topaz119: (books!)
topaz119 ([personal profile] topaz119) wrote2012-08-03 11:01 am

excuse me while I geek out historically over here

Today's Fun Thing I Learned On The Internets:

Lady Sally Jersey--the vivacious patroness of Almack's, who is all but indispensable in any Regency novel worth its salt, nicknamed The Silence for how she never, EVER shut up?--was also the senior partner at Child's Bank, one of the largest and richest private banks in England. Her grandfather left her, specifically, controlling interest in the bank and she assumed that responsibility when she turned 21 and kept it until she died. Her. Not her husband, not her father. Her.

Holy crap, I wish I'd known that when I was writing An Uncommon Season last year--I would have fucking loved to have used Child's rather than Hoares for everyone's banking needs, what an extra spin that could put on things... I'd sort of casually picked her to be the Dowager Countess's favorite amid the society ladies, but knowing this now opens up all kinds of possibilities of who knew where Jeff's income was coming from and how that could fit into rehabilitating his public character...

No, really: damn, I wish I'd known this 18 months ago... ::mourns for lost opportunities::

At the very least, my unwritten canon is now that Mary-Louise sends all her money through Childs and quite possibly consults with its senior partner on the financial matters necessary to running a successful gaming hell. (Or no, actually, now that I've read further, she possibly banked with Coutts, which, it turns out, was also run by a woman, a former actress who'd married Mr. Coutts and been left the bank in lieu of his daughters and who then married the Duke of St Albans---I think she has more in common with Mary-Louise than Lady Jersey, but again who knew?)


Sorry, carry on with your lovely Fridays!

[identity profile] topaz119.livejournal.com 2012-08-03 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
I always enjoy stories like that, too, and this was an extra kick because Lady Jersey shows up in so many novels of the time; it's not just a name on a page...

And really, thank you for finding them and dragging them around the parks and back to your hotel and home and all. They make me smile every time I turn around from my computer and catch sight of them. :D