THE COUNTESS'S TRAVAILS

George Bowes inherited estates in County Durham and Northumberland. The latter were located above mineable seams of coal. The gentleman proved to be a gifted entrepreneur. First, he improved the efficiency of his own mines and then, in 1726, he and three other landowners in the region formed the Grand Allies cartel. This was a 99-year-long agreement under which they effectively pooled their coal-related resources. It enabled them to undertake large projects that were to their mutual advantage, such as the construction of a bridge that made it far easier for them to send their coal to Newcastle Upon Tyne s wharves. In 1727 Bowes was elected to serve as an M.P.. He used his membership of the Commons to promote the interests of the North-East and its coal industry.

Bowes s only child was his daughter Mary. Upon her father's death in 1760 she became one of the era's greatest heiresses. She had a strong natural intelligence that had been developed through a high-quality education. Her particular interests included botany, languages, and literature. Her widowed mother took No. 40 Grosvenor Square as a townhouse.

In 1767, at the age of eighteen, Mary fell for the 9^th Earl of Strathmore, a handsome Scottish peer. He was a decade older than she was. By the time of their wedding, she had come to appreciate that they had nothing in common. However, her pride prompted her to go ahead with the nuptials. The marriage produced three sons and two daughters. She preferred the latter over the former and felt virtually nothing in the way of maternal affection for her eldest child Lord Lyon.

The countess sought to participate in London's cultural and intellectual life. Her husband barred her from becoming a member of Elizabeth Montagu's blue-stocking salon. However, he was content for her to engage in a wide range of other pursuits. These included writing a play; one of its themes was unrequited love. He used some of her wealth to restore Glamis Castle, his ancestral seat near Dundee.

The flawed marriage deteriorated. The countess became infatuated with a man who was several years her junior. She refrained from acting carnally. The fellow joined the Army and their mutual ardour cooled. The earl contracted tuberculosis. He and his wife took to spending increasing amounts of time apart from one another. She established her own salon. Its meetings were held in the family s Grosvenor Square mansion.

Those who attended this assembly included George Gray, a former East India Company official. While he had been in his employers service, he had earned a reputation for being corrupt. When, in 1765, Robert Clive had gone out to the subcontinent to cleanse the Company's Augean stable there, Gray had resigned from his position and returned to Britain. His pursuit of the countess was almost certainly mercenary in character.¹ He and she became lovers. They had trysts at her townhouse. He was admitted to the building surreptitiously by George Walker, a footman in whom she placed particular trust.

In 1776 Strathmore died. He had been very close to his younger brother Thomas Lyon. During the marriage, it had been the latter who had managed of the Bowes estates and coal interests. He and his sister-in-law had never developed a good relationship with one another. Following the 9^th earl's death his widow regained control of her fortune. She threw herself into a life of pleasure. In the process, she neglected her children.

At the time of the peer's demise, the countess was pregnant by Gray. She secured an abortion. Rumours of the relationship were current in society. A further two pregnancies were terminated.

Andrew Robinson Stoney was the eldest son of an Irish gentleman. He had not been content with his comfortable prospects. He had joined the British Army in order to broaden his opportunities. While he had been billeted in Newcastle Upon Tyne he had wooed and wed Hannah Newton, the heiress to a modest County Durham estate. At that time, a woman's property became her husband's upon their marriage unless a trust had been established to keep it out of his possession. No such provision had been made, therefore, her life interest in her late father's estate had become Stoney s. He had retired from the Army. His actions had soon revealed that he was a violent sociopath. He had terrorised his wife in order to make her submissive to his will. In 1776 she had died during childbirth. The infant had done likewise. Stoney inherited several thousand pounds. He moved to London and took lodgings above the St James's Coffee House. However, his spendthrift nature led to his depleting his capital at a fast rate.

Through having lived in the North-East, Stoney was aware of the Bowes fortune. He set out to acquire control of it by marrying the widowed Lady Strathmore. An army friend of his was an attendee of her salons. This connection enabled the adventurer to meet her and to start to exert his charms upon her. For her part, the countess soon found herself to be attracted to her new suitor. She heard rumours that he had mistreated his late wife. She chose to regard them as being the products of provincial jealousies and so discounted them.

Mary became pregnant by Gray again. She concluded that she would marry him. This decision was reached after considerable equivocation since she had relished her independence. However, she and Stoney became lovers. The Morning Post newspaper was edited by the controversial clergyman the Rev Henry Bate. The journal started to publish a series of disparaging stories about the countess's conduct. The adventurer declared that he would defend her honour. The two men met one another in an encounter that took place in a locked room at The Adelphi Tavern. The countess heard a report that her champion had been gravely wounded. Three physicians tended to him. They stated that the man would soon die from his lacerations.

The duellist declared that he wished to expire as the countess's husband. She agreed to comply with his wish. A special licence was secured from the Bishop of London. After she had spent a final night with Gray, she and Stoney married one another in St James's Church Piccadilly on 17 January 1777. Within a week he had made a full recovery . Subsequently, it was to emerge that during the previous summer he and the Rev Bate had come to know one another while they had both been Taking the waters at Bath. Of the three verifying physicians, two had been in the adventurer's pay, while the third Independent one, who had had the most distinguished reputation, was elderly and had not actually examined the supposed wounds. He had, taken Stoney's pallor, which had been induced by the application of leaches, to be sufficient evidence of the man's dire plight.

