Jump to content

Sarah Fairbrother: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
added Augustus FitzGeorge links
Changing short description from "British actress" to "British actress (1814–1890)"
 
(32 intermediate revisions by 20 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|British actress}}
{{Short description|British actress (1814–1890)}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Sarah Fairbrother
| image = Sarah Louisa Fairbrother as Abdullah-1848.jpg
| image = Sarah Louisa Fairbrother as Abdullah-1848.jpg
| caption = Fairbrother as Abdullah in ''Open Sesame'' (or as Alladin in ''The Forty Thieves''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sitwell |first1=Sacheverelle |title=The Romantic Ballet |url=https://archive.org/details/romanticballetfr00sitw |url-access=registration |date=1948 |publisher=B. T. Batsford |isbn=9781199561688 |language=English}}</ref>), 1844
| caption = Fairbrother as Abdullah in ''Open Sesame'' (or as Alladin in ''The Forty Thieves''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sitwell |first1=Sacheverelle |title=The Romantic Ballet |url=https://archive.org/details/romanticballetfr00sitw |url-access=registration |date=1948 |publisher=B. T. Batsford |isbn=9781199561688 |language=English}}</ref>), 1844
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1814|10|31}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1814|10|31}}
| birth_place = James Street, [[Westminster]], London
| birth_place = James Street, [[Westminster]], London
| parents=John Fairbrother<br>Mary Tucker
| parents=John Fairbrother<br />Mary Tucker
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1890|1|12|1816|10|31}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1890|1|12|1814|10|31}}
| death_place = 6 [[Queen Street, London|Queen Street]], [[Mayfair]], London
| death_place = 6 [[Queen Street, London|Queen Street]], [[Mayfair]], London
| resting_place = [[Kensal Green Cemetery]]
| resting_place = [[Kensal Green Cemetery]]
| partner = Charles Manners-Sutton, 2nd Viscount Canterbury<br>Thomas Bernard
| partner = Charles Manners-Sutton, 2nd Viscount Canterbury<br />[[Thomas Bernard (1816–1882)|Thomas Bernard]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Prince George, Duke of Cambridge]]|8 January 1847}}
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Prince George, Duke of Cambridge]]|8 January 1847}}
| children = Charles Fairbrother<br>Louisa Bernard<br>[[George FitzGeorge]]<br>[[Adolphus FitzGeorge]]<br>[[Augustus FitzGeorge]]
| children = Charles Fairbrother<br />Louisa Bernard<br />[[George FitzGeorge]]<br />[[Adolphus FitzGeorge]]<br />[[Augustus FitzGeorge]]
}}
}}
'''Sarah Fairbrother''' (calling herself ''Louisa'' and known from 1859 as ''Mrs FitzGeorge''; 31 October 1814 – 12 January 1890) was an English actress and the mistress of [[Prince George, Duke of Cambridge]], a male-line grandson of [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]]. As the couple married in contravention of the [[Royal Marriages Act 1772]], their marriage was not recognised under the law.
'''Sarah Fairbrother''' (calling herself ''Louisa'' and known from 1859 as ''Mrs FitzGeorge''; 31 October 1814 – 12 January 1890) was an English actress and the mistress of [[Prince George, Duke of Cambridge]], a male-line grandson of [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]]. As the couple married in contravention of the [[Royal Marriages Act 1772]], their marriage was not recognised under the law.


==Early life==
==Early life==
Sarah Fairbrother was born in James Street, [[Westminster]], 31 October 1814, and baptised at St George, Hanover Square, 8 October 1817. Her parents were John Fairbrother, a servant in Westminster, and Mary Tucker whose maiden name may have been Phillips. The details of her birth, parentage, and first two children were revealed for the first time in Anthony J. Camp's ''Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714–1936'' (London, 2007).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Camp |first1=Anthony J. |title=Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714-1936 |date=2007 |publisher=Anthony J Camp |isbn=9780950330822 |pages=330–338 & Addenda |url=https://books.google.com/?id=Xa1cJAAACAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Her father was described as a servant in 1813 and 1817, but as a labourer in 1824. His family had no connection with Robert Fairbrother, the prompter at Drury Lane Theatre, or with the Fairbrother family of printers in Bow Street, Covent Garden, as is frequently stated.
Sarah Fairbrother was born in [[James Street, Marylebone|James Street]], [[Westminster]], 31 October 1814, and baptised at [[St George's, Hanover Square]], 8 October 1817. The genealogist [[Anthony J. Camp]] cites her baptismal record in identifying her parents as John Fairbrother, a servant in Westminster, and Mary (whose maiden name may have been Phillips, but Camp acknowledges the possibility of error owing to the frequency of the surname).<ref>Anthony J. Camp, ''Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714–1936'', 2007, pp. 330-338 and Addenda</ref> Her father was described as a servant in 1813 and 1817, but as a labourer in 1824. His family had no known connection with Robert Fairbrother, the prompter at [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane Theatre]], or with the Fairbrother family of printers in [[Bow Street]], [[Covent Garden]], as is frequently stated.<ref name=camp>{{Cite web|url=https://anthonyjcamp.com/pages/anthony-j-camp-mrs-fitzgeorge|title = Anthony J. Camp - MRS FITZGEORGE}}</ref>


