The Ladies’ Magazine.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2122, 22 February 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Ladies’ Magazine.

ROMANTIC STORIES OF FAMOUS FAMILIES.

XXXVLI.—-WAS A LINEN-DRAP-ER'S DAUGHTER THE QUEEN Ob' ENGLAND? AYhat QUEEN CHARLOTTE THOUGHT ABOUT IT. THE UOVEhSTOHV OF GEORGE ill. AND 'ITIE PRETTY GUAKE-RKiSS. Of all the stories of great Piiuces who hare stormed to woo nod win Cinderellas there is not one more fascinating, or. Mi the same lime, more tantalising, than' Hie romance which links the name of the third {tear to of Eng'niid with Hannah L'ghtfoat, the winsome Qu.i.kerrrs av'hors heaiit.v was Hu* talk- of London a e.nturv and a half iigo. It i.. indeed. doubtful wilt flier Cupd ever prepared a p.iKzle more euiiiiin.gl.v designed 'ito baffle curiwity : tor to this day ni man ran ar; .ver with any certainty the qTtfat •o , i ) Did George lit. actual';- make Uamiah h : s wife? TnE 'LINEN-BRA PElt’S DAUGHTER. The heroine c. .n.v Roynl romance, who is said to have been Hie daughter or a email hnen tlraner in the Wes; of London, was by universal consent 'one of tile iaire&t llowero or gitlhood which had ever bloomed in t>he -Metropolis. - AVifch -Her dainty little head, "running ovey” with golden curls, large blue eyes dancing with inert iment and mischief dimpled checks with a bloom as delicate ns any peach, and with a petite figure as graceful as that of a sylph, one cannot wonder that Hannah, whose charms were enhanced by her demure Qtmker dress, set going pit-a-pat the heart of every gallant whose eyes fell on so sweet a vision. - ' A ROMANCE IN ST. J AMES'S STREET.

It was thus, so it is said, that Prince George, heir to the British throne, first saw the maid who was destined to play such havoc with his heart —stolid*, unsentimental youth though he was. “The unhappy Sovt ereign/t says a chronicler, “while Prince of AYnles, was .in the daily habit of passing through St ; _ James Street and its immediate vicinity. In one or his favorite rides through that part of the town he saw n verv engaging young lady, who appeared by ■her dress to be a member of the Society of Friends. The Prince" was very much struck by the delicacy and lovely appearance of this female, and for several succeeding days was onserved to walk out alone. At length the .passion of His Royal Highness arrived at such a point that he felt*. his happiness depended upon receiving the ladv in marriage.” PRINCE OF_ VALES AiS A •

The Prince of Wales'had hitherto appAired .blind to female charms; the most beautiful ladies of the Court had practised their blandishments on him in vain. As his tutor said, “-the Prince has the greatest temptation to gallant with the ladies, 'who lay themselves out in the most unblushing manner to draw him in”; hut not one of them all mule his Royal .pulse beat a stroke the faster, for, said he, “I know that if I were not what. 1 am they would pay no attention to me.” None, however, knew better than. His Royal Highness the difficulties in his oath. As the future occupant of .the "great Throne of England it was his duty to wed a indy with the .blood of Kings in tier veins; he had only just declined the hand of the Princess Sophia of Brunswick, and had vowed, if he married at all, his wife must be of the same house of Saxe-Gotha. Now, however, accident had stolen his heart away ; it was no longer his to give to \itiv Princess, however fair and exalted; for it belonged hv right of conquest to the pretty Quakeress, the linen-djaper’s daughter. ISAAC AXFORD CALLED IN. It is not surprising that when the news of the Prince’s infatuation came to the ears of his Royal relatives their consternation was great. The young woman must be married' at u'ny cost to a husband of her own station in life. “The Royal lover’s relations,” we are told, “took alarm, and sfinf to inquire out a young man to''marrv her. Isaac Axford was a shopman to Barton, the groc9r, on Ludgate Hill, and used to chat with her when she Dime to the shop to buy groceries. Perryu, of Knightsbridge, it was said, furnished a place or meeting for the Royal lover. An agent of Miss Cbudleigh, one of the Queen s makls-of-honor, called on Axford and professed that, on his marrying Hannah, he should have a .considerable of money. Hannah stayed a short Vuae-Avith her husband, when she was taken off; in a carriage, and P-aac never saw her more.” CARRIED OFF IN A COACH AND FOUR. If this circumstantial account is to be- relied on —and it must be admitted .that the whole story of this romance is full of contradictions— Hannah’s prosnects of being the wife of 'her Royal lover were soon nipped in the bud by a hurried marriage .with Axford, the grocer’s assistant; and after a very brief wedded life she was smuggled away, leaving her hus]>and disconsolate. On the evidence of a restive of Axford, Hannah only spent six weeks'with her husband, who was devotedly attached to her; “a*nd one evening, when lie happened to be from home, a coach-and-four came to the door, when she was conveyed into it and carried off at a gallop, no one knew whither. It «.p----prnrs that the husband was inconsolable at first, and at different times applied for satisfaction about his wife at Weymouth and other places; but died, after sixty years, in total ignorance of her fate.” HANNAH’S FIRST HUSBAND. As a matter of fact, Isaac, after he was thus robbed of his six-week’s wife, seemed ito have settled at Warminister, where for many years lie conducted a prosperous grocer’s business, dying at tlio good old age of eightv-five. Long before this, however, convinced that Hannah was dead, he had taken to himself a second wife, retaining to the last his love of his Quakerre'Ss bride and his firm belief in her innocence and purity. In further support of the probability of .this story there may be seen in the marriage-register of St. George’s Che pel, Mayfair, an entry of the marriage of “Isaac Axford, of St. Martin's, Ludgate, to Hannah Lightfoot, on December lltli, 1753.” THE BEAUTY OE HACKNEY ROAD. Assuming the truth of this marriage, what became of Hannah after fllic* was so romantically ami mysteriously spirited away from her husband's house? There is, wo believe, no really reliable evidence of anyone, having seen her again; although one writer states, “A retreat was provided for Hannah in one of tlioso large houses, surrounded with a high wall and garden, in the district of Cat-aiul-Mutton Fields, on the -east side of Hackney Road, leading vroni Hide End Road, where she lived, and, it is said, died”: while it is also stated that after 'her disappearance none of her family ever saw her. WAS SHE REALLY MARRIED TO GEORGE III.? Such is one aspect of this mysterious romance (for the story of which we are largely indebted to Air Lewis Melville, author of that fascinating book, “Farmer George”). _ Tlicro remains, however, another view of still greater interest, which has some sup- , porters. According to .'this view . George actually d:d make Hannah his wife, and thus (ns there was no Royal Marriage Act in those days) the ; linen-draoer’s daughter lived to he Queeai of England,, and the moiDhmvof a legitimate heirs Bn-

