Harriett Pigott (1775–1846) was known for writing her memoirs of her travels abroad.

Life

Pigott's uncles were both aristocratic writers. Her uncle Charles Pigott had published scandalous accounts of his life under the titles of ''The Jockey Club'' and ''The Female Jockey Club''. Her uncle

Robert Pigott Robert Pigott (1665–1746), of Chetwynd, Shropshire and Chesterton, Huntingdonshire, was an English landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1713 and 1741. Early life Pigott was baptized on 24 October 1665, the eld ...

had been on the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

and he wrote about his views on food and dress which influenced some parts of French society during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

.J. G. Alger, ‘Pigott, Robert (1736–1794)’, rev. Stephen M. Lee, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 5 April 2015
/ref> Her father, William, was the rector at Chetwynd and her mother was Arabella (born Mytton). In 1832 she would have come to notice when she wrote ''The Private Correspondence of a Woman of Fashion'' but it was published anonymously. This biographical book tells her story via the letters she wrote during travels abroad and back in England. Her letters say that she was "dazzled" when she saw

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

after he returned from the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

to Paris and how she and her friends visited the battlefield within a fortnight to picnic and pick up souvenirs. She would describe her life in England in 1816. She describes anecdotes in her letters such as seeing the scandalous

Ladies of Llangollen The "Ladies of Llangollen", Eleanor Butler (1739–1829) and Sarah Ponsonby (1755–1831), were two upper-class Irish women whose relationship scandalised and fascinated their contemporaries. The pair moved to a Gothic house in Llangollen, No ...

, the celebrity

Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified". She was the elder sister of John ...

acting and a visit by the young

Princess Charlotte Princess Charlotte may refer to: People * Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1694–1715), wife of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia and mother of Tsar Peter II, Emperor of Russia * Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans (1700–1761), wife of ...

and Prince Leopold to the theatre. Whilst she was preparing her next publication she met the aging

John Galt John Galt () is a character in Ayn Rand's novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1957). Although he is not identified by name until the last third of the novel, he is the object of its often-repeated question "Who is John Galt?" and of the quest to discover ...

who she persuaded to edit ''Records of Real Life in the Palace and the Cottage''. She received some criticism for this as it was suspected that she was just taking advantage of Galt who died in the same year the book was published. However her unfinished biography of him which is in the Bodleian library implies that it was more of a mutual respects than her critics allowed. ''Records of Real Life in the Palace and the Cottage'' had an introduction by Galt and this three volume work was published with her as prime author in 1839. This book was again in letter form and it documented her long visits to Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland and France.Pam Perkins, ‘Pigott, Harriet (1775–1846)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 5 April 2015
/ref> Her final work was a fairy story titled ''The Three Springs of Beauty''. Pigott died in Geneva in 1846.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pigott, Harriet 1775 births 1846 deaths British memoirists British travel writers British women memoirists British women travel writers