==Stage career==
Sarah first appeared on the stage in ballet at the Kings Theatre, London; she acted Clara in ''Luke the Labourer'' at the Caledonian Theatre, Edinburgh, 3 February 1827; Zephyr in ''Oberon'' at the same [[theatre]], 26 August 1827; danced at Covent Garden Theatre 1830–35 and 1837–43; danced at Surrey Theatre, 1832–34; Columbine in pantomime of ''Valkyrie'', 26 December 1832; acted and danced at Drury Lane Theatre, January 1836 to 1837; Columbine in pantomime of ''Harlequin and Old Gammer Gurton'', 26 December 1836; played Margaret in ''Much Ado About Nothing'' at Drury Lane, 24 February 1843; member of Lyceum Theatre Company, 8 April 1844 to 11 June 1847 and 18 October 1847; acted Transimenus in Planche's ''The Golden Branch'', 3 January 1848; and was 'considered the most lovely woman of her time'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boase |first1=Frederic |title=Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Between the Years 1851-1900, with an Index of the Most Interesting Matter |date=1965 |publisher=Frank Cass |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernenglishbio0005boas/page/n161 302] |url=https://archive.org/details/modernenglishbio0005boas |url-access=registration |language=en}}</ref>
Sarah first appeared on the stage in ballet at the Kings Theatre, London; she acted Clara in ''[[Luke the Labourer]]'' at the Caledonian Theatre, Edinburgh, 3 February 1827; Zephyr in ''Oberon'' at the same [[theatre]], 26 August 1827; danced at Covent Garden Theatre 1830–35 and 1837–43; danced at Surrey Theatre, 1832–34; Columbine in pantomime of ''Valkyrie'', 26 December 1832; acted and danced at Drury Lane Theatre, January 1836 to 1837; Columbine in pantomime of ''Harlequin and Old Gammer Gurton'', 26 December 1836; played Margaret in ''Much Ado About Nothing'' at Drury Lane, 24 February 1843; member of Lyceum Theatre Company, 8 April 1844 to 11 June 1847 and 18 October 1847; acted Transimenus in Planche's ''The Golden Branch'', 3 January 1848; and was 'considered the most lovely woman of her time'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boase |first1=Frederic |title=Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Between the Years 1851-1900, with an Index of the Most Interesting Matter |date=1965 |publisher=Frank Cass |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernenglishbio0005boas/page/n161 302] |url=https://archive.org/details/modernenglishbio0005boas |url-access=registration |language=en}}</ref>


==Personal life==
Sarah had an illegitimate son, Charles Manners Sutton Fairbrother, on 8 August 1836. He was baptised at St Mary, Islington, 12 March 1837, and seems to have been the son of Charles John Manners Sutton, later 2nd [[Viscount Canterbury]] (1812–1869). He died unmarried at 19 Pall Mall, Middlesex, 14 March 1901.
Sarah had an illegitimate son, Charles Manners Sutton Fairbrother, on 8 August 1836. According to Camp, he was "probably" son of Charles John Manners Sutton, later 2nd [[Viscount Canterbury]] (1812–1869).<ref name=camp/> He died unmarried at 19 Pall Mall, Middlesex, 14 March 1901.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/charles-manners-sutton-fairbrother-24-4w7bx0|title=Charles Manners-Sutton Fairbrother (1836 - 1901)|website=ancestry.com|access-date=6 June 2022}}</ref> Sarah's illegitimate daughter, Louisa Catherine, was born on 22 March 1839, and baptised as if she were legitimate, with the surname Bernard (although her birth was not registered under either Bernard or Fairbrother). Her father was [[Thomas Bernard (1816–1882)]], of [[Kinnitty Castle|Castle Bernard]], King's County, Ireland (son of the Irish politician [[Thomas Bernard (Irish politician)|Thomas Bernard]]), who made provision for her at the time of her marriage. Louisa Catherine died without issue in 1919.<ref name=camp/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://anthonyjcamp.com/pages/anthony-j-camp-additions|title=Anthony J. Camp - ADDITIONS}}</ref>


