The next effigy is that of Frances Theresa Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, a great beauty in her day. She was maid-of-honour to Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II. She sat as a model for the figure of Britannia on a medal which was struck to commemorate the Treaty of Breda, when peace was made between the English and Dutch after the first Dutch War. This was in 1667. The figure of Britannia is no doubt the same that we now see on our pennies and halfpennies. Frances Stuart is dressed in the robes she wore at the Coronation of Queen Anne. Beside her is her parrot, which died a few days after her. This lady left particular orders about her effigy, directing that it should be “as well done in wax as can bee—and sett up in a presse by itself, ... with cleare Crowne glasse before it, and dressed in my Coronation Robes and Coronett.” The effigy at first stood beside the Duchess’s grave in Henry VII’s Chapel.
Next to the Duchess of Richmond and Lennox stand the effigies of Catherine, Duchess of Buckinghamshire, and her little son, the Marquis of Normanby, who died when a child. The Duchess, with her husband and children, are buried in Henry VII’s Chapel, and a large monument is erected there to the Duke, who was distinguished as a politician, soldier, and man of letters in the reigns of Charles II and James II.
The Duchess of Buckinghamshire died in 1743. Her effigy is dressed in the robes that she wore at the Coronation of George II. This lady settled all about her own funeral with the Garter King-at-Arms, and was quite afraid lest she should die before the grand canopy came home. “Let them send it,” she said, “though all the tassels are not finished.” Buckingham House, where the Duchess lived, was built by her husband on the site of the present Buckingham Palace.
In the middle of the Chantry is a glass case containing the effigy of Edmund Sheffield, last Duke of Buckinghamshire, and son of the Duchess whose effigy has just been described. The young Duke died in Rome in 1735, aged only nineteen. This effigy, which is a very fine one, was the last ever carried at a funeral. The Duchess wanted to borrow the great Duke of Marlborough’s funeral car for the funeral of her son. But Sarah, the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough, replied very haughtily that “it carried my Lord Marlborough, and it shall never be profaned by any other corpse.” Whereupon the Duchess of Buckinghamshire retorted: “I have consulted the undertaker, and he tells me I may have a finer for twenty pounds.”
There are two other wax figures in the Chantry, but they are not, properly speaking, effigies, because they were not used in the funeral processions, but were only put up to attract sightseers. These figures represent two very eminent Englishmen, namely, William Pitt the elder, afterwards Lord Chatham, and Lord Nelson. Both figures are remarkably good, and must be excellent likenesses. Lord Chatham wears his peer’s robes, and a wig, such as was then the fashion.
Lord Nelson’s effigy is dressed in naval uniform; all the dress, except the coat, belonged to Nelson himself. The eye-patch for Nelson’s blind eye was found attached to the inner lining of the hat when Maclise borrowed it to copy for his well-known picture, “The Death of Nelson.”
These wax effigies, then, are not mere curiosities, but are interesting, both as showing us an ancient funeral custom and as representing people who played a part in the English history of their day.
[W. Rice, F.R.P.S.
SOUTH CLOISTER.