A Royal Likeness
Page 47
Mr. William Beatty was the ship’s surgeon aboard Victory, and Messrs. Smith and Westemburg were his assistants. Medicine and surgery aboard sailing ships during the era of Trafalgar were much as I have described them, except worse. Knowledge of antiseptics, the spread of infection, and other medical concepts we take for granted today were in their infancy then. A sailor probably had equal chances of dying in battle, of disease, or at the hands of a surgeon.
The lashing of ten men for drunkenness did take place on Victory, but it was a mere two days prior to the battle, and I placed it a few days earlier. Discipline aboard naval vessels varied from ship to ship, as there were no specific standards for it and punishment was entirely up to individual captains. Officers like Nelson and Collingwood were very popular because of their fairness, kindness, and relative humanity in terms of discipline. However, it is well to remember that many seamen were obtained through pressgangs, and although some of them settled well into life at sea, many naturally had no desire to be there. So by necessity it was imperative to maintain strict discipline on ships to avoid laziness, or worse, mutiny. Some captains were able to inspire their men to loyalty; others were heavy-handed with the lash.
William Pitt, also known as Pitt the Younger, became England’s youngest prime minister in 1783 at the age of twenty-four. He left office in 1801, but returned again in 1804 and served until his death in 1806. He was known as Pitt the Younger to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who was a previous prime minister. Pitt the Younger’s second tenure was plagued by both unrelenting opposition to his plans for a broad coalition government as well as pressure from the machinations of Napoleon. His health nose-dived as a result. Pitt died of liver disease and left significant debt. Nevertheless, he was honored with a public funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey. Despite—and because of—the hostility he faced in office, he is known as one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers.
Pitt’s greatest political rival was Charles James Fox. Fox was the son of Henry Fox, himself a rival of Pitt the Elder. And so the rivalry continued into the next generation. Fox was known as a forceful and eloquent speaker in the House of Commons, as well as having a rather notorious private life. To his detriment, Fox was in constant conflict with King George III. From his intemperate influence on the Prince of Wales (the king made it publicly known that he held Fox principally responsible for the prince’s many failings, including his propensity to vomit in public), to his decidedly antiroyal position on the American rebellion, the French Revolution, and the matter of the regency, Fox assured himself a greatly hostile relationship with his sovereign.
Charles Grey, Viscount Howick and first lord of the Admiralty, took over as foreign secretary upon Charles Fox’s death and went on to serve the nation as prime minister from 1830 to 1834. Grey had a relatively happy marriage, producing sixteen children, although Grey did have a series of affairs with other women throughout his lifetime. His most notorious affair, which predated his engagement to his wife, was with Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. She bore an illegitimate child with Grey, who was raised by Grey’s parents. He became Earl Grey upon the death of his father in 1807, and, yes, the aromatic Earl Grey tea is named for him.
Charles-Philippe, Comte d’Artois and later Charles X of France, lived in Edinburgh after fleeing revolutionary France with his much-loved mistress, Louise de Polastron, who died of consumption in 1804. He was bereft the rest of his life, despite his ascension to the French throne in 1824.
Other historical figures in this story are Napoleon’s minister of police, Joseph Fouché; the traitor Colonel Despard; Sir Francis Burdett, who did commission a figure of himself; George Wright, Marie’s London solicitor; Edinburgh Castle’s Governor Sir Alexander Hope; Sir Henry Raeburn, the painter; Marie’s landlord in Glasgow, Mr. Colin; the female survivor of Achille, Jeannette; and Spain’s prime minister, Manuel de Godoy.
It is worth mentioning the bigger historical picture after the British victory at Trafalgar. By 1807, Napoleon had turned his considerable attentions to Portugal, and, gaining permission from the Spanish, passed through Spain and invaded Portugal, driving the royal family to Brazil. Furthermore, by February 1808, Napoleon turned on the Spanish Crown, and proclaimed his brother Joseph king of Spain, much to the displeasure of the Spanish populace. This induced a general uprising among the Spanish, who turned on France, taxing Napoleon’s military resources. The English quickly seized upon the situation by late 1808 to secure a foothold on the Continent, issuing the first major blow to Napoleon at Bailén, Spain, and thereby securing the strategic second front, eventually leading to Napoleon’s downfall.
The French were the first to use balloons for aerial reconnaissance in 1794, during its conflict with Austria, and Napoleon even considered an aerial invasion of Great Britain this way, an invasion that was never realized. However, having Brax signal to the French from the shore near Dover and expecting to have his signals seen from Calais was probably a bit unrealistic. At the time, the maximum viewing distance from a balloon was about eighteen miles, and Dover is around twenty-two miles from Calais at the Channel’s narrowest point. St. Margaret’s at Cliffe, a little further up the Kentish coastline, is even farther away.
The lyrics that the geggy performers sing are a stanza from “My Bonnie Mary,” written by Robert Burns, although Burns claimed this part of his song was actually an old Jacobite tune. Burns was an eighteenth-century poet and lyricist; today he is most famously remembered for the song “Auld Lang Syne.”
