Henrietta de Hochepied, Baroness de Hochepied (née Vernon; formerly Baroness Grosvenor, – 1828) was an English aristocrat, socialite, and

courtesan A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...

Early life

She was one of four daughters born to Lady Henrietta (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Wentworth) Vernon (third daughter of

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (13 April 1593 (New Style, N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English people, English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament of England, Parliament ...

) and Henry Vernon of Hilton Hall, former Member of Parliament for Lichfield and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

New Female Coterie

After her separation from the Baron Grosvenor (who was made Earl Grosvenor in 1784), Henrietta lived in Paris and London in the subsequent years, with the emotional and financial support of several men, and the press continued to report on her lovers and her appearances at social occasions for decades. She was a member of the social club for the 'demi-reps' nicknamed the New Female Coterie by the English press, whose members comprised fellow elite women publicly shamed for infidelity such as

Caroline Stanhope, Countess of Harrington Caroline Stanhope, Countess of Harrington (née Lady Caroline FitzRoy; 8 April 1722 – 26 June 1784) was a British socialite and '' demimondaine''. Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of Charles II. After being blackballed by th ...

and

Seymour Fleming Seymour Dorothy Fleming (5 October 1758 – 9 September 1818), styled Lady Worsley from 1775 to 1805, was a member of the British gentry, notable for her involvement in a high-profile criminal conversation trial. Early life and family Flemin ...

. Janine Barchas suggests that the legacy of the scandals attached to Henrietta Vernon may have inspired

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

in writing her early epistolary novel

Lady Susan ''Lady Susan'' is an epistolary novel, epistolary novella by Jane Austen, written circa 1794 but not published until 1871. This early complete work, which the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the title character. ...

, which centres on the charming and flirtatious Lady Susan Vernon.

Personal life

On 19 July 1764, she married Richard Grosvenor, 1st Baron Grosvenor, later Earl Grosvenor (1731–1802) at St George's Church, Hanover Square. They had four sons, including: * Robert Grosvenor (1767–1845), who married Eleanor Egerton, the only child of

Thomas Egerton, 1st Earl of Wilton Thomas Grey Egerton, 1st Earl of Wilton (14 August 1749 – 23 September 1814), known as Sir Thomas Grey Egerton, Bt from 1766 to 1784, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1772 to 1784 when he was raised to the peerage ...

, in 1794. In 1769, Lady Grosvenor was discovered ''in flagrante delicto'' with the

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British royal family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom w ...

, brother of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

. Their affair became a national scandal when her husband sued the duke on the grounds of '

criminal conversation At common law, criminal conversation, often abbreviated as ''crim. con.'', is a tort arising from adultery. "Conversation" is an old euphemism for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term. It is similar to breach of pr ...

' with his wife, and the lovers' correspondence was published in the press as part of the trial reports. The jury awarded the baronet damages of £10,000 in recognition of the damage to his marital property. Lady Grosvenor prevented the baron from securing a divorce on the grounds of her adultery by gathering evidence of his own extensive sexual misconduct, personally 'going into bawdy houses ..to search and procure witnesses'. The diarist and artist

Joseph Farington Joseph Farington (21 November 1747 – 30 December 1821) was an 18th-century English landscape painter and diarist. Family Born in Leigh, Lancashire, Farington was the second of seven sons of William Farington and Esther Gilbody. His father ...

dubbed Lord Grosvenor as 'one of the most profligate men of his age, in what relates to women'. This wealth of evidence meant that the baron could not be granted an annulment, and was obliged to support his wife for the rest of his life. The couple's legal separation in 1771 included yearly maintenance payments of £1200 to Lady Grosvenor.

Second marriage

On 1 September 1802 Lady Grosvenor married her longtime companion, the Whig MP

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 ...

, the son of the British diplomat Sir James Porter. George later inherited the Hungarian title of Baron de Hochepied through his mother's line, making Henrietta the Baroness de Hochepied. She died in 1828 in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosvenor, Henrietta English courtesans English socialites British baronesses 1740s births 1828 deaths Henrietta