⚫
===Marriage===
Sarah had an illegitimate daughter, Louisa Catherine, on 22 March 1839. She was baptised in the surname Bernard at St James, Westminster, 5 July 1839, and was the daughter of Thomas Bernard, of Castle Bernard, King's County, Ireland, who made provision for her at the time of her marriage. She married (in the surname FitzGeorge) at St George Hanover Square, 7 May 1859, Francis Fisher Hamilton (1830–1891) and died without issue, at 14 Victoria Square, London, 13 June 1919.
Sarah Fairbrother met [[Prince George, Duke of Cambridge|Prince George of Cambridge]], the son of [[Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge]] and [[Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel]], on 10 February 1840, and had two illegitimate children by him: [[George FitzGeorge|George]] in 1843 and [[Adolphus FitzGeorge|Adolphus]] in 1846. She was pregnant with a third child, [[Augustus FitzGeorge|Augustus]] (born 12 June 1847) when she obtained a marriage licence from the [[Faculty Office]] on 17 December 1846.<ref name=camp/> The pair subsequently went through a form of marriage on 8 January 1847, at St John Clerkenwell, London, Prince George describing himself in the register as 'George Frederick Cambridge, gentleman' and signing as 'George Cambridge'. However, under the Royal Marriages Act 1772, Prince George was required to seek the permission of the British monarch (at that time his cousin, [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]]) to marry, but failed to do so as permission to marry an actress with four illegitimate children by three fathers would never have been given. The marriage was therefore [[void marriage|void]] from the outset.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9a1TDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA432 |title=Constitutional History of the UK|first= Ann |last=Lyon|year= 2016 |publisher=Taylor and Francis|isbn=978-1317203988 |page=432}}</ref>


⚫
Legend created for the couple an idyllic relationship that seems far from the reality, she having many moments of suspicion and jealousy and he frequently lying about his affairs. She was an invalid from 1867. The Prince's comment in 1884 that 'when a man, through some unfortunate accident, makes a great mistake, he must abide by it' was taken to refer to their [[illegal marriage]]. In ''The Royal George'' (Butler & Tanner, London, 1963), the historian Giles St Aubyn contested the negative conception of their relationship, writing: that it was popular with "most Englishmen"; that Prince George mourned Sarah, visiting their home to "take affectionate leave", and stating that her death "overwhelmed (him) with grief and sorrow"; and that, on the anniversary of her death, Prince George wrote of "the intense sorrow that oppresses and depresses my heart".<ref>The Royal George, Giles St Aubyn, Butler & Tanner, 1963, pp. 36, 274, 275</ref>
Sarah Fairbrother met Prince George of Cambridge, 10 February 1840, and had two illegitimate children by him: George in 1843 and Adolphus in 1846. She was pregnant with a third child, [[Augustus FitzGeorge|Augustus]] (born 12 June 1847) when she obtained a licence from the Faculty Office on 17 December 1846 and went through a form of marriage with the Prince on 8 January 1847.


⚫
===Mrs FitzGeorge===
⚫
==Marriage==
⚫
As her marriage was unlawful, Sarah could not use the title of [[Duchess of Cambridge]] or the style ''[[Her Royal Highness]]''. Instead, she was first known as Mrs Fairbrother and later as ''Mrs FitzGeorge''.
{{Over-quotation|date=August 2018}}
On 8 January 1847, she married at St John Clerkenwell, London, [[Prince George, Duke of Cambridge|Prince George of Cambridge]], describing himself as 'George Frederick Cambridge, gentleman' and signing 'George Cambridge', the son of [[Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge]] and [[Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel]]. Under the Royal Marriages Act 1772, Prince George was required to seek the permission of the British monarch (at that time his cousin, [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]]) to marry, but failed to do so as permission to marry an actress with four illegitimate children by three fathers would never have been given.

