The First Celebrities: Five Regency Portraits

Peter James Bowman has lived in Cambridgeshire for twenty seven years, the last eighteen them in Ely, and some people may know him as the designer and promoter of the proposed Fenland Flag.

During his time in Ely he has worked as a translator, mainly from German, and has published three books of his own, all of them studies of the Regency period.

His latest book uses the availability of newspaper archives online, which can be used with search terms, to produce a collection of Regency biographies that focus on the public image of his subjects. Published on 15th January, the book has already had a positive review in Country Life.

The First Celebrities: Five Regency Portraits (Amberley, January 2023)

What percentage of the printed and online media is dedicated to celebrity culture today? A tricky calculation; but there can be no doubt that the percentage was pretty high when mass media first acquired a recognisably modern form in the Regency period. Peter James Bowman shows how, following the outrageous fame of Lord Byron, an interest in the foibles rather than the achievements of prominent individuals was kindled and sustained by newspapers, satirical prints and society gossip. Here are five pen-portraits of colourful men and women who played leading roles in their day but whose reputations subsequently faded, figures who for this reason better represent their age than those whose importance transcends it. Their peculiar spheres of activity – the stage, politics, diplomacy, art, literature and fashion – are also explored.

Harriot Mellon, the daughter of a wardrobe-keeper in a company of strolling players, married the banker Thomas Coutts and then the Duke of St Albans. The wealthiest woman in Britain, she was a target of constant abuse.

Dorothea Lieven, the Russian ambassador’s wife, used her intellect, dignity and talent for flattery to entrance statesmen and become a political force in her own right, participating in diplomatic manoeuvres on the European stage.

Richard Grenville, Duke of Buckingham, was the head of his family’s parliamentary faction. He wasted an enormous income on extravagant self-indulgence and acting the part of feudal grandee, thereby ruining the mighty Grenville dynasty.

Lady Charlotte Bury was mocked by Thackeray as ‘Lady Flummery’ because of the shallow novels of high society she wrote to stave off poverty, but in her youth she was a fêted beauty and leader of fashion.

Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA was the most successful British artist of his generation, but in the face of rumours of gambling and homosexuality he had to use all his charm and courtliness to maintain his standing.