that visitors see as they walk through the door.

  The bones of Yolande and Stephens lie side by side in the white stone sarcophagus in the mausoleum at Roehampton. Three gravestones stand on the consecrated ground outside the building. Under the first are Edward and Fanny Claremont, joined in 1935 by their second son Teddy. Under the second are Harry and his wife Kitty, who was interred beside him in 1939. In the centre, between the other two, is the grave of Stephen, his body brought here from Dorset in September 1923.

  In this Romanesque Revival building, and under this small plot of land, lie the remains of five major players in the life of a celebrated French ballerina. It is a truism that money does not buy happiness – but a truism writ large in the story of Yolande Lyne Stephens, the richest woman in Victorian England.

  1. Duvernay as Miranda in La Tentation, having just emerged from the cauldron. Mezzotint after painting by François-Gabriel Lépaulle, c. 1832.

  2. Yolande Duvernay, painted by Antonin Moine at the height of her celebrity, Paris, mid-1830s.

  3. The cloister scene in Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable, Paris Opéra House (Salle le Peletier). Lithograph by J. Arnoult, 1840s. Yolande danced the role of the abbess in 1832.

  4. Dr Louis Véron. Engraving by Charles Carey, 1855.

  5. Contemporary caricature of Dr Louis Véron, showing the large cravats he wore to hide a skin infection, c. 1835.

  6. A performance of Giselle in the Paris Opéra House (Salle le Peletier), 4 June 1867. Lithograph by Collen Imerton, c. 1870.

  7. Duvernay in The Devil on Two Sticks, painted ‘from recollection’ by Princess Victoria, 5 April 1837.

  8. Duvernay in Cachucha costume in Act 2 of The Devil on Two Sticks, painted by Princess Victoria, 26 December 1836.

  9. Duvernay as the Naiad in a scene from La Belle au Bois Dormant (The Sleeping Beauty). Lithograph after painting by John Rogers Herbert, London, February/March 1833.

  10. Duvernay wearing male costume in Act 3 of The Devil on Two Sticks, painted by Princess Victoria, January 1837. The costume was, wrote Victoria, ‘very becoming … and she looks so handsome’.

  11. The Melton Breakfast. Engraving after original painting by Sir Frances Grant, 1834. Stephens is sitting on the sofa behind the table, sixth from the left.

  12. Chicksands Priory, painted by Thomas Fisher, c. 1815.

  13. Duvernay. Lithograph after painting by Alfred Edward Chalon, London, 1830s.

  14–16. Duvernay in Cachucha costume.

  14. Lithograph after painting by John Frederick Lewis, 1837.

  15. Lithograph after painting by Alfred Edward Chalon, c. 1837.

  16. Lithograph by Madeley, c. 1836.

  17. Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton, c. 1856. The chapel where Yolande attended Mass is on the left.

  18. Grove House, Roehampton, photographed c. 1920. Front elevation.

  19. Grove House, Roehampton, c. 1920. Rear elevation, showing the façade and terrace added by Stephens in 1851/52.

  20. Bronze cast of Yolande’s left hand, 1845.

  21. White marble portrait bust of Yolande, sculpted in Florence by Lorenzo Bartolini, 1845.

  22. Portman Square, north side, 1813.

  23. Stephens. Portrait by unknown painter, mid-1850s.

  24. Yolande, painted by Edouard Dubufe, 1853.

  25. Lyne Stephens coat of arms.

  26. Stephens. Watercolour sketch, late 1850s.

  27. Hôtel Molé, Paris, photographed c. 1920. Courtyard view.

  28. Hôtel Molé, Paris, c. 1920. Garden view.

  29. Hôtel Molé, Paris, c. 1920. Grand salon.

  30. Stephens. Portrait by unknown painter, c. 1859. He is holding a wad of banknotes in his hand to symbolise his status as the richest commoner in England.

  31. Yolande in mourning dress. Carte-de-visite by Bingham, Paris, 1861.

  32. Yolande. Carte-de-visite by Levitsky, Paris, c. 1862.

  33. Lynford Hall, photographed in 1903. North front, showing the ornamental gates.

  34. Lynford Hall, photographed in 1903. View from the south-west, showing part of the formal gardens.

  35. Yolande. Carte-de-visite by Le Jeune (Ancienne M. Levitsky), Paris, 1864.

  36. Colonel Edward Claremont, military attaché in Paris. Lithograph by C. W. Walton, c. 1868.

  37. Félix, Marquis de La Valette. Carte-de-visite by Levitsky, Paris, early 1860s.

  38. Frances Claremont with her youngest daughter Olivia. Carte-de-visite by Disdéri, Paris, 1859/60.

  39. Yolande’s barouche and coachman in the Bois de Boulogne. Carte-de-visite by Louis-Jean Dalton, summer 1867.

  40. Yolande with Charlotte Claremont (aged thirteen). Carte-de-visite by Paul Coutem, Vichy, 1866.

  41. Harry Claremont. Hand-
coloured photograph by Thomas Fall, London, early 1880s.

  42. General Edward Claremont in his uniform as military attaché in Paris. Hand-coloured cabinet print by John Edwards, London, 1887.