A final note: After Marie Tussaud’s death in 1850, Joseph and Francis Tussaud took over the management of the waxworks exhibition, which had settled at the Baker Street Bazaar in London. Both were talented sculptors and skilled musicians, and Joseph was particularly adept at creating the settings in which wax figures were placed. After their own deaths, the exhibition went to Francis’s eldest son, John Theodore, and it was under his charge that the exhibition was moved to larger quarters on nearby Marylebone Road. In 1925, a disastrous fire destroyed more than half of the 467 wax models in the collection. The exhibition was rebuilt nearby and opened in 1928. The Tussaud family continued to work in the exhibition until 1967, when Bernard Tussaud, Marie’s great-great-grandson, died. The Madame Tussaud legacy continues today, where millions of visitors every year can rub elbows with the rich and famous, much as they did over two hundred years ago when she first arrived in England with her small wax exhibition.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It’s nearly impossible to write any book, let alone one based on historical fact, without a lot of help along the way. My thanks go to the following people who helped me with research and dispensed valuable historical advice: First and foremost is historical novelist and critique partner Leslie Carroll, who advised, consoled, and generally made ten months of writing a veritable pleasure; Cindy Vallar, historical novelist and Age of Sail expert, who assisted me with certain plotting details aboard Victory; and Joe Greeley, waterfront interpretive supervisor at Historic St. Mary’s City, for his patience in answering my battery of questions about the Battle of Trafalgar. Any historical mistakes are mine alone.
I am again fortunate to have a supportive editor, Audrey LaFehr, who encourages me to write things my own way. My thanks to everyone at Kensington Publishing who has helped bring this book to the reader’s hands.
Once again my mother, Georgia Carpenter, and my friend Diane Townsend served as able and enthusiastic readers of my manuscript in its draft form. Their coaching and encouragement cannot be overstated.
As always, this book would not have been possible without the loving support and encouragement of my husband, Jon, who spent many weekends without me while I was holed up with my computer, lavishing my time on Marguerite and her wax adventures.
Soli Deo gloria.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adkins, Roy, and Lesley Adkins. Jack Tar: Life in Nelson’s Navy. London: Little, Brown, 2008.
Adkins, Roy. Nelson’s Trafalgar:
The Battle That Changed the World. London: Penguin Group, 2004.
Berridge, Kate. Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax. New York: Harper Collins, 2006.
Biesty, Stephen. Man-of-War: Stephen Biesty’s Cross-Sections. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1993.
Bowen, Frank C. From Carrack to Clipper: A Book of Sailing Ship Models. London: Halton & Truscott Smith, Ltd., 1927.
Chapman, Pauline. Madame Tussaud in England. London: Quiller Press, 1992.
Goodwin, Peter. Nelson’s Victory: 101 Questions and Answers about HMS Victory, Nelson’s Flagship at Trafalgar 1805. London: Conway Maritime Press, 2004.
Herold, J. Christopher. The Horizon Book of the Age of Napoleon. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1963.
Leslie, Anita, and Pauline Chapman. Madame Tussaud: Waxworker Extraordinary. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1978.
Mathew, David. British Seamen. London: William Collins, 1943.
Pilbeam, Pamela. Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks. London: Hambledon and London, 2003.
Pocock, Tom. The Terror Before Trafalgar: Nelson, Napolean, and the Secret War. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002.
Ransom, Teresa. Madame Tussaud: A Life and a Time. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2003.
Smith, Janet Adam. Life Among the Scots. Britain in Pictures series. London: William Collins, 1946.
Strong, Roy. Illustrated Guide to Madame Tussaud’s. London: Madame Tussaud’s Limited, 1980.
Thorne, Tony. Madame Tussaud: Waxwork Queen of the French Revolution. London: Short Books, 2004.
Walmsley, Leo. British Ports and Harbours. London: William Collins, 1946.
Warwick, Peter. Voices from the Battle of Trafalgar. United Kingdom: David & Charles, 2005.
Wilson, Philip Whitwell. William Pitt the Younger. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1930.
INTERNET REFERENCES
“A Flogging at Sea, 1839.” EyeWitness to History
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com.flogging.htm
“Domestic Medicine: Medicinal Preparations.”
American Revolution.org http://www.americanrevolution.org/medicine /medapp3.html#anchor999782
HMS Victory: The National Museum
http://www.hms-victory.com
“Peninsular War.” Answers.com
http://www.answers.com/topic/peninsular-war
A READING GROUP GUIDE
A ROYAL
LIKENESS
Christine Trent
About This Guide
The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading
of Christine Trent’s
A Royal Likeness
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How did Marie Tussaud’s experiences during the French Revolution affect the way she conducted business while in England?
How was Marie Tussaud’s lifestyle unusual for her times, in terms of her independence and entrepreneurial spirit?
How do you think waxworks exhibitions of the early nineteenth century were similar to those of today? In what ways do you think they were different?
Many French aristocrats fled France during the Revolution for places like Scotland and England. How would the émigrés’ lives have been affected by Napoleon’s threatened invasion of Great Britain?
How did Brax’s background as the son of an impoverished aristocrat affect his decisions?
Were Marguerite’s motivations for marrying Philipsthal sound? What would you have done if faced with her situation?
Is Darden’s sense of duty admirable? How was his judgment sometimes clouded by this sense of duty? Was his attitude common or unusual in early-nineteenth-century England?
Were you surprised to learn that there were sometimes women aboard naval ships, and that they sometimes accompanied crews into war? What do you think were the overall attitudes toward women on ships?
During the Napoleonic Wars, alliances between countries shifted depending on the outcomes of battles, the rise of new leaders, and secret negotiations. How does this compare to the political map of today’s world?
Today Madame Tussaud’s wax museums sit in several permanent locations around the world. Why do you think the waxworks stopped its traveling format? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a waxworks being in a permanent location?
Lord Nelson’s affair with Lady Emma Hamilton was considered scandalous during a time when many aristocrats conducted affairs. What was different about their circumstances that made society aghast over Nelson and Emma?
By the end of the novel, Marguerite has married a naval captain. What challenges might such a marriage have presented to a nineteenth-century woman? Would any of these challenges still apply today?
Consider Marguerite’s attitudes, feelings, and thoughts. In what ways is Marguerite a typical woman of her time? Conversely, how does she chafe against social conventions?