make her his wife, says: ''.l'-yor y in* tlividual in his immediate circle or in ihe lis.N of the Privy Council was verv narrowly questioned bv the Prince, though in an indirect manner, to ascertain who was most to be trusted, that lie might secure, honorably the possession-of the obu iiis ardent wishes. His Royal IHgliness at last eon tided his views to Ins next brother, Kdward Duke oi York, and another person, who were tae only w itnesses to the Jugal marriage of the Prince of Wales to the bcioiumentioned lady, Jlaunah lag'lltfoot, which took nl'aee at Curzon Street Chapel, hi ay fair, in the year 1/59. 'lTais marriage was productive of issue.”

In support of this union two copies of marruige certificates were later furnished, one oi jvliieh was signed •‘George P.” and “Hannah”; while the other bore the signatures “George Guelph” and “Hannah Light-foot,” one o: the alleged witnesses being none other than tho great William Pitt, a lew years later Earl ol Oha-t----ha m. “\IV HU3ISAXJ), HIS MAJIi’iSTY GEG 11G .11 111.” The same' authority attempts to place the matter beydiid.all doubt by giving a copy of Hannah’s will, which runs thus: “Provided 1 depart this life, I recommend my _ two sons and mv daughter to the kind protection of their 11 oval father, any husband, His Majesty George 1.11, bequeathing whatever property I may dio possessed of to such dear offspring of my ill-fated marriage. In case of the dentil of each of my children, 1 givo and’ bequeath to Olive \Yiilmot, the daughter of my’ best friend,. Dr Wilmot, whatever property I am entitled to, or possessed of at the time of my death. Amen.” This testament was signed “Hannah Regina,” and its witnesses were J. Dunning and William Pitt. Was the will a forgery? If 'these documents —the marriage certificates and -the will —had been ill them tic there could he no possibleloophole' for doubt that Hannah Light-foot actually was tho wife to King George, and that thus she was entitled to sign herself Hannah “the Queen” ; but .there seems to be every probability that "they are forgeries, and thus', instead of .proving union, they rather throw further doubt, on it. - QUiEEX CAROLINE'S BELIEF IN THE MARRIAGE. It is said that Queen Caroline firmly believed ‘in the marriage. “-She believed that his late ’Majesty, George IT!., wife married to Miss Hannah Light foot, the beautiful Quakeress, previous to his marriage with Queen Charlotte ;jand as that lady did not die until after the birth of the present Iving/and His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Her Majesty really cons’dered the Duke of Clarence the true heir ,to the throne.” It is also said that when Queen Charlotte sent for her son, on hearing of his .marriage to Mrs Fitzherberfc, he said to her, “My father would have been i happier man if he had "remained time to his marriage with Hannah Light foot.” GEORGE’S ONLY TRUE LOVE. " "Whatever may lie the truth ’or falsity of these statements, one cannot help thinking it quite possible..that George, "who,•“'whatever his failings, was a man with a lofty sense of honor, -actually did make a wife of the fair Quakeress who had enslaved his boyish heart. But through the tangle of conflicting evidence much remains dear. Tlfere is no doubt that George’s heart was given into Hannah’s keeping—that she was his first, probably his only true love. She bore children to her Rov’d lover or .Husband; and her -ons, it is sakl, rose to high positions in the Ar.mv, their careers lovingly, if secretly, watched’over by their fat.her, fixe Ivinjr. And to-day tlioi o are, in South Africa and elsewhere, many—some in lowly positions—in whose veins flows the mingled blood of the Roval Guelph and the linendraper of St. .James’s Street, one of whom might, under different conditions, now be wearing the crown of the world’s greatest Empire.