Harriet Arbuthnot
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Harriet Arbuthnot (1793 — 1834) was born Harriet Fane, the daughter of General the Hon Henry Fane, second son of Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland. She married at Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, 31 January 1814, Rt Hon Charles Arbuthnot, MP. She is famed for having been a particular friend of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington who was also a close friend of her husband.
Harriet, who was fascinated by politics, enjoyed success as a political hostess and exerted her energies to promote Tory causes. The story of the intimate friendship of the trio of Harriet, her husband Charles, and Wellington is told in Wellington and the Arbuthnots by E. A. Smith. which refutes the suggestion that Harriet was Wellington's mistress. Harriet was distantly connected to Wellington through the marriage of her cousin, Lord Westmorland with the Duke's niece, Lady Priscilla Wellesley-Pole. The tour at Apsley House, the Duke's London residence, asserts that she served as his hostess at political dinners.
Harriet's portrait by John Hoppner is now in the Foundation Lazzaro Galdiano, Madrid. Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of her is at the Arbuthnots' country house, Woodford. Her diaries were published as The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot in 1950.
She died suddenly at Woodford in the summer of 1834 of cholera. After her death, Charles left Woodford and lived with Wellington for the rest of his life.
[edit] Bibliography
- ^ Smith, E.A. Wellington and the Arbuthnots: a triangular friendship (UK, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1994) ISBN 0-7509-0629-4
- ^ Arbuthnot, Harriet (author) and Bamford, F., and the Duke of Wellington (editors) The Journal of Mrs. Arbuthnot, 1820-1832 (London, MacMillan, 1950)
