Louisa Rous 1799-1843

Paternal Family Tree: Rous

In 1788 [her father] John Rous 1st Earl Stradbroke [aged 37] and Juliana Warter Wilson were married.

Before 27th February 1793 [her father] John Rous 1st Earl Stradbroke [aged 42] and [her mother] Charlotte Maria Whittaker Countess of Stradbroke [aged 23] were married.

On 21st July 1799 Louisa Rous was born to John Rous 1st Earl Stradbroke [aged 49] and Charlotte Maria Whittaker Countess of Stradbroke [aged 30].

In 1824 Spencer de Horsey [aged 34] and Louisa Rous [aged 24] were married. She the daughter of John Rous 1st Earl Stradbroke [aged 73] and Charlotte Maria Whittaker Countess of Stradbroke [aged 54].

On 24th December 1824 [her daughter] Adeline Horsey Countess Cardigan was born to [her husband] Spencer de Horsey [aged 34] and Louisa Rous [aged 25] at 6 Charles Street, Berkeley Square. She married 28th September 1858 James Brudenell 7th Earl Cardigan, son of Robert Brudenell 6th Earl Cardigan and Penelope Cooke Countess Cardigan.

In 1826 [her son] Colonel William de Horsey was born to [her husband] Spencer de Horsey [aged 36] and Louisa Rous [aged 26].

In 1827 [her son] Admiral Algernon de Horsey was born to [her husband] Spencer de Horsey [aged 37] and Louisa Rous [aged 27].

On 27th August 1827 [her father] John Rous 1st Earl Stradbroke [aged 77] died. His son [her brother] John [aged 33] succeeded 2nd Earl Stradbroke, 2nd Viscount Dunwich, 7th Baronet Stradbrooke of Henham in Suffolk.

Adeline Horsey Recollections. After my gay season of 1842 and the innumerable balls and parties which my dear mother seemed to enjoy as much as I did, we went to Cowes, where we spent a delightful month. Mamma [aged 42] gave a ball for me at the King's House, a former residence of George IV., which we had taken that year; it is now pulled down and replaced by a hideous row of houses, which I regard as an eyesore when I remember the house where I spent so many happy days.

Adeline Horsey Recollections. From Cowes we went to stay with the Ailesburys at Savernake, and then to Badminton, where the Beauforts had a large family party. The church was attached to the house, and one actually walked out of the library into the Parish Church, where the roomy Beaufort pew was well warmed by a fire. I remember going with the Duchess, my mother [aged 42], and Lord Cantelupe [aged 27] to see Berkeley Castle [Map], a most interesting but very uncomfortable draughty old place. I afterwards heard that Colonel Berkeley [aged 55], whose name figured in certain scandals of the Regency, had spent much of his time there with the numerous frail ladies who found him irresistible.

Adeline Horsey Recollections. My mother presented me at Court in February 1842, and shortly afterwards I went with my parents to the first fancy dress ball given by Queen Victoria [aged 22].

Our dresses were lovely. My [her husband] father [aged 55] wore the uniform of a Garde Francaise, and my mother was dressed as a Court lady of the same period. I went as a Louis XV. shepherdess. Mamma took endless pains in seeing that my costume was perfectly designed and carried out, and the result amply repaid her. I was very pleased with my own reflection when at last I was ready after what seemed hours of preparation. My hair was exquisitely poudre and my beautiful pink and white brocade gown, garlanded with roses, looked as though it had actually belonged to my prototype at Versailles. The Queen and Prince Albert [aged 25] complimented mamma on my appearance, and told her that my dress was one of the prettiest in the ballroom. I wore my "Shepherdess" costume at Stafford House St James' in the following July when the Royal Ball was reproduced.

Adeline Horsey Recollections. After my dear mother's [aged 43] death I visited a great deal with my [her husband] father [aged 53], and one year we went for the shooting to Lord Huntingfield's place, Heveningham Hall, Suffolk. I slept in the bedroom once occupied by the famous Chevalier d'Éon, who had been a frequent guest at Heveningham, and about whom there were many stories told. It was said that the Chevalier was the one and only lover of cross-grained Queen Charlotte, and that her son, George IV, was the result of their intimacy, although his paternity was of course admitted by King George III. The animosity always displayed by the old Queen to her grand-daughter, Princess Charlotte, was supposed to arise from the fact that as heiress to the throne she innocently dispossessed the other Royal Dukes from the succession. It is certainly a fact that the Princess's untimely death in childbirth was attributed to foul play at the time, and when later the accoucheur [obstetrician] Sir Richard Croft, committed suicide, all classes of society were loud in condemnation of the Queen and the Prince Regent. I do not vouch for the accuracy of Queen Charlotte's love affair. I only give the Heveningham gossip as I heard it.

Note A. D'Eon was undoubtedly one of the most picturesque and mysterious personages of the eighteenth century I was naturally interested in these somewhat scandalous stories.

The Chevalier died when he was eighty-three years of age, after a most extraordinary career. He was at one time aide-de-camp to the Comte de Broglie, and fought in the French army; but later on for some mysterious reason he discarded man's attire and passed as a woman for thirty-four years. Often when I went into my room I half expected to see a ghostly figure seated at the escritoire where the Chevalier wrote his secret cipher communications, and I wondered whether the brocade crowns and frills and furbelows that he wore as a woman had ever hung in the old wardrobe which I used.

My father and I also stayed with the Westmorlands at Apethorpe Hall; we visited the Earl [aged 38] and Countess of Chichester [aged 36] at Stanmer Park, and we were welcome guests at Cadlands, Silverlands, Chiswick House, West Park, and my uncle Lord Stradbroke's place, Henham Hall, which was afterwards burnt down.

I had visited Deene Park, Northamptonshire [Map] with my mother in 1842, but I must deal with my future home in the chapter devoted to Deene and its associations.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke

Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.

Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.

Adeline Horsey Recollections. On March 23, 1843, I experienced the first real sorrow of my happy girlhood, for my beloved mother [aged 43] died after an attack of scarlet fever.

The blow was a terrible one. Mamma was a beautiful, charming woman, and she was loved by every one who knew her. It seemed hard to bow to the decree of a Providence that deprived us of her, for she was so helpful, so interested in all we did, the most perfect wife and mother, and the most sympathetic of friends.

One of my treasured possessions is a gold cross containing a relic of St. Stephen which she once gave me; I often wear it, and I then always feel very "near to her, and I am convinced that her gentle spirit has sustained and comforted me in many sorrows I have experienced.

On 24th March 1843 Louisa Rous [aged 43] died of scarlet fever.

On 20th May 1860 [her former husband] Spencer de Horsey [aged 70] died.

Ancestors of Louisa Rous 1799-1843

Great x 4 Grandfather: John Rous of Henham Hall

Great x 3 Grandfather: John Rous 1st Baronet

Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Yelverton

Great x 2 Grandfather: John Rous 2nd Baronet

Great x 1 Grandfather: Robert Rous 4th Baronet

Grandfather: John Rous 5th Baronet

father: John Rous 1st Earl Stradbroke

Louisa Rous

Grandfather: Abraham Whittaker

mother: Charlotte Maria Whittaker Countess of Stradbroke

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Tempest of Whaddon

Great x 3 Grandfather: Robert Tempest

Great x 2 Grandfather: William Tempest

Great x 1 Grandfather: William Tempest

Grandmother: Penelope Tempest