Well, I Laughed
Rumor Has It pt.2: Dearest Reader
Was Bridgerton's Lady Whisledown based on a real person? This week, Maia talks to us about the original Lady Whistledown, Mrs. Crackenthorpe, and whether her true identity is Thomas Baker, or, more likely, Delarivier Manley. Join us as we dive into the gossip pages that were all the rage during this period of whispers and intrigue. Women get published, reputations get ruined, and we attempt to seperate fact from fiction. Oh, and do you want to meet the real Lady Cowper? This week, on Well, I Laughed!
Story starts at 00:20:00
Photos Referenced:
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Example of the Female Tatler while authored by Mrs. Crackenthorpe - courtesy of the University of Michigan | Portrait of Emily Lamb, aged 16, by Sir Thomas Lawrence - courtesy of the UK National Gallery |
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Lady Emily Palmerston in 1860 (age ~73) - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons | Lord Henry Palmerston c. 1830-1840s (age ~50) - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
Sources:
Delarivier Manley
Mary de la Riviere Manley - Britannica
Delarivier Manley's Possible Children by John Tilly - Rachel Carnell for Cleveland State University
Delarivier Manley - Orlando Cambridge
Who is the real Lady Whistledown? - Engelsberg Ideas
Sex Politics: Delarivier Manley's New Atalantis - Soňa Nováková for Charles University
Sociology
Psst - Wanna Know Why Gossip Has Evolved In Every Human Society - Stanford Business
The Surprising Benefits of Gossip - Scientific American
The Female Tatler/Mrs. Crackenthorpe
The Female Tatler 1709-1710 - Internet Archive
La Bruyere and Mrs. Crackenthorpe's Female Tatler - Paul Bunyan Anderson in Vol 52, No 1 of PMLA
Mrs Crackenthorpe was the 'Real' Lady Whistledown, Long Before Bridgerton - History Hustle
Review: The Female Tatler by 'Mrs Crackenthorpe' and others - Lodger
Scandal: Gossip Rags, 18th Century Style - Unusual History
The Real Ladies Whistledown - Epochs of Fashion
Misc
Whe JQ First Created Last Whistledown, A Father-Daughter Story - Julia Quinn
Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons: Hollywood's Killer Queens by Catherine Hokin - The History Girls
On Sale Now - Drury Lane Theatre
Emily Temple, Viscountess Palmerston - Wikipedia
William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper - Wikipedia
Catharine Trotter - Orlando Cambridge