Eliza Stephens

Anna Elizabeth "Eliza" Planta was born on 6 February 1757 (baptized on 18 February),[4] to Andrew Planta, pastor of the German Reformed congregation at the Savoy Chapel in London,[5] and his wife Margarete Scartazzini de Bolgiani.[6][7] Her Swiss-born father had previously served as pastor of the Italian-speaking Reformed congregation in Castasegna, Switzerland.[8][9] He was also an educator of prince Alexander at the Ansbach court of Charles William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, before coming to London in 1752.[10] Several of Eliza's sisters worked as governesses and educators for noble families. Her older sister Elizabeth (1740/41–1823) became governess of eight-year-old Mary Eleanor Bowes in 1757.[11] Another sister, Frederica (1750–1778), was governess and English teacher of the daughters of George III and Queen Charlotte.[12][13] After Frederica's early death, her sister Margaret (called "Peggy", d. 1834)[14] took over her positions.[15] Their only brother, Joseph Planta (1744–1827), served as principal librarian at the British Museum.[16][17]

Mary Eleanor Bowes was the only child of the wealthy coal owner and politician George Bowes and his second wife, Mary Gilbert.[18][19] She was widely educated, reading voraciously in several languages.[20] In 1757, Eliza's father Andrew Planta was engaged as Mary Eleanor's French teacher,[5] and Elizabeth Planta, Eliza's elder sister, as governess.[11] After the death of George Bowes in 1760, Mary Eleanor became heiress of a vast fortune.[21] Her mother left London and returned to her home in St Paul's Walden Bury, and the upbringing of Mary Eleanor was left to her aunt Jane Bowes, Eliza's elder sister Elizabeth Planta, and various teachers.[22] In 1767, Mary Eleanor married John Lyon, the 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, who took her last name.[23] Elizabeth Planta became a lady's companion to Mary Eleanor's mother Mary Bowes, returning to Bowes's employ as governess of her children in 1774.[5]

Mary Eleanor Bowes

In July 1776, Elizabeth Planta was dismissed from her service with Mary Eleanor Bowes, receiving a generous payment of £2000, possibly to stop her from discussing Bowes' affair with George Gray and her pregnancy and abortion with Bowes' mother or her first husband's family.[24][25] Elizabeth's younger sister Eliza Planta was then hired as new governess for the children of Mary Eleanor Bowes, and quickly became an important and trusted companion to her mistress.[26] When Bowes and Gray became formally engaged in St Paul's Cathedral in August or September 1776, Planta served as one of the witnesses.[27]

Andrew Robinson Stoney

Also in the second half of 1776, Andrew Robinson Stoney arrived in London, scheming to seduce and marry the wealthy Bowes.[28][29][30] Stoney was introduced to Bowes' social circle, probably by his friend, Captain Perkins Magra, the brother of James Matra, who had taken part in the first voyage of James Cook.[31] He soon turned Planta into an ally and possibly was her lover. Planta was expected to inform Stoney of Bowes' interests and undertakings, to uncover her weaknesses and generally further his cause,[32] in order to make Bowes end her relationship with Gray.[33] One of Stoney's ploys included a visit to a fortune-teller that Planta proposed to Bowes, who reacted with enthusiasm.[34] According to Jesse Foot, who was Stoney's surgeon, friend, and later his biographer,[35] the fortune-teller had been "tutored to his wishes".[36] It is likely that the response to Bowes' query (Bowes was pretending to be a grocer's widow) whether she should marry "a brewer or a sugar-boiler"[37][34] indicated the advantages of Stoney over Gray.[38][39]

In November 1776, Bowes hired Reverend Henry Stephens as tutor for her children.[40] He was introduced to her by Magra and Matra; according to Bowes' biographer Wendy Moore, probably on the initiative of Stoney who was keen to further his own interests.[40] Stephens soon after allied himself with Stoney.[41][42] He was a widower and had some debts.[40][43] Planta and Stephens married very quickly, and eloped ten days after their first meeting, enfuriating the Planta family.[40][44] They were married in Scotland in November or December 1776,[45][46] with the wedding announced in the Monthly Miscellany in December 1776.[47][lower-alpha 2] According to Moore, Eliza was pregnant at the time of the wedding, and was encouraged by Bowes to use an abortifacient.[49] Moore suggests the father of the child was Stoney.[40] It is unclear whether Henry Stephens was aware of his wife's pregnancy; Eliza herself later denied claims that advertisements had been placed to find a husband for her.[50][51] In her Confessions, possibly written under duress and instructed by Stoney,[52] Bowes later wrote about the Stephens wedding, "I was imprudent to carry my revenge (as I then thought it) on the Planta family, so far as to advise Mrs. Stephens to marry against her consent, and to send her off to Scotland, which I ought not to have done, even if she had been a good woman."[53]

