| Notes |
--- "Captain Cohonny: Constantine Maguire of Tempo 1777-1834" by W.A. Maguire, 2004, page 14-5:
At the time of the marriage, Frances Hawkins had been Abercorn's acknowledged mistress for several years. The only clue we have as to how this came about is a remark made by her counsel in a matrimonial lawsuit many years later. 'This Lady', said the barrister, 'who is most highly respcetable by birth and connexions, had unfortunately by a most singular and deplorable combination of unfortunate circumstances, fallen in early youth. She had fallen, however, into generous hands . . .,' namely those of 'a Nobleman now no more' (Abercorn died in 181`8). At the height of the affair, Abercorn set up his mistress in a fine house in Beaumont Street, Piccadilly. By the time of his third marriage, in 1800, when he was living more at the Priory, Mrs. Hawkins was established nearby, just across the park. Gossip reported that Lady Anne was obliged to be civil to her rival; she was even said to have conveyed her husband to his mistress's door on occasion. Given the notorious formality with which the Abercorns conducted their matirmonial relations, this is perhaps doubtful, but the only surviving letter to Abercorn from Frances ('Fan') includes the sentence, 'I am going to write to Lady A.', so there was civility at least. During her reign as his official mistress Frances gave birth to several children of Abercorn's. The favourite child was John James Hamilton or Fitzjames, born in 1800. He and an older sister are mentioned in the letter from Frances to her lover just referred to, which was apparently preserved only because Abercorn used the back of it to scribble notes for a speech on. Undated but probably about 1804, it goes as follows:
Dearest J.J.
I looked out for you yesterday, but saw you not!! Polly is at home. I had a letter from her this morning. I have been quite idle and good-for-nothing these two days, and of course the hours hang heavy, which they generally do when J.J. is not looked for.
I hear dear Lord Hamilton [Aberconr's son and heir by his first wife; died 1814] is almost well. No news. Expect a long list of complaints from little J.J. We are all very naughty! Little girl [probably their daughter Hariot] plagues my life about her lessons. I have sworn this day to give up all further annoyance to her or myself.
I am going to write to Lady A.
God bless you, best and dearest J.J. Ever your affectionate and grateful Fan.
The relationship between Abercorn and Frances was clearly an affectionate one: anyone who knew him would have been amazed that she could dare to address him so informally. Characteristically, Abercorn defied convention --- defied all decency, some of his critics said --- by commissioning a picture of Frances and young J.J. from the most fashionable portrait painter of the time, Thomas Lawrence R.A. (later Sir Thomas and President of the Academy) and exhibiting it publicly in the Academy's 1806 exhibition.
. . . When the boy died suddenly in 1808, aged only eight, Abercorn and Frances were stricken with grief. Abercorn had his remains buried in the Hamilton family's vault at Stanmore, and erected a memorial to him in the grounds of the Priory. The inscription runs as follows:
In the Garden which, having been a scene of amusement to six other beloved Children, had just been dedicated to the amusement of John James Hamilton, this stone is dedicated to his Memory. He was a sweet and promising Child! Born, on an inauspicious day of the Year 1800, in 1808, on 29 April . . . he died! Happy for himself! For he had not yet committed Fault or felt Unkindness or known Misfortune: but to the bitter Anguish of his surviving parents.
Long before their favourit boy's death, the affair between his parents had begun to cool. . . .
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, d. 27 Jan 1818 (Age 61 years)