  43. Our Lady of Consolation and St Stephen, Yolande’s chapel on the Lynford estate. (Bob Jones)

  44. Yolande Lyne Stephens, painted in Paris by Émile-Auguste Carolus-Duran, spring 1888. She is wearing the rope of pearls which she gave to the church in Cambridge six months later.

  45. Panel from a stained-glass window in the church of St Francis, Shefford, 1884. Yolande is depicted holding a replica of the church in her hands. (Photography by Davina)

  46. Interior of church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge, built entirely to Yolande’s ‘own taste and fancy’. (John Hagger)

  47. General Edward Claremont. Cabinet print by Étienne Giraud, Photographie Universelle, Paris, 1888/89.

  48. Harry Claremont, photographed c. 1892.

  49. Michael Dwane, Yolande’s personal chaplain, photographed c. 1910.

  50. Stephen Lyne Stephens (née Claremont) in the uniform of the Army Service Corps. Photograph by J. Weston and Son, London, 1914.

  51. The Lyne Stephens mausoleum in winter, grounds of Grove House, Roehampton.

  52. The sarcophagus inside the mausoleum. (Geoff Halsall)

  53. The Claremont graves, photographed from the steps of the mausoleum. Left: Edward, Fanny, Teddy. Centre: Stephen. Right: Harry, Kitty.

  NOTES

  Quotations from letters and papers in the Bedingfeld MSS and other private collections are not referenced.

  AN Archives Nationales, Paris

  DN Diocese of Northampton

  GL Guildhall Library, London

  NA National Archives, Kew

  NGA National Gallery Archive

  NDRA North Devon Record Office

  OLEM Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge

  RA Royal Archives

  UR University of Roehampton

  WSA Wiltshire and Swindon Archives

  WSRO West Sussex Record Office

  1 The Petit Rat

  1. Quoted in Second, pp. 149–151.

  2. Roqueplan, pp. 44–46.

  3. Chambre, Major Alan, Recollections of West-End Life (London, Hurst and Blackett, 1858), I, p. 57.

  4. AN, AJ/13/126, dossier 3.

  5. Véron, III, p. 227.

  6. Chasles, Philarète, Mémoires (Geneva, Slatkine Reprints, 1973), I, p. 275; Drysdale, John D., Louis Véron and the Finances of the Académie Royale de Musique (Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, 2003), p. 63.

  7. Second, p. 217.

  8. Véron, III, pp. 205, 225.

  2 The Fair Danseuse

  1. Quoted in Chazin-Bennahum, Judith, The Lure of Perfection: Fashion and Ballet 1780–1830 (New York, Routledge, 2005), pp. 210–211.

  2. Séchan, p. 210; Mahalin, pp. 112, 114.

  3. Tamvaco, I, pp. 198–199, 220; De Boigne, pp. 27–29.

  4. Quoted in Peacock, p. 82.

  5. RA, VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) Lord Esher’s typescript, 21 February, 5 March 1833.

  6. Theatrical Observer, 15 March 1833.

  7. Ibid., 20 March 1833.

  8. RA, VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W), Lord Esher’s typescript, 19 March 1833.

  9. Thackeray, William Makepiece, Roundabout Papers (London, Smith, Elder and Co., 1863), p. 117.

  10. The Satirist, 9 June 1833.

  11. Véron, III, pp. 211–212.

  12. Bell’s Life in London, 9 March 1834.

  13. Quoted in Beaumont, p. 16.

  14. Creevey, II, p. 273.

  3 The Idol of All the Dandies

  1. Tamvaco, I, p. 291.

  2. Véron, III, pp. 189–190.

  3. De Boigne, p. 29; Mahalin, p. 117.

  4. The New Satirist, 21 November 1841.

  5. Tamvaco, I, p.111.

  6. Brontë, Charlotte, Jane Eyre (London, Penguin edition, 1953), pp. 142–146.

  7. Bunn, II, pp. 91–92, 212–214.

  8. Tamvaco, I, pp. 221–223.

  9. Town Magazine, 25 November 1837.

  10. Théophile Gautier, describing a performance by Elssler. Quoted in Guest, The Romantic Ballet in Paris, p. 152.

  11. Quoted in Guest, The Romantic Ballet in Paris, p. 153, also describing a performance by Elssler.

  12. YouTube clips danced by Margaret Barbieri of the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, and Gabriela Komleva of the Mariinsky Ballet. Choreography from Labanotation score, transcribed from Zorn notation by Ann Hutchinson Guest. See Guest, Ann Hutchinson, Fanny Elssler’s Cachucha: Labanotation Score (London, Dance Books, 1981).