In order to comply with the conditions that had been set out in the will of George Bowes, Stoney changed his own surname to Bowes. As with his first marriage, he soon revealed his true character. He took control of every facet of Mary's life and sought to make her compliant to his will by means of physical and mental abuse. She realised that she had been tricked. Tales of Lady Strathmore s plight started to circulate in society. However, the haughtiness that she had displayed during her widowhood stymied any expressions of sympathy that might otherwise have been voiced.

The countess was not the only spouse who was subjected to revelations. Bowes learned both that, while her property was vast, she had developed large debts that required paying down and that she was pregnant by Gray. In addition, he discovered that, a week before their wedding, she had, in view of her prospective marriage to the unborn infant's father, signed a pre-nuptial settlement. This document had safeguarded the lion's share of her inheritance for her children by her first husband. The fortune-hunter came to believe that it was he who had been the victim of a plot.

Bowes dealt with the issue of the pregnancy by renting a riverside property that was located near to Fulham. The countess gave birth to a daughter who was also given the name of Mary. To make the child appear to be Bowes's the parturition was kept secret. The couple then travelled with the infant to Gibside Hall, the Boweses principal seat in County Durham. There, they resided for a couple of months before announcing the child's arrival. (Snide comments were made in society about the confinement having been a particularly long one.)

Thomas Lyon concluded that the time had come for him to protect the interests of his nieces and nephews. He launched an action in the Court of Chancery to enable him to assume control of the direction of their lives. The suit was successful. Lyon then barred Mary from seeing her five eldest children.

Bowes s aggressions had warped the countess's worldview. She attributed the beatings to her own supposed failings. Almost a year after their marriage, he succeeded in compelling her to put her name to a document that sought to revoke her pre-nuptial settlement. Her signature gave Bowes control of her inheritance. One of the first things that he did was to make a generous payment to Gray, who otherwise would have been free to seek legal redress for Mary's failure to marry him.

In 1782 Mary gave birth to a son. He was Bowes s child and was given the name William. Soon after the marriage had started it had become apparent that the adventurer had no intention of being faithful to his wife. Sometimes he preyed upon female members of the household. Poor, working women had a basic appeal to him because he could awe them. However, beyond this, they also had a distinct allure for him. Following the birth this strand in his personality became more pronounced.

Bowes had social ambitions. He wished to be made an Irish peer.² In 1780 he used Mary's family wealth and influence to help secure his election as one of the M.P.s for Newcastle Upon Tyne. For all his social skills in the demi-monde and his abilities to manipulate the I, he was a poor politician. He alienated his electors and proved to be unable to develop any political standing at Westminster. Four years later he lost the seat. Thereafter, he became even more antagonistic towards the countess, he took to threatening her with blades. She was aware that he had sought to safeguard his own financial well-being by taking out a number of insurance policies upon her life.

The adventurer maintained his control over the household both by dismissing anyone whom he suspected might not be awed by him and by hiring as servants people who would be biddable. He sought to engage a maid for Mary but found himself to be unable to find anyone whom he felt was as compliant as he wished. Eventually, he delegated the task to his chaplain. The latter engaged upon his employer's behalf a widow called Mary Morgan.

Mrs Morgan was only slightly younger than her mistress. She was intelligent, educated, and righteous. Her duties exposed her to the countess's bruises and injuries. When she asked Mary about these, she was answered with prevarications. Bowes's violence became more marked. This prompted the countess to tell Morgan the truth. The maid determined to aid Lady Strathmore in any way that she could. Over a period, she succeeded in identifying three like-minded women amongst the townhouse's staff.

Bowes made a second mistake with regard to servants. Soon after his marriage to Mary he had sacked George Walker. However, the adventurer had an on-going lawsuit against Thomas Lyon. He did not wish to run the risk that Lyon might have the footman subpoenaed as a witness. Therefore, for a period the former employee was secreted in the townhouse. Mary was able to talk with him privately. Following her signing of the pre-nuptial document in 1777 she had given a copy of it to him for safekeeping. She asked him whether he still possessed it. He replied that he did. She realised that there was the possibility of cancelling the revocation and reinstating the original settlement. She was also aware that it was probably only a matter of time before Bowes dismissed Morgan from their service. Therefore, she decided to act. She asked the maid to help her to escape from her husband.

On 3 February 1785, Bowes went out for the evening. Morgan's allies in the household created a number of noisy incidents. In the commotion that these engendered the maid and her mistress slipped out of the mansion. They took up residence at No. 2 Dyers Buildings in Holborn. The other three servants who were loyal to her ladyship joined them there. Bowes, upon learning of what had happened, tried to find where his wife and her associates had disappeared to. He was unable to do so. He still had physical possession of her two youngest children Mary and William.

