Harriette Wilson
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Harriette Wilson (February 22, 1786 - March 10, 1845) was a celebrated British Regency courtesan, whose clients included the Prince of Wales, the Lord Chancellor and four future Prime Ministers.
Life
Harriette Dubouchet was one of the fifteen children of Swiss John James Dubouchet (or De Bouchet), who kept a small shop in Mayfair, England, and his wife Amelia, née Cook. Her father is said to have assumed the surname of Wilson about 1801. She began her career at the age of fifteen, becoming the mistress of William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven, 7th Baron Craven. Among her other lovers with whom she had a business arrangement was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who commented "publish, and be damned" when informed of her plans to write her memoirs. Her decision to publish was partly based on the broken promises of her lovers to provide her with an income in her older age. The memoirs are still in print.
Her sisters Amy, Fanny and Sophia also became courtesans. Sophia married respectably into the aristocracy, when she wed Lord Berwick, at 17.
Fictional portrayal
- Harriette Wilson appears in the Jane Austen mystery novel, Jane and the Barque of Frailty, by Stephanie Barron. (She and Jane Austen were contemporaries.)
References
The Courtesan's Revenge: The Life of Harriette Wilson, the Woman Who Blackmailed the King by Frances Wilson
