If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2020)
|Image of Lady Hester Stanhope
Garbed as an Oriental Magus
More than matching the fame of the most notable male recluses of eighteenth-century Britain was the renown of the amazing Lady Hester Stanhope.1 She not only cut herself off from her aristocratic family background to live remotely but did so, at first in grand style and then as a recluse, in the Lebanon.
Her story indicates that there were some remarkable options open to independent-minded women, with independent fortunes but no family attachments. In fact, there was quite a substantial amount of female solitude in the eighteenth century.2 The caricature view, which asserts that every woman was under the domestic tutelage of either a husband or a father was just that – a caricature.
There were plenty of female-headed households listed in contemporary urban enumerations; and a number of these were formed by widows living alone. Many lived in the growing spas and resorts, where low-cost lodgings were plentiful. Some would have other family members living with them; but the poorest were completely alone. In Jane Austen’s Persuasion (1817), the protagonist Anne Elliott meets in Bath an old school-friend, the widowed Mrs Smith. She is impecunious and disabled. Her lodgings consist of two small rooms; and she is ‘unable even to afford herself the comfort of a servant’. Nonetheless, solitary living was not the same as being a recluse. Local gossip networks helped to counter isolation, as Jane Austen well understood. Hence, although socially remote from Bath’s smart visitors, Mrs Smith gets all the up-to-date news ‘through the short cut of a laundress and a waiter’.3 As a result, Anne Elliott is surprised to discover how much information about herself and her family is already known to her old friend.
Lady Hester Stanhope was utterly different. Lively, charming, and wealthy, she was the daughter of the 3rd Earl Stanhope and, in her late twenties (1803-6) acted as political hostess for her uncle Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. Her social elevation and experience of life at the heart of government gave her immense self-confidence. But Pitt’s death in 1806 left her looking for a role.
In retrospect, Stanhope’s subsequent adventures indicate something of the social plight – or, put more positively, the challenges – facing talented and spirited upper class women, who did not wish (or manage) to marry or to go into business. There were plenty of female commercial entrepreneurs, usually of ‘middling’ social origins.4 And there was a positive ‘femocracy’ of high-born women who pulled the political strings behind the scenes.5 But these were generally married ladies, hosting salons and gatherings for their particular party affiliation, under the ‘shelter’ of their husband’s rank and wealth. The options were much more limited for a single aristocratic female, albeit one with a modest state pension granted after the death of Pitt (at his request). In 1810 Stanhope began to travel extensively in the Middle East; and she never returned to Britain. Initially, she had a sizeable entourage with her; and she attracted the attention of crowds as she toured. By the end of her life, however, she was running out of money and had become a complete recluse.
During her long self-exile, she did a number of remarkable things. Firstly, she adopted her own version of male oriental dress. She sported a velvet robe, embroidered trousers, soft slippers, a swathed turban. and no veil. So attired, she caused a sensation on her travels. In 1813, crowds gathered to see the ‘Queen of the Desert’ as she rode triumphantly on horseback into the remote and beautiful city of Palmyra, having crossed the territory of potentially hostile Bedouins. That moment was, for her, one of intense joy. Her garb and demeanour signalled that she had cut herself off from her previous life; and, even more pointedly, that she rejected any submissive female role, whether in the occident or orient. She was visibly her own person. Indeed, she was a grand personage, meeting local power brokers and Ottoman officials as a potentate in her own right.
A second notable initiative happened in 1815. Stanhope at the age of 39 broke new ground in terms of female self-employment – literally, when she tried some pioneering archaeology.6 She won permission from the Turkish authorities to excavate the ancient port of Ashkelon, north of Gaza. There were disputes, both then and later, about the outcomes of this search for fabled treasure. But Stanhope’s method of basing dirt-archaeology upon documentary evidence from medieval manuscripts showed that she was not attempting a random smash-and-grab raid. But, either way, it was not an adventure that she ever repeated.
Instead, it was a moment of religious revelation which constituted Stanhope’s third claim to fame – and which governed her behaviour for the rest of her life. At some stage c.1815 she was told by Christian sooth-sayers that she would become the bride of the Messiah, whose return to Earth was imminently due. Nothing could be more aptly dramatic. Stanhope accepted her destiny; and settled down to wait. She found two noble and distinctive horses, which were carefully tended for years, awaiting the moment when the returned Messiah and his bride would ride forth to judge the world at the Second Coming.
