Harriet (Westbrooke) Shelley (1795 - 1816)

Born 1 Aug 1795 in London, England

Wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley — married 28 Aug 1811 (to 1816) in Edinburgh, Scotland

Descendants

Died 10 Dec 1816 at age 21 in Paddington, Middlesex, England

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Biography

Harriet was born 1 August 1795^[1], the daughter of John Westbrook and Ann (Elliott) Westbrook, and was christened on the 27th August 1795 at St. George, Hanover Square, Westminster, London.^[2][3]

Harriet eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley and was married on the 28th August 1811 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her father John Westbrook, a well-to-do merchant, pretended to disapprove but secretly encouraged the elopement. An account of the elopement was published in The Hartlepool Northern Evening Mail being a letter written by Percy's cousin Charles Groves to Lady Shelley.^[4][5][6]

Harriet seems to have charmed many of Shelley's friends, one of whom later wrote: "Her hair was light brown, and dressed with taste and simplicity. In her dress she was truly simplex munditiis [elegant simplicity]. Her complexion was beautifully transparent; the tint of the blush rose shining through the lily. The tone of her voice was pleasant; her speech the essence of frankness and cordiality; her spirits always cheerful; her laugh spontaneous, hearty, and joyous. She was well educated. She read agreeably and intelligently. She wrote only letters, but she wrote them well. Her manners were good; and her whole aspect and demeanour such manifest emanations of pure and truthful nature, that to be once in her company was to know her thoroughly. She was fond of her husband, and accommodated herself in every way to his tastes. If they mixed in society, she adorned it; if they lived in retirement, she was satisfied; if they traveled, she enjoyed the change of scene."^[7]

Harriet and Percy were married a second time on the 24th March 1814 at St. George, Hanover Square, Westminster, London.^[8]

On the 28th July 1814, Harriet's husband Percy abandoned her, now pregnant with their son Charles, and two years later, on the 10th December 1816 Harriet's body was found in an advanced state of a further pregnancy, drowned in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London.^[9][10]

Harriet's suicide letter, addressed to her sister, was later found:

"When you read this letr. I shall be [no] more an inhabitant of this miserable world. do not regret the loss of one who could never be anything but a source of vexation & misery to you all belonging to me. Too wretched to exert myself lowered in the opinion of everyone why should I drag on a miserable existence embittered by past recollections & not one ray of hope to rest on for the future. […] God bless & watch over you all. You dear Bysshe [Percy, her husband]. & you dear Eliza. May all happiness attend ye both is the last wish of her who loved ye more than all others. My children I dare not trust myself there. They are too young to regret me & ye will be kind to them for their own sakes more than for mine. My parents do not regret me. I was unworthy your love & care. Be happy all of you. so shall my spirit find rest & forgiveness. God bless you all is the last prayer of the unfortunate Harriet S–––”^[11]

For more detail on Harriet's life, please visit BARS Blog and read "On This Day in 1816: 10th December and the tragic death of Harriet Shelley" by Ann Mercer, which can be found here.

Harriet and Percy's children

Harriet and Percy had two children, both christened on the 26th January 1815: Eliza who married Edward Jefferies Esdaile, had six children and died aged 63, and Charles who died young, aged 12. In 1817 Harriet's parents John Westbrook and Ann (Elliott) Westbrook started a legal procedure to take the custody for the children away from Percy. Lord Chancellor Eldon proved them right and Percy was no longer allowed to see his children. John Scott (1751-1838), the Earl of Eldon and the Lord Chancellor from 1801-1827, was a major figure in Britain’s conservative establishment for most of Shelley’s adult life. From his position in Britain’s courts of law, the Chancellor had a hand in suppressing the work of radical publishers and writers or revoking the copyright of “seditious” writings—forms of character assassination that significantly impacted the careers of some of the era’s leading reformers. The Chancellor also affected Shelley’s life in a far more personal fashion, however. In 1817, Scott denied Shelley custody of his children on the grounds that the father’s political principles would lead to an “immoral and vicious” upbringing for his children.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Sources

1. ↑ Harriet Shelley. Biography, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus.
2. ↑ City of Westminster Archives Centre, Record Set: Westminster Baptisms, Category: Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records, Sub Categorgy: Parish Baptisms, Page 201, Collections from England, Great Britain
3. ↑ Harriet Westbrooke's christening https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FWSMTN%2FBAP%2F0498668
4. ↑ The Hartlepool Northern Evening Mail on Friday November 10th 1882, Page 4
5. ↑ Letter from Charles Groves to Lady Shelley https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000376%2f18821110%2f058&stringtohighlight=harriet%20westbrook
6. ↑ Harriet Westbrooke's "Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY99-94P : 10 February 2018), Percy Bysshe Shelley and Harriet Westbrook, 28 Aug 1811; citing Edinburgh Parish,Edinburgh,Midlothian,Scotland, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,066,690.
7. ↑ Peacock: His Circle and His Age, Howard Mills, Cambridge University Press, Jun 3, 2010, page 140.
8. ↑ Harriet Westbrooke's second ceremony of her marriage https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58181dd7e93790eb7f36c118/harriet-shelley-percy-bysshe-shelley-marriage-middlesex-st-george-hanover-square-1814-03-24?locale=en
9. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley#Marriage
10. ↑ Harriet (Westbrook) Shelley]]'s burial "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVL6-RLPT : 5 June 2019), Shelley, ; Burial, , ; citing record ID 97100543, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
11. ↑ On This Day in 1816: 10th December and the tragic death of Harriet Shelley" by Anna Mercer, December 10, 2016.
12. ↑ Custody of Harriet's children https://androom.home.xs4all.nl/biography/p003412.htm
13. ↑ Rationale for the custodianship of Harriet's children http://www.grahamhenderson.ca/tuesday-verse/shelley-lord-chancellor-eldon
14. ↑ Chancery Master's documents https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9434236
15. ↑ Children as subject and object: Shelley v. Westbrook https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jaS_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=shelley+v.+westbrook&source=bl&ots=J0VEE6PMAs&sig=ACfU3U1SD2SVLN8TsyXEnt_NPyEI7hAmcw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjD05TBtNfkAhWSFMAKHTT2C3sQ6AEwCHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=shelley%20v.%20westbrook&f=false