1788 ELIZABETH CHUDLEIGH DUCHESS COURTIER AND BIGAMIST

AN
AUTHENTIC DETAIL
OF
PARTICULARS
RELATIVE TO THE LATE
DUCHESS OF KINGSTON

A NEW EDITION

LONDON
1788

The Second Edition, published the same year as the first edition of an account of the life of the notorious eighteenth century beauty Elizabeth Chudleigh, 1720–1788 married names Elizabeth Hervey, Countess of Bristol; Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston upon Hull 1720–1788, courtier and bigamist whose fame  reached its height when she was tried and found guilty of bigamy.
In 1743 she was appointed maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales. The next year, in a secret ceremony, she married John Hervey, a naval lieutenant and brother of the Earl of Bristol. Hervey immediately returned to sea, and by 1747 their marriage was effectively over.  She revelled in court life, letting herself be known as “Miss Chudleigh.” and became known for the best parties in London. She also became mistress to the Duke of Kingston.
In 1768, when Hervey asked for a divorce, Elizabeth refused him, fearing a scandal. All the same she was keen to marry the Duke of Kingston, and she won a case in the ecclesiastical courts, which ruled her a spinster. She and the duke were married by special license soon after. When the duke died in 1773, his nephew, furious that he hadn’t been the main beneficiary of his uncle’s will charged her with bigamy.  The trial took place in the House of Lords in 1776 and attracted tremendous attention.
After five days of a packed House of Lords, with counterfeit tickets on sale due to the demand, Elizabeth was found guilty of bigamy, overturning the ecclesiastical court ruling. But Hervey’s brother, the Earl of Bristol had died, passing his title on to Hervey, so Elizabeth escaped punishment by claiming the benefit of peerage. She spent the rest of her life in Europe buying properties in France and St. Petersburg, where she charmed Catherine the Great and set up a brandy distillery.

178 Pages plus title page and 2 page preface, the last part from page 128 mainly concerns her will.

Armorial bookplate on fixed front endpaper of Henry Mathias, with his signature on title page

CONDITION
Late 18th century binding, leather spine, marbled boards, binding has some wear with cracks down hinges, slight browning to a few pages. One leaf has slight loss to part of margin not affecting text On blank reverse title page is an old small illustration in ink which slightly shows through the title page (see images).
Size is 8 by 5 inches

         FRONT BOARD                  REAR BOARD

Reverse of title page.

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