Claudius Rondeau
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Jane Vigor (née Goodwin) (1699 – 6 September 1783) (other married names: Ward, Rondeau) was an English letter writer, best known for her "Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia, to her Friend in England ...", written when she was the wife of two successive
British residents A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indi ...
(ambassadors) to the court of the Empress
Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much of her administratio ...
. Her letters "offer a unique eyewitness account of imperial and expatriate society at
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
" in the 1730s.


Family and early life

Jane Vigor was born at
Graffham Graffham is a village, Anglican parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England, situated on the northern escarpment of the South Downs within the South Downs National Park. The civil parish is made up of the village of Graffham, part of the h ...
in Sussex, England in early 1699, the daughter of Revd. George Goodwin and his wife, Elizabeth, née Sykes. George Goodwin was the rector of Graffham church, having been instituted as such in June 1698. Jane Goodwin was baptised at Graffham church on 20 February 1699. When Jane was ten years old, George Goodwin moved to
Methley Methley is a dispersed village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, south east of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It is located near Rothwell, West Yorkshire, Rothwell, Oulton, West Yorkshire, Oulton, Woodlesford, Mickletown and Aller ...
in Yorkshire where he was instituted as rector of St Oswald's Church in March 1709, remaining there until his death in 1750. On 20 November 1718, Jane Goodwin (aged 19) married Thomas Ward at
Temple Church The Temple Church, a royal peculiar in the Church of England, is a church in the Inner Temple, Inner and Middle Temple, Middle Temple, London, Temples located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar for their En ...
in the City of London. Ward was the son of Sir Edward Ward, the former
Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pres ...
, and judge in the state trial of the pirate,
William Kidd William Kidd (c. 1645 – 23 May 1701), also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish-American privateer. Conflicting accounts exist regarding his early life, but he was likely born in Dundee and later settled in N ...
. Following the death of her elder brother, Richard, in 1727, Jane inherited his share of their father's estate. George Goodwin appears to have come from a very wealthy family: writing in 1725, the Yorkshire diarist, John Hobson, describes a meeting with "Mr. Goodwin, minister of Medley (''sic''), who had lost £40,000 in the South Sea, and married his daughter to a Russian merchant, and had given her £14,000 to her portion".


Life in Russia

Little is known about the early married life of Jane and Thomas Ward, until they arrived in
St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
at the end of July 1728, accompanied by his secretary Claudius Rondeau, shortly after Ward was appointed British consul-general. Ward was considered a "low-calibre" resident at the Russian court and his tenure there was short-lived, as he died suddenly in February 1731. Following Ward's death, Rondeau applied to
George Tilson George Tilson (c. 167217 November 1738) was a British civil servant, long-serving Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign Office. Tilson was the son of Nathaniel Tilson of London, and grandson of Henry Tilson, Bishop of Elphin. From 1703 to 1706 ...
, Under-Secretary for the
Northern Department The Northern Department was a department of the government of the Kingdom of England from 1660 to 1707 and later the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 until 1782 when its functions were reorganised into the new Home Office and Foreign Office. ...
, for Ward's commission, to which he was appointed in September, following which he and Jane were married on 23 November 1731. Rondeau was a more effective resident than Ward, managing to reconcile the various factions within the
Russia Company The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company; ) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint-stock company, the precursor of the type of business that would soon f ...
at St Petersburg. In the meantime, Jane took an active role in the Russian social scene, becoming a favourite of
Empress Anna Anna Ioannovna (; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much of her administration ...
and attending various court parties, weddings etc. Jane had lost a child, probably in 1737, following which she returned to London for medical attention. She became pregnant again, shortly before Rondeau died, probably from the effects of a cold, on 5 October 1739.


