Social Victorians/1897 Fancy Dress Ball/Belfast News-Letter Article

The Belfast News-Letter's Account of the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 Ball in Some Newspaper

Logistics

The Belfast News-Letter's account of the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, 3 July 1897.

Some of this article and the one in the London Daily News have chunks that are identically worded, but just here and there. The line about the Ladies Ker and Villiers, for example, is the same, and it seems more opinion than some kind of description provided by the women themselves. Also, the very beginning has some wording similarities.

Appears to be identical to, except longer than?, the story in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph.

Words: 2,580.

"THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S / FANCY DRESS BALL. / SPECIAL TELEGRAM."

<quote>London, Friday. - The fancy dress ball given by the Duchess of Devonshire at Devonshire House, Piccadilly, to-night was, both as regards the attendance and the picturesqueness of the dresses, the most brilliant function of the kind ever held in London. The Prince and Princess of Wales and almost every Royal personage now in town were present, and the costumes and jewels were not only magnificent in themselves, but had been made historically correct in every detail, and as the members of each different Court and group danced toogether in their special quadrille, a series of gorgeous pictures of each past age was produced, instead of the bewilderingly jumbled, if brilliant, effect usually seen at a fancy ball. For weeks past all the leading London dressmakers and costumiers had been hard at work executing the orders for this great ball. At Alias Nathan's, Clarkson's, Auguste's, and Simmons' all hands set to with a will, and it is gratifying to know that the dresses entrusted to them more than held their own with those sent over from Paris. Many of the guests wore costumes copied from portraits of ancestors, others formed groups representing characters in the works of Shakespeare, Dante, or some well-known painter. There were Courts of almost every British Sovereign from King Arthur to the Georges, but the line was drawn at 1830 [sic], thus excluding all that was commonplace and modern, and rendering the ball a gathering only of picturesque and old-world personages. The elaborate floral decorations were all carried out under the direction of Mr. Chester, the head gardener of Chatsworth, and the whole of the lovely flowers and palms were sent up from the conservatories and gardens on the estate. [The Duke of Devonshire] ... [The Duchess of Devonshire] ... [the young Duke of Manchester] ... ]The Princess of Wales] ... [Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein] ... [The Prince of Wales] ... [The Duke of Connaught] ... [The Duchess of Connaught ... [Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein] ... [Princess Christian] ... [The Duke of York] ... [The Duchess of York] ... [The Duchess of Teck] ... [Prince Charles of Denmark] ... [Prince Henry of Pless] ... [Princess Henry of Pless] ... [The Duke of Fife] ... [The Marchioness of Lorne] ... [Prince Francis and Prince Alexander of Teck] ... [The Grand Duke Michael of Russia] ... [Princess Hohenlohe] ... It is, of course, only possible to describe a few of the many notable dresses worn in the various quadrilles. [The Marchioness of Londonderry] ... [Lord Castlereagh] ... [Lady Helen Stewart, Lady Alexandra Hamilton, Lady Beatrice Fitzmaurice, Lady Beatrice Butler, and Miss Seymour] ... Another quadrille which was remarkable for the rich costumes was organised by the Countess of Warwick. ... [the Countess of Warwick] ... [Lady Rose Leigh] ... [the Honourable Mrs. George Keppell]. [the Ladies Ker and the Ladies Villiers] ... [Lady Constance Butler and Miss Chaplin [Belfast 3 July 1897: 5, Col. 9C–6, Col. 1A] ... [the Countess of Westmorland] ... [the Honourable Bridget Harbord] ... [The Marchioness of Tweeddale] ... [The Marquis of Tweeddale] ... [Viscount Peel] ... [Lord Lathom] ... [Lord Halsbury] ... [Lady Evelyn Ewart] ... [The Duchess of Sutherland] ... [Lady Southampton] ... [Lady Muriel Fox Strangways] ... [Lady Gerard] ... [Mrs. Ronalds] ... [Earl Spencer] ... [Mr. Asquith] ... [Lord Crewe] ... [Lord Ashburton] ... [The Duchess of Hamilton] ... [The Duchess of Roxburgh (sic)] ... [Lady Tweedmouth] ... [The Duchess of Leeds] ... [The Duchess of Westminster] ... [Countess Deym] ... [Countess Clay] ... [Countess Kinsky] ... [Countess Isabel Deym] ... [Lady Gwendolyn Cecil] ... [Lady Rothschild] ... [The Countess of Dudley] ... [The Duke of Alva] ... [the Duke of Somerset] ... [Lord Alva] ... [The Duke of Buccleuch] ... [Lady Katherine Scott] ... [Lady Battersea] ... [Belfast 3 July 1897: 5, Col. 9A–6, Col. 1B]</quote>

Bibliography

• [Belfast 3 July 1897] "Duchess of Devonshire's Fancy Dress Ball." Belfast News-Letter Saturday 3 July 1897: 5 [of 8], Col. 9A–6, Col. 1B. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000038/18970703/021/0005).