The countess, in her newly regained freedom, recovered her self-assurance. She had no financial resources and was dependent upon well-wishers for her day-to-day sustenance. However, the possibility that she would regain control of her vast inheritance enabled her to induce a solicitor to work on her behalf until such time as she could afford to pay him. She launched three parallel lawsuits. One was started in the London Consistory Court to annul her marriage to Bowes; a second one in the Court of the King's Bench to try to bind the adventurer to keep the peace; and a third in the Court of Chancery to reinstate the pre-nuptial settlement. Both the London Consistory and Chancery courts made initial rulings that were in her favour.

On Lady Strathmore's ancestral estates in County Durham and Northumberland, the news of her escape was welcomed. Some tenants stopped co-operating with Bowes's agents and started paying their rents to Mary. Hampers of food were sent to her in London. However, with the countess s whereabouts having become more widely known, Bowes was able to intimidate some of her sympathisers into revealing where she was living. Intelligence of this development reached Mary in time. She fled from her Dyers Buildings residence before he arrived there.

Lady Strathmore and her associates moved into a house on Bloomsbury Square. Her husband learnt of this. A watchman whom the household took into its employment was already in his pay. The adventurer then recruited a group of thugs from the North-East. On 10 November 1786 the gang abducted the countess while she was travelling westwards along the easternmost section of Oxford Street. News of what had happened soon became the sensation of London.

Bowes and his henchman took Mary up the Great North Road. All the while, he threatened her in order to try to make her terminate her legal actions. In her regained self-possession, and without an iota of doubt as to his true character, she steadfastly refused to do so. The party arrived at Streatlam Castle, one of the countess's ancestral homes in County Durham.

Their presence there soon became common knowledge locally. Local miners, who were loyal to George Bowes's daughter, laid siege to the building. They lit bonfires around it so that there should be no possibility that those who were within should be able escape under the cover of darkness. However, the fugitives and their captive had departed during the confusion that had occurred while the cordon had been being created around the Castle.

The weather of the late autumn of 1786 was particularly awful. Much of northern England was subjected to snowstorms. The Bowes party made a trek through the remotest portions of the region. Their lives were often at risk from the elements. In the meantime, descriptions of them were circulated and innkeepers were told not to supply horses to anyone about whom they had any doubts. It was only a matter of time before the group would be identified. The adventurer was unable to break the countess's spirit. On the 20^th the band passed through Neasham to the south of Darlington. A ploughman realised who they might be and alerted the parish constable. Soon afterwards an informal posse of villagers set out in pursuit of them. Bowes and his group surrendered.

The court proceedings that had been set in motion ground on slowly. The findings were all in the countess s favour. However, the appellate nature of the English legal system meant that Bowes was able to drag out the three actions. This created the possibility that one of them might fail which in turn might undermine the other two.

The adventurer appeared before the Court of the King's Bench with regard to his abduction of Mary. He was lodged in the King's Bench Prison. However, this involved no material hardship since his continuing control of his wife s inheritance meant that he was able to rent a commodious house within the gaol s precincts. In time, he raised 20,000, paid his bail and regained his freedom.

When Bowes and his gang were tried by the Court, they were found guilty upon every charge. The adventurer was given a three-year-long prison sentence. He returned to his congenial quarters within the gaol. The verdict was an important step in the advancement of the legal position of women in Britain. While it was accepted that men had extensive rights over their wives, these had been ruled to be subject to the law.

A jury in the Court of Common Pleas found unanimously that the deed that Bowes had required Mary to sign was invalid because he had forced her to act under duress. The Court of Chancery confirmed this verdict. The adventurer lost control of his wife's inheritance. He was also ordered to pay costs. In March 1789 the Court of Delegates, which was the London Consistory Court's ultimate appellate body, divorced the couple.

Bowes still had control of Mary's two youngest children. Since her escape from the adventurer s clutches Thomas Lyon had held a position of studied neutrality. However, he now became more co-operative towards her. She was also aided by her eldest son the 10^th earl. Upon his coming of age he had taken control of his father s inheritance. The countess transferred her own only recently reacquired one to him in return for a pension and financial provision for her two youngest children. Bowes, perhaps appreciating that it was in William's best material interests, surrendered his claims upon the boy and his half-sister. The adventurer was to remain in prison until he died.

Location: The Adelphi Tavern, 1-4 John Adam Street, WC2N 6EY (brown, purple)

40 Bloomsbury Square, WC1B 4DA. (Formerly No. 35.) (red, pink)

Fulham F.C., Craven Cottage, Stevenage Road, SW6 6HH

2 Dyers Buildings, EC1N 2JT (blue, red)

48 Grosvenor Square, W1K 2HT (purple, grey)

King s Bench Prison, 203 Borough High Street, SE1 1JA

St James s Coffee House, 87 St James s Street, SW1A 1PL (orange, white)

Website: http://beta.nationaltrust.org.uk/home/item248903 (Gibside Hall) www.glamis-castle.co.uk

¹. The playwright Samuel Foote knew Gray socially and may have used him as one of the principal sources for The Nabob (1772), a comedy about the social pretensions of returned, wealthy East India merchants.

². Henry Liddell, a member of one of the Grand Allies families, had become a member of the British peerage as Baron Ravensworth in 1747.

David Backhouse 2024