  13. RA, VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W), Lord Esher’s typescript, 21 December 1836.

  14. Bell’s New Weekly Messenger, 1 January 1837.

  15. The Theatrical Observer, 30 January 1837.

  16. RA, VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W), Lord Esher’s typescript, 1 April 1837.

  4 A Princely Fortune

  1. WSRA, Add MS 8123.

  2. GL, 11021/5, ff. 241–243.

  3. Report from the Select Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Cause of the High Price of Bullion (London, 1810).

  4. Lyne, Charles, A Letter to the Rt. Hon. George Rose M.P., Vice-President of the Board of Trade, in which the real causes of the scarcity and consequent high price of gold and silver are stated and exemplified (London, 22 November 1810), ii, 8, pp. 46–47. See also: Huskisson, William, The Question concerning the Depreciation of our Currency Stated and Examined (London, 1810).

  5. Koster, John Theodore, A Short Statement of the Trade in Gold Bullion (Liverpool, 1811), pp. 71–72.

  6. Lyne, Francis, pp. 215–242.

  7. GL, 11021/11, ff. 322–327.

  8. Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert, The Life, Letters and Literary remains of Edward Bulmer, Lord Lytton (London, Kegan Paul & Co, 1833), I, pp. 12–13.

  9. Anon., Real Life in London (London, Jones and Co., 1822), II, pp. 519–521.

  5 The Parvenu

  1. Lyne, Francis, p. 174. Lord Eldon served as Lord Chancellor 1807–1827.

  2. Gronow, Anecdotes of Celebrities, p. 83.

  3. Ibid., p. 85.

  4. Quoted in Bovill, E. W., The England of Nimrod and Surtees 1815–1854 (Oxford University Press, 1959), pp. 106, 89.

  5. Morning Post, 26 July 1830.

  6. Martineau, Harriet, History of the Peace: Pictorial History of England during the Thirty Years’ Peace, 1816–1846, revised edition (London, W. & R. Chambers, 1858), VII, pp. 347–348.

  7. NDRA, flyer, 2 July 1832.

  8. Leicestershire Mercury, 28 January 1854.

  9. Morning Post, 17 October 1839.

  10. Essex Standard, 26 December 1834.

  11. Lyne, Francis, pp. 176–177.

  6 The Last Adventure

  1. Duncombe, T. H., The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Slingsby Duncombe (London, Hurst and Blackett, 1868), I, pp. 174–175.

  2. RA, VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W), Lord Esher’s typescript, 29 April, 30 April, 6 May 1837.

  3. RA, VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W), Lord Esher’s typescript, 26 June 1838.

  4. Tamvaco, I, pp. 264–267.

  5. R. H. Barham (under the pseudonym Thomas Ingoldsby), ‘The Execution – A Sporting Anecdote’, first published in Bentley’s Miscellany, VI, June 1837. Later published in The Ingoldsby Legends. Maria Malibran was an opera singer who died in September 1836.

  7 Mistress Lyne Stephens

  1. De Boigne, pp. 29–30.

  2. L‘Entr’acte, 15 March 1857.

  3. Cardigan and Lancastre, Countess of, My Recollections (London, Everleigh Nash, 1909), p. 4.

  4. Cecil (Cornelius Tongue), Records of the Chase and Memoirs of Celebrated Sportsmen (London, Longman, Brown, Green and Co., 1854), pp. 429–431.

  5. Véron, III, p. 204; Mahalin, pp. 117–118.

  8 The Richest Commoner

  1. UR, Autobiography of Mrs Smith.

  2. Lyne, Francis, p. 182.

  3. Royal Cornwall Gazette, 13 April 1860.

&
nbsp; 4. Letter to Leeds Times, 27 October 1894.

  5. Buckle, G. E., and Moneypenny, W. F., Life of Disraeli, (London, John Murray, 1910–1920), II, p. 157.

  6. Anon. (Diprose), p. 18.

  7. Sale particulars, Lynford Hall, May 1856.

  8. Lyne, Francis, p. 197.

  9 The Bill of Complaint

  1. Dickens, Charles, Bleak House (London, Penguin edition, 1996), preface, pp. 5–6.

  2. Bulkeley v. Stephens, Bill of Complaint, July 1860, paras. 9, 11.

  3. Country Life, 28 November 1903, pp. 758–768.

  10 A Lawyer’s Will

  1. Royal Cornwall Gazette, 13 April 1860.

  2. Lyne, Francis, pp. 189–192.

  3. Bertouch, Baroness Beatrice de, The Life of Father Ignatius, the Monk of Llantony (London, Metheun, 1904), pp. 231–232.

  4. Hare, Augustus, The Years with Mother (London, Century Publishing, 1984), pp. 237–238.

  5. Lyne, Francis, pp. 190–191.

  6. Extracts of Statements, pp. 1396–1398 (22 August 1887).

  11 The Still Sumptuous Duvernay

  1. NA, PRO 30/22/54.

  2. NA, PRO/30/22/14C.

  3. NA, FO 519/168.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid.

  12 The First Military Attaché

  1. Leveson-Gower, pp. 6–7.