Excited prophecies of the End of the World can be found in any era,7 and were particularly rampant in Europe in the febrile aftermath of the French Revolution and the prolonged Napoleonic wars. At different times, individuals have claimed to be the returned Messiah – or to be closely connected with such a figure – or to know the exact date of the Second Coming. In the Christian tradition, it is rare for women to claim divinity or near-divinity on their own account. However, in 1814 Joanna Southcott, aged 64, announced that she was pregnant with the new Messiah and, briefly, attracted a large following, until she died of a stomach tumour, without producing the miraculous child. During her lifetime, she had instituted her own church, with a male minister to officiate at the services. And the Southcottian movement has survived as a small sect, with numerous twists and turns in its fortunes, into the twenty-first century.8
By contrast, Lady Hester Stanhope’s vision remained an individual destiny. Visitors approached her in her Lebanese retreat, impressed by her magus-like reputation. But Stanhope did not attempt to found a church or a supporting movement. Instead, she settled in to wait patiently. That response is a not uncommon one when a divine revelation is not immediately realised. True believers keep faith. It is the timing, not the vision, which is inaccurate. So the answer is to wait, which is what Stanhope indomitably did. Living initially in first one and then another disused monastery, she retreated eventually to a conical hill-top site with panoramic views at Joun, eight miles (13k) inland from Sidon. There she lived as the de facto local magnate. She was accepted within the religious mix of Muslim, Christian and Druze communities that has long characterised the Lebanon; and she tried to protect the Druze from persecution on grounds of their distinctive blend of Islam, gnosticism and neo-platonism. Doctrinal rigidity was very far from her personal mindset.
Only with time did Stanhope become a real recluse. By the mid-1830s, her original English companions had either died or returned home. Her funds ran low and she was besieged by creditors. The servants, allegedly, began to steal her possessions. Lady Hester Stanhope received her few last visitors after dark, refusing to let them see more than her face and hands. Reportedly, she suffered from acute depression. The Messiah did not come. Yet there was a sort of glory in her faithfulness. Her life’s trajectory was utterly distinctive, not one that could be emulated by others. Buoyed by sufficient funds, she made an independent life in an initially strange country, far from the political salons of early nineteenth-century London. And she persisted, even when impecunious. Stanhope died in her sleep aged 63, still awaiting her destiny – and having made her own legend.
1 There are many biographies: see e.g. K. Ellis, Star of the Morning: The Extraordinary Life of Lady Hester Stanhope (2008); and a pioneering survey by C.L.W. Powlett, The Life and Letters of Lady Hester Stanhope (1897).
2 B. Hill, Women Alone: Spinsters in England, 1660-1850 (2001).
3 J. Austen, Persuasion (1817/18; in Harmondsworth, 1980 edn), pp. 165-7, 200.
4 N. Phillips, Women in Business, 1700-1850 (Woodbridge, 2006); H. Barker, Family and Business during the Industrial Revolution (Oxford, 2017).
5 E. Chalus, Elite Women in British Political Life, c.1754-90 (Oxford, 2005).
6 For a sympathetic account, see https://womeninarchaeology.com/2016/05/05/lady-hester-lucy-stanhope-the-first-modern-excavator-of-the-holy-land/.
7 J.M. Court, Approaching the Apocalypse: A Short History of Christian Millenarianism (2008); C. Wessinger (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Millenialism (Oxford, 2011).
8 J.K. Hopkins, A Woman to Deliver her People: Joanna Southcott and English Millenarianism in an Era of Revolution (Austin, Texas, 1982); J.D.M. Derrett, Prophesy in the Cotswolds, 1803-1947 (Shipston-on-Stour, 1994); P.J. Corfield, Power and the Professions in Britain, 1700-1850 (1995; 2000), pp. 106-8. 124, 139; J. Shaw, Octavia, Daughter of God: The Story of a female Messiah and her Followers (2012).
