Miss Duncan
Maria Rebecca Davison "Miss Duncan" (1780 - 1858) A stage celebrity and style icon, who made her name as Miss Duncan, Maria Davison is largely forgotten by history, but in her day she rattled a few cages by playing male roles and making demands theater managers thought outlandish, such as requesting fire safety checks. In 1809, The Monthly Mirror (1 November) found Miss Duncan less than handsome, observing: "...she is a very clever actress, but her face was made for Drury-lane stage--we love her best at a distance. She promises soon to be what is elegantly [...]
Mary Linwood – Stitchery Tycoon
There were few “respectable” self-made women in the Regency era. Mary Linwood made her fortune in needlework. At the height of her fame, Russian Empress Catherine the Great offered to buy all her “stitchery paintings” for £40,000. That’s about US$3,000,000 in today’s money. Mary Linwood - Stitchery Tycoon Mary Linwood, embroidery ca. 1798. Salvator Mundi, after Carlo Dulci When Mary died of flu at almost 90 years old, her entire collection fetched a mere £300 at auction. The “needlepainting” phenomenon had done its dash and no one seemed sure what [...]
Other Interesting Posts
Outsiders Within – Romani in the Regency
By the time 'Gypsies' appeared on the pages of Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott and Maria Edgeworth, Romani people had been in England for centuries. Sidebar: Believing the copper-skinned migrants to hail from Egypt, the Europeans had coined the term "Gypsies" for these migrants. Some consider [...]