⚫
Legend created for the couple an idyllic relationship that seems far from the reality, she having many moments of suspicion and jealousy and he frequently lying about his affairs. She was an invalid from 1867. The Prince's comment in 1884 that 'when a man, through some unfortunate accident, makes a great mistake, he must abide by it' was taken to refer to their [[illegal marriage]].

On the other hand, Giles St. Aubyn, in his biography of Prince George, 'The Royal George' (Butler & Tanner, London, 1963), wrote the following:

(p.&nbsp;36) If the marriage was frowned on by his own family, it was very popular with most Englishmen. An old soldier's widow, who had been housekeeper at the Horse Guards, summed up popular feeling. 'Ah, well,' she said, 'he loved a fine woman and he married her and stuck to her, and said he would rather be buried with her in Kensal Green than with his own family in the royal vaults at Windsor.'

(p.&nbsp;274) Finally, a week after the funeral, he went 'to Queen Street to take affectionate leave of the dear old house, including the room in which she died, where I have spent so many happy years of my life with my beloved wife. It overwhelmed me with grief and sorrow.'

(p.&nbsp;275) The Duke, who never forgot anniversaries, lived over again the miseries of Louisa's death in January 1891. 'My thoughts,' he wrote, 'were entirely absorbed with the sad recollection of last year, for this was the year my beloved Wife Louisa passed away from amongst us. Oh! how I deplore her loss, to me so great and irreparable. No words can express the intense sorrow that oppresses and depresses my heart.'

(p.&nbsp;275) From everything that the Duke did, said and wrote, it is evident that he was devoted to Louisa, and it appears that his passion for Mrs Beauclerk in no way diminished his affection for his wife.

(p.&nbsp;275-276) Lady Geraldine [Somerset], no doubt expressing the view of the Duchess, and, certainly in this instance, of the Queen, deplored the marriage and detested Louisa. Her opinions, of course, were poisoned by almost hysterical jealousy and her views on marriage were narrowly aristocratic.

(p.&nbsp;277) Lady Geraldine's views were more often than not expressed with extravagant vigour, but they were recorded after all in a private journal with no thought of publication. She was neither obliged nor accustomed to weigh her words, and her likes were as passionate as her dislikes were vehement. Her hopeless infatuation for the Duke, her unthinking acceptance of social conventions, and her distracted jealousy, all encouraged her to blackguard Mrs. FitzGeorge.

⚫
==Mrs FitzGeorge==
⚫
As the marriage was not legal, Sarah could not take on the title of [[Duchess of Cambridge]] or the style ''[[Her Royal Highness]]''. Instead she was first known as Mrs Fairbrother and later as ''Mrs FitzGeorge''.


Her three children by the Prince were:
Her three children by the Prince were:


* Colonel [[George FitzGeorge]] (24 August 1843 – 2 September 1907); married [[Rosa Frederica Baring FitzGeorge|Rosa Baring]] (9 March 1854 – 10 March 1927), daughter of William Baring of Norman Court, Hants., by Elizabeth Hammersley.
* Colonel [[George FitzGeorge]] (24 August 1843 – 2 September 1907); married [[Rosa Frederica Baring FitzGeorge|Rosa Baring]] (9 March 1854 – 10 March 1927), daughter of William Baring of Norman Court, Hants., by Elizabeth Hammersley.
* Rear Admiral Sir [[Adolphus FitzGeorge]], KCVO (30 January 1846 – 17 December 1922); married (1) Sofia Holden (1857 – 3 February 1920), daughter of Thomas Holden of Winestead Hall, Hull; and had issue; (2) Margaret Watson (1863 – 26 February 1934), daughter of John Watson of Waresley Court, Hartlebury; no issue.
* Rear Admiral Sir [[Adolphus FitzGeorge]], [[Royal Victorian Order|KCVO]] (30 January 1846 – 17 December 1922); married (1) Sofia Holden (1857 – 3 February 1920), daughter of Thomas Holden of [[Winestead|Winestead Hall]], Hull; and had issue; (2) Margaret Watson (1863 – 26 February 1934), daughter of John Watson of Waresley Court, Hartlebury; no issue.
* Colonel Sir [[Augustus FitzGeorge]], KCVO, CB (12 June 1847 – 30 October 1933).
* Colonel Sir [[Augustus FitzGeorge]], KCVO, [[Order of the Bath|CB]] (12 June 1847 – 30 October 1933).