Return to England

Following the death of Rondeau, and now pregnant, Jane decided to return to England. She set off in January 1740, taking with her a letter of recommendation from the Empress addressed to King George II: Rather than attempt to travel by sea through the winter, Jane set out with her servants overland by horse-drawn
sledge A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...
; she was accompanied on her journey by William Vigor, a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
merchant, who was also returning to England. (Vigor was the St Petersburg agent of the
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
-based timber, iron and steel importers, Graffin Prankard and Caleb Dickinson.) They travelled over 550 miles through the region of
Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...
and the
Duchy of Courland The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a duchy in the Baltic region, then known as Livonia, that existed from 1561 to 1569 as a nominal vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently made part of the Crown of the Polish Kingd ...
(now part of Latvia) before reaching the port of Memel (now the Lithuanian city of
Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...
) on the Baltic Sea. On their arrival at Memel, they found that the port was full of
Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...
officers and soldiers and the only accommodation available was in a crowded inn. The following day, Vigor found better accommodation in the home of a Mr. Meyer, a business contact. The next day, Jane Rondeau and Meyer were in conversation, when they discovered that the year before, Meyer's son had been travelling in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, England when he fell ill with
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
. By coincidence, he was given shelter and nursed back to health in the home of Revd. Goodwin of Methley, Jane's father. After a few days rest with Meyer and his family, Jane resumed her journey together with Vigor, travelling through
Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...
and Danzig (now Gdansk) to Hanover, where they spent a few days, before travelling on to the port of Helvoit (now
Hellevoetsluis Hellevoetsluis () is a town and former municipality in the west of Netherlands. It is located in Voorne-Putten, South Holland. The former municipality covered an area of of which was water and it included the population centres of Nieuw-Helvoe ...
) in Holland, from where they were able to obtain a passage to England.


Later life and death

Jane's daughter, Claudia Rondeau was born at
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
, Kent, the home town of Rondeau's family, on 8 May 1740, but she died on 31 May, only three weeks old. She was buried at St Dunstan's Church in Canterbury. Subsequently, the body of Claudius was repatriated and buried alongside his daughter. Several other members of Claudius's family, including his parents, are also interred at St Dunstan's. Jane later had a memorial plaque erected inside St Dunstan's to commemorate her husband and daughter. Jane and William Vigor were married at the non-conformist chapel at
Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...
(in the parish of
St Mary le Strand St Mary le Strand is a Church of England church at the eastern end of the Strand, London, Strand in the City of Westminster, London. It lies within the Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret) within the Diocese of London. The church stands on what ...
) in Westminster on 4 May 1743. The priest who officiated at the wedding was the Revd.
Thomas Newcomb Thomas Newcomb (1682?–1765) was an English clergyman and teacher, known as a poet. He was pro-government (i.e. Whig) writer of the ascendance of Robert Walpole, associated to Walpole through the interest of his patron Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st D ...
, who was rector at both
Stopham Stopham is a hamlet (place), hamlet and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), District of Chichester in West Sussex, England, about west of Pulborough on the A283 road. It is in the civil parish of Fittleworth. ...
and at
Barlavington Barlavington is a small village and civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester district of West Sussex, England. The village is situated about south of Petworth, east of the A285 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included i ...
(three miles east of Jane's birthplace). After their marriage, Jane and William Vigor lived in London until 1749, when they settled at
Taplow Taplow is a village and civil parish in the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the left bank of the River Thames, facing Maidenhead in the neighbouring county of Berkshire, with Cippenham and Burnham to the east. It is th ...
House, near
Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...
. Although Vigor occasionally represented the London interests of his former employers, Prankard and Dickinson, the couple settled into a life of "genteel obscurity" until William's death in October 1767. He was buried in the churchyard at St Nicholas, Taplow. Following her husband's death, Jane Vigor moved to
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...
where she died on 6 September 1783. She was buried alongside William in Taplow churchyard. Her obituary by John Nichols in ''
The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term ''m ...
'' described Jane as having "lived much in the world, and being well acquainted with books, her conversation was the delight of all who had the pleasure of knowing her" and that her loss was "severely felt by the neighbouring poor, amongst whom she was constantly searching after proper objects for the exertion of her charity and benevolence". Another English resident of St Petersburg, the governess Elizabeth Justice, described Jane as "a fine woman; very tall, and perfectly genteel", and "in all her answers, even to her inferiors, she shows the greatest condescension, and most obliging temper". The German historian,
Gerhard Friedrich Müller Gerhard Friedrich Müller (; 29 October 1705 – ) was a Russian–German historian and pioneer ethnologist. Early life Müller was born in Herford and educated at Leipzig. In 1725, he was invited to St. Petersburg to co-found the Imperial ...
, described her as "an Englishwoman by birth: a young, beautiful, lively, well-behaved and intelligent woman".


Letters from a Lady...

