Anna Larpent ( Porter) (4 April 1758 – 4 March 1832) was a British diarist. She was the ''de facto'' assistant Examiner of Plays and her seventeen volume diaries document 47 years of Georgian life.

Early life

Larpent was born in Pera in Turkey 1758 where her father was a British diplomat. She was the eldest of three surviving children born to Clarissa Catherine de Hochepied and James Porter, the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Her younger brother, Lt.-Gen.

George Porter George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham (6 December 1920 – 31 August 2002) was a British chemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Education and early life Porter was born in Stainforth, near Thorne, in the then West ...

, was a Whig MP who married

Henrietta Grosvenor Henrietta de Hochepied, Baroness de Hochepied (née Vernon; formerly Baroness Grosvenor) – 1828) was an English aristocrat, socialite, and courtesan. Early life She was one of four daughters born to Lady Henrietta ( née Wentworth) Vernon (t ...

(widow of

Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor (; 18 June 1731 – 5 August 1802), known as Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt between 1755 and 1761 and as The Lord Grosvenor between 1761 and 1784, was a British peer, racehorse owner and art collector. H ...

and mother of the 1st Marquess Grosvenor). Her father was the son of a Captain of Horse named La Roche who had adopted the name of Porter. Her maternal grandparents were Anna Margaretha Boelema and

Elbert de Hochepied Elbert de Hochepied, 2nd Baron de Hochepied (6 January 1706 – 11 February 1763) was a Dutch politician and diplomat, who represented the Dutch Republic at the Sublime Porte. Early life Hochepied was born in Smyrna on 6 January 1706. He was the ...

, 2nd Baron de Hochepied, the Dutch Ambassador to Constantinople). Anna started her diary in 1773 and continued it in seventeen volumes over fifty-seven years to 1830.

Career

When she was eighteen Larpent published a 32 page account of the bigamy trial of

Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston-upon-Hull Elizabeth Pierrepont (née Chudleigh), Duchess of Kingston (8 March 172126 August 1788), sometimes called Countess of Bristol, was an English courtier and courtesan, known by her contemporaries for her adventurous life style. She was the daugh ...

at Westminster Hall that gathered 4,000 spectators. The manuscript that was written by a woman for other women to read has been re-published as a historic source. Her husband,

John Larpent John Larpent (14 November 1741 – 18 January 1824) was an English inspector of plays. Early life Larpent was born on 14 November 1741. He was the second son of John Larpent (1710–1797), who was forty-three years in the Foreign Office, and ...

, was the Inspector of Plays serving as the single approver of plays that were to be performed in Britain. Following their marriage, Anna was the ''de facto'' assistant to him. When the plays were written in French or Italian then she had the skills to be able comprehend them.A Women's View of Drama
Huntingdon Library, Retrieved 13 April 2017 She was fluent in Italian where her husband had little knowledge so it was she who reviewed the plays that were written in Italian. Larpent was interested in her work and she was a fan of

Elizabeth Inchbald Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson, 15 October 1753 – 1 August 1821) was an English novelist, actress, dramatist, and translator. Her two novels, '' A Simple Story'' and '' Nature and Art'', have received particular critical attention. Life Bo ...

Career

On 25 April 1782 she married

, a widower who she hoped would care for her and younger sister Clara who she had adopted. From his first marriage, he was a father of Francis Seymour Larpent, who later served as Judge-Advocate General of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Together, they were the parents of two sons: * John James de Hochepied Larpent (1783–1860), Consul at Antwerp who married Georgiana Frances Reeves, a daughter of Frederick Reeves, Esq. of

East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic hub for Mortl ...

. * George Gerard de Hochepied Larpent (1786–1855), an MP for

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

who was created a baronet in 1841. Her husband died on 18 January 1824. On 25 March 1828, her eldest son succeeded her brother as Baron de Hochepied, the family's Hungarian title (which had been licensed to bear the title in England in 1819). She died in London in 1832.Lisa Forman Cody, ‘Larpent , Anna Margaretta (1758–1832)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 13 April 2017
/ref> Her diary is held at the Huntington Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larpent, Anna 1758 births 1832 deaths People from Beyoğlu British diarists