⚫
Sarah FitzGeorge died at 6 Queen Street, [[Mayfair]], on 12 January 1890, and her body was deposited in the Mausoleum commissioned by the Prince at [[Kensal Green Cemetery]], London, 16 January 1890, very near to another of the Prince's mistresses, Louisa Beauclerk, who had died in 1882. He had decided in 1849 that he would be buried near Beauclerk, whom he had known since 1837. He saw much of her from 1847, and she was his mistress from 1849. The prince later described her as 'the idol of my life and my existence'.


==See also==
⚫
She died at 6 Queen Street, Mayfair, London, on 12 January 1890, and her body was deposited in the Mausoleum commissioned by the Prince at [[Kensal Green Cemetery]], London, 16 January 1890, very near to another of the Prince's mistresses, Louisa Beauclerk, who had died in 1882, he having determined in 1849 that he would be buried near Beauclerk. He had known Beauclerk since 1837, saw much of her from 1847, and she was his mistress from 1849, he later describing her as 'the idol of my life and my existence'.
*[[List of entertainers who married titled Britons]]


==Notes==
==Notes==
Line 68: Line 53:


{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbrother, Sarah Louisa}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbrother, Sarah Louisa}}
[[Category:1816 births]]
[[Category:1814 births]]
[[Category:1890 deaths]]
[[Category:1890 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]
Line 76: Line 61:
[[Category:Mistresses of British royalty]]
[[Category:Mistresses of British royalty]]
[[Category:19th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:19th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:Wives_of_British_princes]]
[[Category:Wives of British princes]]

Latest revision as of 07:47, 26 December 2024

Sarah Fairbrother
Fairbrother as Abdullah in Open Sesame (or as Alladin in The Forty Thieves[1]), 1844
Born(1814-10-31)31 October 1814
James Street, Westminster, London
Died12 January 1890(1890-01-12) (aged 75)
6 Queen Street, Mayfair, London
Resting placeKensal Green Cemetery
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1847)​
Partner(s)Charles Manners-Sutton, 2nd Viscount Canterbury
Thomas Bernard
ChildrenCharles Fairbrother
Louisa Bernard
George FitzGeorge
Adolphus FitzGeorge
Augustus FitzGeorge
Parent(s)John Fairbrother
Mary Tucker

Sarah Fairbrother (calling herself Louisa and known from 1859 as Mrs FitzGeorge; 31 October 1814 – 12 January 1890) was an English actress and the mistress of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, a male-line grandson of George III. As the couple married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, their marriage was not recognised under the law.

Early life

[edit]

Sarah Fairbrother was born in James Street, Westminster, 31 October 1814, and baptised at St George's, Hanover Square, 8 October 1817. The genealogist Anthony J. Camp cites her baptismal record in identifying her parents as John Fairbrother, a servant in Westminster, and Mary (whose maiden name may have been Phillips, but Camp acknowledges the possibility of error owing to the frequency of the surname).[2] Her father was described as a servant in 1813 and 1817, but as a labourer in 1824. His family had no known connection with Robert Fairbrother, the prompter at Drury Lane Theatre, or with the Fairbrother family of printers in Bow Street, Covent Garden, as is frequently stated.[3]

Stage career

[edit]

Sarah first appeared on the stage in ballet at the Kings Theatre, London; she acted Clara in Luke the Labourer at the Caledonian Theatre, Edinburgh, 3 February 1827; Zephyr in Oberon at the same theatre, 26 August 1827; danced at Covent Garden Theatre 1830–35 and 1837–43; danced at Surrey Theatre, 1832–34; Columbine in pantomime of Valkyrie, 26 December 1832; acted and danced at Drury Lane Theatre, January 1836 to 1837; Columbine in pantomime of Harlequin and Old Gammer Gurton, 26 December 1836; played Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing at Drury Lane, 24 February 1843; member of Lyceum Theatre Company, 8 April 1844 to 11 June 1847 and 18 October 1847; acted Transimenus in Planche's The Golden Branch, 3 January 1848; and was 'considered the most lovely woman of her time'.[4]

Personal life

[edit]