During her eleven years in St Petersburg, Jane wrote regularly to her friends and family in England. In 1775, a selection of her letters was published by
James Dodsley James Dodsley (1724–1797) was an English bookseller. Life Dodsley was born near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire in 1724. He was probably employed in the shop of his prosperous brother, Robert Dodsley, Robert, by whom he was taken into partnership ...
of
Pall Mall, London Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road (England), A4 road. The street's name is derived f ...
, under the title "Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia, to her Friend in England. With historical notes". In ''The Gentleman‘s Magazine'', John Nichols states that "she was in a manner obliged to publish, to prevent a spurious and incorrect copy from being obtruded on the world". Despite the absence of the author's name, contemporaries soon found out that the anonymous letters had been written by Mrs Vigor. As most of the 37 letters had been written during the time she was married to Claudius Rondeau, the letters were generally referred to as "Lady Rondeau’s Letters". The letters immediately aroused considerable interest both in England and elsewhere and were translated into German, French and Dutch by 1776. In 1777, a revised English edition was published with misprints in the original corrected. In 1836, the letters were translated into Russian; this edition was considered unsatisfactory, as it was heavily censored, and a completely revised edition was published in 1874 by
Evgeny Karnovich Evgeny Petrovich Karnovich (; 15 November 1823 – 6 November 1885) was Russian writer, historian, journalist and editor. Biography Born in rural Yaroslavl region into an affluent Ukrainian noble Karnovich family, Evgeny started his literary ca ...
, with additional notes by Sergey Shubinsky and an introduction by
Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin Konstantin Nikolayevich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (; – ) was a Russian historian. He was the head of the School of Historiography at the University of St. Petersburg (1864–85) and was elected into the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1890. In 1 ...
. In 1784, after Jane's death the previous year, some more letters were found among her papers; these were published under the title "Eleven additional letters from Russia, in the reign of Peter II. By the late Mrs. Vigor. Never before published". The preface states that these letters were "found among her papers since her decease" and include a short biographical preface and some historical notes. These letters precede the originals chronologically and cover her earliest years at St Petersburg, during the reign of Peter II and were more personally revealing than those she had published during her lifetime. The letters offer a unique eyewitness account of life at the court at St Petersburg and amongst the expatriate community; contemporary reviewers praised the anecdotes of courtly occasions, including marriages, coronations and funerals, as well as stories of aristocratic intrigue and romance.


Victoria and Albert Museum

In 2009, London's
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
was allocated a group of twenty two embroidered sofa and chair covers together with a portrait of the Vigor family by
Joseph Highmore Joseph Highmore (13 June 16923 March 1780) was an English painter of Portrait painting, portraits, conversation pieces and History painting, history subjects, illustrator and author. After retiring from his career as a painter at the age of 70, h ...
in 1744; these had been accepted by the British Government in lieu of
Inheritance Tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pro ...
. The portrait, described as a "
Conversation piece A conversation piece refers to a group portrait in a domestic or landscape setting depicting persons chatting or otherwise socializing with each other.Gerard ter Borch">ccessed ..., Gerard ter Borch, Gabriel Metsu, Caspar Netscher and Jacob Ocht ...
" shows two seated women, probably Jane and her sister-in-law, Ann, together with their husbands, William and Joseph Vigor (both standing), and a seated man, possibly John Penn (1700–1746), son of the founder of Pennsylvania, with whom the Vigors were on close terms. In the picture, Jane is holding an example of her embroidery, while Ann is knotting silk thread with a shuttle. The seat covers were probably worked by Jane Vigor while still in St Petersburg, "adapting Russian materials to her English design and needle skills".


Notes

* The biography in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
incorrectly claims that Jane was the daughter of the Revd Edward Goodwin of
Rawmarsh Rawmarsh (locally ) is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-northeast from Rotherham town centre and south-southwest of Swinton. The ...
Hall, Yorkshire, and Jane Wainwright. This claim is repeated in several other sources. * The preface to "Eleven additional letters from Russia" published in 1784, the year after Jane Vigor's death, includes some biographical notes, which state that she was married "to Thomas Ward, Esq. Consul General to Russia, 1728". This seems to refer to the date on which Ward took up his appointment in Russia, rather than the date of the marriage, which is how it has been interpreted in the ONDB article and elsewhere. * The incorrect appellation "Lady" presumably came about because of the use of the word in the full title of the publication, although Jane was always plain "Mrs".


See also

*
Lillie de Hegermann-Lindencrone Lillie De Hegermann-Lindencrone (1844–1928), born Lillie Greenough in Cambridge, Massachusetts and later known as Lillie Moulton, was a trained singer, and latterly a diplomat's wife noted for publishing in 1913 a book of letters describing '' ...


References


Bibliography

* * * *


External links


Article
about bust of Mrs Jane Vigor held at
Browsholme Hall Browsholme Hall is a privately owned Tudor house in the parish of Bowland Forest Low in the borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire (although historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire), England. It is claimed to be the oldest surviving family ...
, Lancashire. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vigor, Jane 1699 births 1783 deaths English women travel writers English travel writers People from Petworth English women letter writers 18th-century English letter writers