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"Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya kwanza ya kitabu cha ""The Life of Lady Hester Stanhope,"" ""Make a Great Deal"" ya mwaka wa 2020 ni sehemu ya kitabu cha ""The Life of Lady Hester Stanhope"" cha mwaka wa 2020 ambacho kinaonyesha jinsi mwanamke huyo alivyotembea kwa njia ya kawaida na kwa njia ya faragha." Hadithi yake inaonyesha kwamba kulikuwa na chaguzi kadhaa za kushangaza zilizofunguliwa kwa wanawake wenye akili huru, na mali huru lakini hakuna vifungo vya familia. Kwa kweli, kulikuwa na kiasi kikubwa cha upweke wa wanawake katika karne ya kumi na nane. maoni caricature, ambayo inadai kwamba kila mwanamke alikuwa chini ya ulinzi wa nyumbani ama mume au baba ilikuwa tu kwamba <unk> caricature. Kulikuwa na nyumba nyingi zilizosimamiwa na wanawake zilizoorodheshwa katika hesabu za mijini za wakati huo; na idadi ya hizo zilifanyizwa na wajane wanaoishi peke yao. Wengi waliishi katika maeneo ya kupumzikia na ya kupumzikia yaliyokuwa yakiongezeka, ambako kulikuwa na nyumba nyingi za gharama nafuu. Wengine wangekuwa na washiriki wengine wa familia wanaoishi pamoja nao; lakini maskini zaidi walikuwa peke yao kabisa. Katika kitabu cha Jane Austen, Persuasion, Anne Elliott anakutana na mke wake, mke wa mke wake, mke wa mke wake, mke wa mke wake. Yeye hana pesa na ni mlemavu. Makao yake yana vyumba viwili vidogo; na yeye "hawezi hata kujikabidhi faraja ya mtumishi". Hata hivyo, kuishi peke yake hakukuwa sawa na kuwa mnyama-mwitu. Mitandao ya uvumi ya mahali hapo ilisaidia kukabiliana na kujitenga, kama vile Jane Austen alivyoelewa vizuri. Kwa hiyo, ingawa ni mbali na wageni wenye akili wa Bath, Bi Smith hupata habari zote za kisasa 'kupitia njia fupi ya mfuaji na mhudumu'3 Matokeo yake, Anne Elliott anashangaa kugundua ni habari ngapi kuhusu yeye na familia yake tayari inajulikana kwa rafiki yake wa zamani. Lady Hester Stanhope alikuwa tofauti kabisa. Alikuwa binti wa Earl Stanhope wa tatu, na katika miaka yake ya mwisho ya ishirini (1803-1806) alitenda kama mwenyeji wa kisiasa kwa mjomba wake, Waziri Mkuu William Pitt the Younger. Utukufu wake wa kijamii na uzoefu wa maisha katika moyo wa serikali ulimpa kujiamini sana. Lakini kifo cha Pitt mwaka 1806 kilimfanya atafute jukumu. Kwa kuangalia nyuma, vituko vya baadaye vya Stanhope vinaonyesha kitu cha hali mbaya ya kijamii - au, kwa kusema kwa njia nzuri zaidi, changamoto - zinazokabili wanawake wenye vipaji na wenye roho ya juu, ambao hawakutaka (au kufanikiwa) kuoa au kwenda katika biashara. """Kulikuwa na wanawake wengi wa biashara, kwa kawaida wa asili ya kijamii ya ""kati"" na kulikuwa na ""femocracy"" ya wanawake wa kizazi cha juu ambao walivuta nyuzi za kisiasa nyuma ya pazia, lakini kwa ujumla walikuwa wanawake waliooa, wakishiriki katika saluni na makusanyiko kwa ajili ya ushirika wao maalum wa chama, chini ya ulinzi wa cheo na utajiri wa mume wao." Chaguzi zilikuwa mdogo zaidi kwa mwanamke mmoja wa aristocratic, ingawa mmoja na pensheni ya hali ya kiasi iliyotolewa baada ya kifo cha Pitt (kwa ombi lake). Mwaka 1810 Stanhope alianza kusafiri sana katika Mashariki ya Kati; na hakurudi Uingereza kamwe. Mwanzoni, alikuwa na kikundi kikubwa cha watu waliokuwa pamoja naye; naye alivutia umati wa watu alipokuwa akisafiri. Hata hivyo, mwishoni mwa maisha yake, alikuwa ameshindwa