Return to Dunham Massey

July 30, 2019 Andrew Comments 0 Comment

Two years ago we visited the Dunham Massey Hall, and I posted the story that we got from one of the guides of Catherine, Countess of Stamford and Warrington, a former circus performer who married the seventh Earl of Stamford and Warrington. I received a comment on the blog from Lynne Cox saying that much of this was wrong. At first I defended the National Trust. Look, The Guardian says the same thing.

However, as Lynne pointed out to me, The Guardian had got their facts from the National Trust, and the National Trust may have relied on some unreliable sources in putting together their exhibit. In particular, there is no contemporary evidence that Lady Catherine ever worked for Astley’s Circus – no press reports, no circus posters, no mentions in any lists of performers. According to Lynne’s research the stories that the couple were snubbed socially and that they abandoned Dunham Massey were also false or exaggerated.

It’s true that Lady Catherine worked with horses and was a fine rider. It’s also true that before marrying the Earl, she was mistress of George Smythe, 7th Viscount Strangford. She may well have had other aristocratic or wealthy ‘protectors’. However, I haven’t been able to trace the Astley’s Circus story back any further than an article about her called Equestrienne from the The Saturday Book #20 (1960). That article cites no sources whatsoever. I suspect the author Donald MacAndrew may have been embellishing the story.

The current displays at Dunham Massey make no mention of Lady Catherine or the 7th Earl at all. In fact, the only portrait I could find of him was this one of him as a boy with his sister.