Our "Bygone Beauty" is actually Miss Georgiana Spencer, born on the 7th of June 1757, at Althorp House, in Northamptonshire, which makes her a long distant relation of Diana, Princess of Wales.
On her seventeenth birthday she was married to William Cavendish, reputedly the most eligible bachelor of his time, and the Duke of Devonshire, though he was older than her, by nine years. It was hardly a love match, he needed an heir, and fast, and he pretty much went back to his bachelor lifestyle, spending weeks away at the card table. As both her parents had been gamblers, this ought to have rung the alarm bells, but instead it seems to have made her a gambler as well, though some say, and it does seem logical, that this was perhaps just so she had something in common with her husband, something they could talk about to fill the short time they were together. Also, the heir did not appear, only two miscarriages. Actually the Duke already had a child, but not a legal one, and only a daughter, by a milliner, called Charlotte Spencer, no relation to the Spencers of Althorp, and to make matters worse later on, when the mother died, this child was taken in by the Duke, though it seems that Georgiana loved the girl deeply. The Duke also had two more children, later on, with a woman called Lady Elizabeth, who moved into the same house with them.
It took until 1783 for Georgiana to have a child, a daughter, and two years later another child, also a daughter, came along. Her first son, and heir, waited until 1790 to turn up, who was christened William George Spencer Cavendish. He never married, though had plenty of romances. And after his birth her marriage kind of ended, she took a lover, a Charles Grey, and had another daughter, who his family claimed as their own, though they did allow Georgiana to stay in touch and visit. However in 1796 she had problems with her eye, and lost the sight in it. She gambled, heavily, and she died on the 30th of March, 1806, aged just forty-eight.
Then her husband married Lady Elizabeth.
I`m sure we have had the small size of this set before but can I find it, no. They both first appear in our original John Player reference book, RB.17, published in 1950, as :
- 40 BYGONE BEAUTIES. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issues.
25 Small cards, issued February 1914
10 Extra large cards, issued May 1916
Their next appearance is in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, much the same, as :
- BYGONE BEAUTIES. Nd. ... P72-21
A. Small (25)
B. Extra large (10)
As for the ten cards, they are :
- (as small card 6)
Front - Miss Linley after Thomas Gainsborough R.A.
Back - Eliza Linley Mrs Sheridan by Thomas Gainsborough
- (as small card 24)
Front - Louise de Keroualle after Varelst
Back - The Duchess of Portsmouth by Varelst
- (as small card 10)
Front - Lavinia Bingham after Sir Joshua Reynolds R.A.
Back - Lavinia Bingham Countess Spencer by Sir Joshua Reynolds
- (as small card 4)
Front - The Marchioness of Salisbury after Sir Thos. Lawrence R.A.
Back - Frances Mary Marchioness of Salisbury by Sir Thomas Lawrence
- (as small card 25)
Front - Lady Louisa Manners after John Hoppner R.A.
Back - Louisa Manners Countess Dysart by John Hoppner
- (as small card 8)
Front - Lady Hamilton after George Romney R.A.
Back - Lady Hamilton by George Romney
- (as small card 2)
Front - The Duchess of Richmond after Sir Peter Lely R.A.
Back - Frances Stewart Duchess of Richmond by Sir Peter Lely
- (as small card 20)
Front - Lady Blessington after Sir Thomas Lawrence
Back - Marguerite Countess of Blessington by Sir Thomas Lawrence
- (as small card 5)
Front - Mrs, Siddons after Thos Gainsborough R.A.
Back - Mrs Siddons by Thomas Gainsborough
- (as small card 17)
Front - The Duchess of Devonshire after Thos. Gainsborough R.A.
Back - Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire by Thomas Gainsborough
The curious thing here is that though all the backs say "by", the front actually say "after", which, in the art world, mean a copy by another hand. So it seems that John Player took that literally, because they did not paint the pictures, only reproduce them. However they still say "by" on the backs!