Sarah had an illegitimate son, Charles Manners Sutton Fairbrother, on 8 August 1836. According to Camp, he was "probably" son of Charles John Manners Sutton, later 2nd Viscount Canterbury (1812–1869).[3] He died unmarried at 19 Pall Mall, Middlesex, 14 March 1901.[5] Sarah's illegitimate daughter, Louisa Catherine, was born on 22 March 1839, and baptised as if she were legitimate, with the surname Bernard (although her birth was not registered under either Bernard or Fairbrother). Her father was Thomas Bernard (1816–1882), of Castle Bernard, King's County, Ireland (son of the Irish politician Thomas Bernard), who made provision for her at the time of her marriage. Louisa Catherine died without issue in 1919.[3][6]

Marriage

[edit]

Sarah Fairbrother met Prince George of Cambridge, the son of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, on 10 February 1840, and had two illegitimate children by him: George in 1843 and Adolphus in 1846. She was pregnant with a third child, Augustus (born 12 June 1847) when she obtained a marriage licence from the Faculty Office on 17 December 1846.[3] The pair subsequently went through a form of marriage on 8 January 1847, at St John Clerkenwell, London, Prince George describing himself in the register as 'George Frederick Cambridge, gentleman' and signing as 'George Cambridge'. However, under the Royal Marriages Act 1772, Prince George was required to seek the permission of the British monarch (at that time his cousin, Queen Victoria) to marry, but failed to do so as permission to marry an actress with four illegitimate children by three fathers would never have been given. The marriage was therefore void from the outset.[7]

Legend created for the couple an idyllic relationship that seems far from the reality, she having many moments of suspicion and jealousy and he frequently lying about his affairs. She was an invalid from 1867. The Prince's comment in 1884 that 'when a man, through some unfortunate accident, makes a great mistake, he must abide by it' was taken to refer to their illegal marriage. In The Royal George (Butler & Tanner, London, 1963), the historian Giles St Aubyn contested the negative conception of their relationship, writing: that it was popular with "most Englishmen"; that Prince George mourned Sarah, visiting their home to "take affectionate leave", and stating that her death "overwhelmed (him) with grief and sorrow"; and that, on the anniversary of her death, Prince George wrote of "the intense sorrow that oppresses and depresses my heart".[8]

Mrs FitzGeorge

[edit]

As her marriage was unlawful, Sarah could not use the title of Duchess of Cambridge or the style Her Royal Highness. Instead, she was first known as Mrs Fairbrother and later as Mrs FitzGeorge.

Her three children by the Prince were:

  • Colonel George FitzGeorge (24 August 1843 – 2 September 1907); married Rosa Baring (9 March 1854 – 10 March 1927), daughter of William Baring of Norman Court, Hants., by Elizabeth Hammersley.
  • Rear Admiral Sir Adolphus FitzGeorge, KCVO (30 January 1846 – 17 December 1922); married (1) Sofia Holden (1857 – 3 February 1920), daughter of Thomas Holden of Winestead Hall, Hull; and had issue; (2) Margaret Watson (1863 – 26 February 1934), daughter of John Watson of Waresley Court, Hartlebury; no issue.
  • Colonel Sir Augustus FitzGeorge, KCVO, CB (12 June 1847 – 30 October 1933).

Sarah FitzGeorge died at 6 Queen Street, Mayfair, on 12 January 1890, and her body was deposited in the Mausoleum commissioned by the Prince at Kensal Green Cemetery, London, 16 January 1890, very near to another of the Prince's mistresses, Louisa Beauclerk, who had died in 1882. He had decided in 1849 that he would be buried near Beauclerk, whom he had known since 1837. He saw much of her from 1847, and she was his mistress from 1849. The prince later described her as 'the idol of my life and my existence'.

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Sitwell, Sacheverelle (1948). The Romantic Ballet. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 9781199561688.
  2. ^ Anthony J. Camp, Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714–1936, 2007, pp. 330-338 and Addenda
  3. ^ a b c d "Anthony J. Camp - MRS FITZGEORGE".
  4. ^ Boase, Frederic (1965). Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Between the Years 1851-1900, with an Index of the Most Interesting Matter. Frank Cass. p. 302.
  5. ^ "Charles Manners-Sutton Fairbrother (1836 - 1901)". ancestry.com. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Anthony J. Camp - ADDITIONS".
  7. ^ Lyon, Ann (2016). Constitutional History of the UK. Taylor and Francis. p. 432. ISBN 978-1317203988.
  8. ^ The Royal George, Giles St Aubyn, Butler & Tanner, 1963, pp. 36, 274, 275
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Sarah_Fairbrother&oldid=1265308433"