Lord Chesterfield and Elizabeth du Bouchet: New Light on an Eighteenth-Century Liaison

Almost no trace has survived of the life of Elizabeth du Bouchet after she moved from The Hague to London and gave birth to Philip Stanhope, the illegitimate son of Philip Dormer Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in 1732. Thirty-three unpublished letters in the archive of the Chevening Estate, now at the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone, therefore offer scholars an unprecedented perspective on du Bouchet's life, on her continuing relationship with Chesterfield, and on their mutual concerns about the health and education of their son. These letters, all written in French by Chesterfield to du Bouchet over a thirty-year period, also provide an intimate view of the Earl's debilitating deafness, of his hopes for his son, and of his affection for — and occasional frustration with — his former mistress.