Account of her trial for bigamy, ca. 1776.

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Account of her trial for bigamy, ca. 1776.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/702184259

Manuscript, in a single hand, of the author's account of Elizabeth Chudleigh's bigamy trial. The author provides a detailed, day-by-day description of the speeches of the Lord High Steward; the examination of Anne Craddock, a maid and the only surviving witness of the first marriage; Chudleigh's defense; and the verdict. Throughout, she provides her own commentary, praising the attorney general Edward Thurlow's strength of reasoning as well as his manner, voice, and address; and noting at one point in trial that "here my attention dropp'd." On another day, she does not attend because she believed the evidence would be unfit for female ears. She concludes her account by writing that if her narrative is an amusement to her friends, she will be fully recompensed for having troubled them with it. Bound in with this account is a 6-page letter from Anna M. Porter to "Gertrude," dated April 15, 1776, which also describes the trial, but focuses on the appearance and dress of the nobility and her own experience as a spectator. She describes how "we are particularly fortunate for without any applications, we have an overflow of Tickets two every day whilst it lasts in the Gallery, belonging to the Board of Works, & this day I go with Lady Bathurst in the Lord High Stewards Box which holds but 36 persons." She also mentions that she has been up since 5 o'clock attending her hairdresser's on the first day; watches peers and peeresses coming into the hall from their carriages; describes Chudleigh's dress, hair, and accessories; and explains how she has fallen in love with Edward Thurlow, the attorney general, and now thinks of nothing but "long wigs, gowns, & bands."

1 v. (19 leaves) ; 25 cm.

Yale University, Lewis Walpole Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8026264

Related Entities

There are 3 Entities related to this resource.

Porter, Anna Maria, 1778-1832

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s762h6 (person)

British author. From the description of Letter : to "Miss Cockle," Newcastle upon Tyne, 1821 Jan. 12. (Bryn Mawr College). WorldCat record id: 29458717 Epithet: novelist, sister of Sir R K Porter British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000411.0x000114 Anna Maria Porter, like her sister Jane, was a popular English novelist and poet. Precocious and nurtured in her early years, Anna Maria published a ...

Bristol, Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of, 1720-1788

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r21kq5 (person)

Elizabeth Chudleigh (c.1720-1788), courtier and bigamist, was the younger daughter and youngest child of Colonel Thomas Chudleigh (c.1688-1726), lieutenant-governor of Chelsea Hospital, and Henrietta Chudleigh (d. 1756) of Chalmington, Dorset. Her grandmother had been the author Mary Chudleigh. On August 4, 1744, Elizabeth secretly married Lieutenant the Hon. Augustus John Hervey RN (1724-1779). In 1768 Hervey, eager to marry another, pressed Elizabeth for a divorce and the case was brought to t...

Thurlow, Edward Thurlow, Baron, 1731-1806

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mg814g (person)

Lord High Chancellor. From the description of Autograph letter signed : to the Duke of Cumberland (H.R.H. Ernest Augustus, Prince of Gr. Br. and Ireland), 1802 Jan. 31. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270572521 From the description of Autograph signature to document : addressed to the king, 1772 Jul. 25. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270572527 From the description of Autograph letters signed (16) : to Thomas Tyrwhitt, 1794 to 1799. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270...