kupata pesa na alikuwa amejificha kabisa. Wakati wa uhamisho wake wa muda mrefu, alifanya mambo kadhaa ya ajabu. Kwanza, alichukua mtindo wake mwenyewe wa mavazi ya kiume ya mashariki. Alikuwa amevaa vazi la vitambaa, suruali zilizotengenezwa kwa mapambo, viatu laini, na turban iliyopakwa vitambaa. na bila pazia. Kwa kuwa alikuwa amevalia mavazi hayo, alivutia sana watu alipokuwa akisafiri. Katika 1813, umati wa watu walikusanyika kuona 'Malkia wa Jangwa' alipokuwa akiendesha farasi kwa ushindi katika mji wa mbali na mzuri wa Palmyra, baada ya kuvuka eneo la Wabedouin wenye uwezekano wa kuwa maadui. Kwa ajili yake, wakati huo ulikuwa wa shangwe kubwa. Mavazi yake na tabia yake zilionyesha kwamba alikuwa amejitenga na maisha yake ya awali, na hata zaidi, kwamba alikataa jukumu lolote la mwanamke mwenye kujitiisha, iwe ni katika Magharibi au Mashariki. Alionekana kuwa mtu wake mwenyewe. Kwa kweli, alikuwa mtu mashuhuri, akikutana na wakala wa mamlaka wa mahali hapo na maafisa wa Ottoman kama mtawala mwenye haki yake mwenyewe. Jambo jingine muhimu lilitokea mwaka wa 1815. Stanhope, mwenye umri wa miaka 39, alianzisha biashara mpya ya wanawake, alipopata ruhusa kutoka kwa mamlaka ya Uturuki kuchimba bandari ya kale ya Ashkelon, kaskazini mwa Gaza. Kulikuwa na mabishano, wakati huo na baadaye, kuhusu matokeo ya utafutaji huo wa hazina ya hadithi. Lakini mbinu ya Stanhope ya kutegemea akiolojia ya udongo juu ya uthibitisho wa maandishi kutoka kwa hati za enzi za kati ilionyesha kwamba hakuwa akijaribu uvamizi wa kupasua na kunyakua. Lakini, kwa vyovyote vile, haikuwa safari ambayo aliwahi kurudia. Badala yake, ilikuwa wakati wa ufunuo wa kidini ambao ulifanyiza madai ya tatu ya Stanhope kwa umaarufu <unk> na ambayo ilitawala tabia yake kwa maisha yake yote. Katika kipindi fulani cha mwaka 1815 aliambiwa na waaguzi Wakristo kwamba angekuwa bibi-arusi wa Masihi, ambaye kurudi kwake duniani kulikuwa karibu. Hakuna jambo linaloweza kuwa lenye kusisimua zaidi. Stanhope alikubali hatima yake; na kukaa chini ya kusubiri. Alipata farasi wawili mashuhuri na wa kipekee, ambao walikuwa wakitunzwa kwa uangalifu kwa miaka, wakisubiri wakati ambapo Masihi aliyerudi na bibi-arusi wake wangepanda kwenda kuhukumu ulimwengu katika Kuja kwa Pili. Unabii wa mwisho wa dunia unaweza kupatikana katika enzi yoyote, na ulikuwa na nguvu sana katika Ulaya baada ya Mapinduzi ya Ufaransa na vita vya Napoleon. Katika nyakati tofauti-tofauti, watu fulani wamedai kuwa wao ndio Masihi aliyerudi - au kuwa na uhusiano wa karibu na mtu kama huyo - au kujua tarehe hususa ya Kuja kwa Pili. Katika mapokeo ya Kikristo, ni nadra kwa wanawake kudai kuwa miungu au karibu-miungu kwa ajili yao wenyewe. Hata hivyo, mwaka wa 1814, Joanna Southcott, mwenye umri wa miaka 64, alitangaza kwamba alikuwa na mimba ya Masihi mpya na, kwa muda mfupi, akavutia wafuasi wengi, mpaka alipokufa kutokana na uvimbe wa tumbo, bila kuzaa mtoto wa ajabu. Wakati wa maisha yake, alikuwa ameanzisha kanisa lake mwenyewe, akiwa na mhudumu wa kiume ili afanye ibada. "Kama vile Southcott alivyokua, ""harakati ya Southcott imeendelea kama madhehebu madogo, na mabadiliko mengi katika hatima yake, hadi karne ya ishirini na moja.""8 Kwa kulinganisha, maono ya Lady Hester Stanhope yalibaki kuwa hatima ya mtu binafsi." Wageni walimkaribia katika makao yake ya Lebanoni, wakivutiwa na sifa