Maria Gunning, Countess of Coventry
Standard Name: Coventry, Maria Gunning,,, Countess of
Used Form: Lady Coventry
Connections
| Connections Sort descending | Author name | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| Family and Intimate relationships | Elizabeth Gunning | The beautiful Gunning sisters (later Countess of Coventry
, and successively Duchess of Hamilton and of Argyll
) were EG
's aunts. Lady Coventry, however, had died before Elizabeth was born. |
| Literary Setting | Georgette Heyer | With this first novel Heyer established the elements that were to be the staple of her oeuvre: a swashbuckling hero, here an earl playing at being a highwayman (Jack Carstares, otherwise Earl of Wyncham); a... |
Timeline
Summer1751
The Gunning sisters arrived in London from Ireland, and created a sensation with their beauty: Maria
was aged around seventeen and Elizabeth
was a year younger.
30 September 1760
Lady Coventry
(formerly the beautiful Maria Gunning) died, allegedly of the effects of white lead cosmetics.
10 March 1768
Lord Bolingbroke
divorced his wife, the former Lady Diana Spencer
, for her adultery with Topham Beauclerk
, though his own infidelities were well known in society.