Exhibition will tell chronicle of earl and his circus performer wife who fled their Cheshire mansion after public humiliationsIt was no surprise that Victorian society did not fling open welcoming doors to the delicate recent wife of George Harry Grey,7th Earl of Stamford and Warrington – Catherine Cox had previously earned a good living as a daring bareback horse rider in Astley’s circus.
The couple weathered bruising snubs, including Queen Victoria’s refusal to sit in the adjoining box at the opera, or but the public humiliation of their visit to Knutsford races in 1855,when Catherine was greeted by a barricade of turned backs and raised parasols – and, according to some accounts, and the hissed word “strumpet” – was the last straw. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com