Georgiana Cavendish Duchess of Devonshire

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An occasional or amateur author during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire , wrote in a number of genres: poetry, diaries, travel writings, letters, and possibly two novels. Much of her work remains unpublished and her canon, both in prose and poetry, is far from certain.
  • BirthName: Lady Georgiana Spencer
    She received her courtesy title when her father got his earldom in 1765. Amanda Foreman, her recent biographer, says her name should be pronounced Georgie-ayna.

  • Nickname: The Rat
    The reason for this nickname is not clear. It was used among the threesome composed of Georgiana, her husband (Canis or Dog in Latin) and Lady Elizabeth Foster (merely Bess).

  • Married: CavendishDuchess of Devonshire
  • Pseudonym: A Young Lady
  • Styled:
  • Titled: CavendishDuchess of Devonshire
Portrait of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, by Thomas Gainsborough, between 1785 and 1787. She stands with her body facing to her left, her face tilted towards the viewer, and her arms crossed, with one hand holding a pink rose. She wears a white gown with a high, ruffled neckline and lace detail around the cuffs, and a large, black, broad-brimmed hat. Her hair is pulled away from her face to flow down her back. Chatsworth.

Milestones

7 June 1757

Georgiana Spencer, later Duchess of Devonshire , was born, at Althorp near Northampton, her father's family estate.
Foreman, Amanda. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. HarperCollins, 1998.
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1799

An edition of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire 's poem The Passage of Mount St. Gothard, published at Glasgow as no. 8 of the Stewart and Meikle Tracts, is its earliest-dated but surely not earliest printing.
Probably coincidentally rather than opportunistically, this was also the year that The Valley of St. Gothard, A Novel was published in three volumes by Eliza Parsons .
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

1802

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire 's poem The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard appeared in print in London: this was not its earliest printed version.
Fay, Elizabeth. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard. http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/SWRPLive/bios/S7027-D001.html.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

30 March 1806

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire , died at Devonshire House in Piccadilly, of an abscess on the liver.
Foreman, Amanda. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. HarperCollins, 1998.
389

Biography

Birth and Influences

7 June 1757

Georgiana Spencer, later Duchess of Devonshire , was born, at Althorp near Northampton, her father's family estate.
Foreman, Amanda. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. HarperCollins, 1998.
3

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