yake ya kuwa kama mchawi. Lakini Stanhope hakujaribu kuanzisha kanisa au harakati ya kuunga mkono. Badala yake, alikaa na kungoja kwa subira. Jibu hilo si la kawaida wakati ufunuo wa kimungu haujatimizwa mara moja. Waamini wa kweli huhifadhi imani. Ni wakati, si maono, ambayo si sahihi. Kwa hiyo jibu ni kungoja, na hilo ndilo Stanhope alifanya bila kukata tamaa. Aliishi katika moja ya makao ya watawa ya kwanza na kisha katika makao mengine ya watawa yaliyokuwa yametupwa, na hatimaye akajiuzulu kwenye kilima chenye umbo la koni na mandhari nzuri huko Joani, umbali wa maili nane kutoka Sidoni. Huko aliishi akiwa mtawala wa eneo hilo. Alipelekwa katika jamii ya Waislamu, Wakristo na Waedrusi, na alijaribu kuwalinda Waedrusi kutokana na mateso kwa sababu ya mchanganyiko wao wa Kiislamu, Gnosticism na Neo-Platonism. Ukatili wa mafundisho ulikuwa mbali sana na mtazamo wake wa kibinafsi. Ni baada tu ya muda kwamba Stanhope akawa mtu wa pekee. Kufikia katikati ya miaka ya 1830, wenzake wa kwanza wa Kiingereza walikuwa wamekufa au wamerudi nyumbani. Fedha zake zilipungua na akazungukwa na wakopeshaji. Inasemekana kwamba watumishi hao walianza kuiba mali zake. Lady Hester Stanhope alipokea wageni wake wa mwisho baada ya giza, akikataa kuwaacha waone zaidi ya uso wake na mikono. Inaripotiwa kwamba alikuwa na mshuko wa moyo mkubwa. Masihi hakukuja. Hata hivyo, kulikuwa na aina fulani ya utukufu katika uaminifu-mshikamanifu wake. Maisha yake yalikuwa ya kipekee kabisa, na hayangeweza kuigwa na wengine. Akiwa na pesa za kutosha, aliishi maisha ya kujitegemea katika nchi ambayo mwanzoni ilikuwa ya kigeni, mbali na vyumba vya kisiasa vya London mwanzoni mwa karne ya kumi na tisa. Na aliendelea kufanya hivyo, hata alipokuwa maskini. Stanhope alikufa akiwa amelala akiwa na umri wa miaka 63, bado akingojea hatima yake <unk> na baada ya kufanya hadithi yake mwenyewe. 1 Kuna biographies nyingi: angalia kwa mfano K. Ellis, Nyota ya Asubuhi: Maisha ya ajabu ya Lady Hester Stanhope (2008); na uchunguzi wa upainia na C.L.W. Powlett, Maisha na Barua za Lady Hester Stanhope (1897). "Hill, B. ""Wanawake peke yao: Spinsters katika Uingereza, 1660-1850""" "J. Austen, ""Kushawishi"" (1817-18), Harmondsworth, 1980" 165,7 na 200 "N. Phillips, ""Wanawake katika Biashara: 1700-1850"" (Woodbridge, 2006) na H. Barker, ""Familia na Biashara wakati wa Mapinduzi ya Viwanda"" (Oxford, 2017)." "E. Chalus, ""Wanawake wa Elite katika Maisha ya Siasa ya Uingereza"" (Oxford, 2005) " "Kama unavyoona, ""Women's History"" ni kitabu cha kwanza cha kisasa cha ""Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope"" kilichochapishwa na ""The First Modern Excavator of the Holy Land.""" 7 J.M. Court, Approaching the Apocalypse: A Short History of Christian Millenarianism (2008); C. Wessinger (ed. Kitabu cha Oxford Handbook of Millenialism (Oxford, 2011) J.K. Hopkins, Mwanamke wa Kuwatoa Watu Wake: Joanna Southcott na Milenia ya Kiingereza katika Enzi ya Mapinduzi (Austin, Texas, 1982) "Derrett, ""Utabiri katika Cotswolds,"" 1803-1947 (Shipston-on-Stour, 1994); P.J. Corfield, Nguvu na Kazi katika Uingereza, 1700-1850 (1995; 2000), pp. 106-8, na 106-8, na 106-8. "J. Shaw, Octavia, ""Binti ya Mungu: Hadithi ya Masihi wa Kike na Wafuasi Wake""" Kwa maelezo zaidi, angalia Twitter, kwa maelezo zaidi, tafadhali bonyeza hapa, na kwa maelezo zaidi, angalia hapa.