Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox 1740-1832 [Hardcover]

Stella Tillyard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1994

An intimate, detailed portrayal of the lives of four eighteenth-century sisters--great-granddaughters of King Charles II who lived wealthy, public lives--is based on diaries and letters and reveals the joys and tragedies they shared.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

I must confess that initially I tried to skim this book. But it was far too good, and I ended up spending hours totally engrossed in the lives, loves, and letters of the Lennox sisters--Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah. Author Stella Tillyard gives a second life to these 18th-century aristocrats, whose extended family included some of the most significant and colorful British political figures of the era. She mixes impeccable research, a sharp eye for detail, and a writing style that's both precise and lively to produce a biography of a clan that doubles as a panoramic history of the aristocracy in the 1700s.

Each sister's defining characteristics shine through her letters, portraits, and Tillyard's terrific storytelling. Caroline, the eldest, is deeply pessimistic, intelligent, and moral but fascinated by and attracted to "wickedness" (she eloped with the naughty-but-nice Henry Fox and lived happily ever after). Emily: beautiful, loving, dictatorial, and unbelievably fertile (22 children, 10 of whom survived into adulthood). Louisa was good, gentle, always unwilling to believe ill of anyone, and when she died, was mourned not only by family and friends, but also by the whole of the Irish town in which she lived. And Sarah--flighty, flirtatious Sarah, with whom the young King George III fell blushingly and tongue-tiedly in love. Who, after disgracing herself and her dull, uninterested husband with the moody younger brother of Lord Gordon (of Gordon riots fame), finally found happiness and respectability, in her late 30s, with an understanding soldier. Unmissable. --Lisa Gee, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The world of 18th-century, upper-class England is brought vividly to life in this biography of the Duke of Richmond's four daughters. Historian Tillyard (The Impact of Modernism) has crafted an engrossing narrative based on the voluminous correspondence of the Lennox sisters. Caroline, the eldest, who eloped at 19, wrote weekly to her younger sister Emily, who married for love at 16, settled in Ireland and bore 19 children. The two younger sisters, Louisa and Sarah, left home for arranged marriages and shared their experiences through letters. Sarah scandalized society when she abandoned her husband for a lover. But Tillyard does more here than merely document. She mostly forgoes scholarly apparatus and instead calls on fictional strategies to bridge the chronological distance between readers and the Lennoxes. And she succeeds brilliantly in this highly readable cultural history. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 406 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); 1st American ed edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374103054
• ISBN-13: 978-0374103057
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating story of aristocratic 18th century family., August 25, 2002

By 

Dr. Edmond OFlaherty (BLACKROCK, CO. DUBLIN Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832 (Paperback)

Living in Ireland as I do one is surrounded by historical buildings.I was familiar with Leinster House,Carton House and Castletown House already and found this book has made those old houses far more interesting.Having finished the book I decided to visit Celbridge,Co. Kildare,which is where one finds Castletown House and also the house where Sarah lived.
Driving along the main street of the village I turned off towards Tea Lane and halfway up I saw Sarah`s house,now part of a school.Just up the road was the graveyeard where Louisa is buried but the gates were locked.I went back down the main street to the end of the village and drove along an avenue of trees to Castletown House.It is almost 300 years old and the Irish government has spent seven million euros or dollars to conserve it.Much work remains to be done but I really felt close to Louisa,Emily and Sarah after my visit there.If you plan to visit an ancient Irish house I suggest you read Aristocrats and then go to Castletown.Carton House in nearby and is now becoming part of a golf course.Leinster House is the seat of the Irish parliament and The White House is reputed to be modelled on it.
Of the women themselves I found Caroline the most sophisticated and interesting.I was really struck by how much pain each suffered during their lives.Emily buried 12 of her 22 children and they were not all babies either,so one appreciates modern medicine more after reading about such mortality.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliantly researched and unputdownable, April 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832 (Paperback)

I had already read 'Emily,Duchess of Leinster a few years before and visited Carton House for a private viewing so I was very pleased to read more about the lives of her sisters. I found this book very enjoyable and also read Lord Edward I am now looking forward to reading the book about Sarah's sons, the Napiers. I believe this is to be published soon . I also heard there was to be a series on the B.B.C of the Aristocrats. I really believe Sally Tillyard has a genuine feeling for the Lennox family and hope she writes more about this interesting family. I feel she made the historical facts interesting and easy to read for anyone not quite interested in such detail. There were parts of the biogaphy which I found a little hard to believe but perhaps I have a very innocent picture of Emily and could not have believed she would have an affair with Mr. Ogilvie. The book showed how families have not really changed through time. Sisters always stand by each other and Sally gave us an insight into how normal aristocrats really were. After reading this book it is easy to read Georgiana, Duchess of Devenshire as the Fox relatives of Emily feature there and it is interesting how Caroline Lennox's son rose in English history. I highly recommend this book and look forward to any book written by Stella Tillyard.

Kathleen Connolly.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully written history for the general reader, July 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832 (Paperback)

Stella Tillyard does an amazing job bringing the Lennox sisters to life. I felt as though I knew each sister quite well once I had finished the book---and I only wished I could have spent even more time with them.
Sarah Lennox's story was undoubtedly the most interesting (early on she was tapped as a possible wife for George III, she then fell into an unhappy marriage, embarked on a scandalous affair, was divorced, and then ultimately found happiness with a man who came from a social background beneath hers). Lennox's comment that "she only knew true happiness after the age of 36" was especially poignant after reading abt her privileged upbringing. Despite her unhappiness, Lennox managed to live life to the fullest.
In fact, all of the sisters managed to live life to the fullest---from Caroline who eloped with the radical Henry Fox to Emily who passed through all of the stages of marriage (from happiness to dissatisfaction which ultimately caused her to have an affair).
I can't recommend this book too highly---my only regret after reading it was that I would never be able to meet and hang out with any of the Lennox sisters!