Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was an English aristocrat, socialite, political organiser, author, and activist. Born into the Spencer family and married into the Cavendish family, she was
Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Thomas Gainsborough, 1785–1787
A young Miss Georgiana Spencer with her mother, Margaret Georgiana Spencer. Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
With her siblings, Henrietta and George, by Angelica Kauffman, c. 1774. The painting was painted just before Georgiana's marriage to the Duke of Devonshire.
Duchess of Devonshire as Cynthia by Maria Cosway circa 1782. Depicted as a character from Spenser's Faerie Queene.
Eliza Courtney
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Elizabeth Courtney was the illegitimate daughter of the Whig politician and future Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, and socialite Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, while Georgiana
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
…my blood... Alas, I am gone before you could know me, but I lov'd you, I nurs'd you nine months at my breast. I love you dearly." On 20 February 1792, Eliza Courtney was born without complications. Georgiana's heart was broken yet again when she was forced to give away her illegitimate daughter Eliza to Grey's family…
Her father
Her mother, Georgiana, a stipple engraving (published 1782) after a drawing by Lady Diana Beauclerk dated 1779
Charles Henry Ellice