Bowes married Stoney on 17 January 1777, when he was ostensibly on his death bed after a staged duel.[54][55] The same evening, she made a present of £1,000 to Eliza.[56] This money may have been intended to cover Henry Stephens' debts, as recompense for the position as a minor canon he had given up when entering the household,[57] or as hush money so the Stephenses would keep quiet about Bowes' own pregnancy.[50][56] When Stoney-Bowes went to Newcastle in February 1777 with his new wife in order to contest a by-election for the Newcastle constituency, Bowes' four younger children stayed behind in London with Henry Stephens, while Eliza accompanied the couple, staying with them at Gibside.[58] A witness later claimed seeing Stoney leave Eliza's bedroom at 5 a.m. one morning after the election, suggesting that their affair still continued.[59] The Stephenses continued to look after the Bowes children until April 1777, when they left the employment and departed quickly.[60] After spending ten days in France, Henry and Eliza left for Stoney's estate at Colepike Hall near Lanchester, County Durham, where Eliza's child was born later in 1777.[61] Bowes wrote in her Confessions, "As to my madness, in wishing Mrs. Stephens to stay with me after I was married, I can only say, that it was a diabolical infatuation, and that had I known her as I do now, I would not only have [e]ntreated you to turn her out of the house directly; and have confessed, that such a wretch was not fit to live on the earth; and had I known Mr. Stephens, who I took for an honest, blunt man, I should have thought only with horror of his ever being near my sons, or in my house."[62] It is not quite known what happened to cause Bowes to write in such terms about her previous intimate friends;[63] it is possible that this was Stoney's doing, but he and the Stephenses would later reconcile.[64] From 1778, Eliza Stephens received an annuity of £200 from the Stoney-Bowes family.[65]

In 1785, Bowes escaped from her abusive husband Stoney,[66] who sent her daughter Mary to live with Eliza Stephens in order to hide her from Bowes.[67][68] By the time of the divorce trial between Stoney and Bowes in February 1789, Henry Stephens had assumed the post of curate at Ponteland, Northumberland.[69] Eliza and Henry both were witnesses for Stoney and against Bowes in this trial, accusing her of adultery with her footman.[70] Bowes won a divorce in March of 1789.[71] Afterwards, Eliza attempted to reconcile with Bowes and informed her about her daughter Mary's location and helping to remove her from Stoney's power.[65] Henry Stephens died in 1789 or 1790.[72][73]

Catherine Shuvalova

Within six months of Henry's death, Stephens left without her children for Saint Petersburg, Russia in spite of the fact that she had no employment offers.[72][73][lower-alpha 3] Her brother Joseph, wrote to his friend Andrew Samborski, who was living there after having served for many years as chaplain of the Russian Orthodox Church in London.[72][73] Listing her qualifications, he noted that Stephens was fluent in English, French, and Italian; was a talented vocalist; played the harpsichord; and was skilled in needlework.[72] He suggested that she was suitable for a post in the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens.[74] Samborski was able to find a position with Countess Catherine Shuvalova, who was the widow of Andrey Shuvalov.[73] Shuvalova was a powerful figure in the court of the Russian Empire and a Lady-in-waiting to Catherine the Great.[73][75] Her charge was Shuvalova's youngest daughter Alexandra (1775-1847). After several months of satisfactory service, Shuvalova allowed Stephens to bring her children – Elizabeth, Francis, and Marianne – and their nurse, Miss Joyce, to Saint Petersburg.[73] The children lived with Miss Joyce in Saint Petersburg, even after Joyce's marriage, until Samborski placed Elizabeth and Marianne in a private boarding school.[73][76] Francis, who was intellectually disabled, also learned to read.[73][77]

Mikhail Speransky

According to Baron Modest Andreyevich Korff, Stephens was known as Elisaveta Andreevna Stephens (Russian: Елисавета Андреевна Стивенсъ) in Russia and initially her surname was spelled Stevens.[78][lower-alpha 4] The family became part of the English-speaking colony living in Saint Petersburg, which included besides Samborski and his wife, the Shuvalov's family physician Georg Weikard and his wife, Maria, daughter of the banker, Karl Ludwig Amburger.[85][86] Stephens went abroad with Shuvalova in 1792 to bring back Louise and Frederica, Princesses of Baden, as potential brides to the future Alexander I.[87][88] In 1797, Alexandra married Franz Joseph, Prince of Dietrichstein and Stephens' daughter Elizabeth met Mikhail Speransky, while she was studying at the summer cottage of Samborski.[73][89] Speransky was a graduate of the Alexander Nevsky Seminary and had that year entered the civil service.[90] Stephens continued in the employ of Alexandra, who had her only child Joseph Franz the following April.[73][89][91] Elizabeth and Speransky married at the end of 1798 and shortly after their wedding, Stephens moved to Vienna with the Dietrichstein family and her own children, Francis and Marianne.[92][93]

Elizaveta Mikhailovna Speranskaya

In 1799, Stephens' daughter, Elizabeth, gave birth to her only child, Elizaveta Mikhailovna Speranskaya, but died two months later.[92][94] At the time of his wife's death, Speransky was at work and her mother was still in Austria. She was attended by Maria Weikard.[73][95] As he was distraught over his wife's death, Speransky buried himself in his work.[73][96] He sent his daughter to live with Mrs. Scott, who had formerly served as a nurse for Stephens, and lived along the Vyborgskaya Embankment, opposite Aptekarsky Island.[97] In 1801,[73] Stephens left Dietrichstein's employ and moved into Speransky's house to care for Speranskaya.[73][96] The following year when her daughter Marianne married Konstantin Zlobin, Stephens' family, including her granddaughter, all moved into the home of Marianne's father-in-law, Vasily Zlobin.[73] The young couple were not well suited and within six months were at odds.[98] Konstantin was not in good health and had a gloomy disposition; whereas, Marianne was lively and vivacious and enjoyed socializing.[99][100][101] Vasily, who was fond of Marianne, suggested that the Stephens family take a trip to Baldone (now in Latvia) to enjoy the sulfur water spa there. When he discovered they were returning in the autumn, Konstantin abandoned his wife and left his family home.[102] For more than a year, Vasily tried in vain to negotiate a reconciliation.[98][103] The Stephens family lived with him for approximately two years.[98]

Because Speranskaya's recovery from scarlet fever left her in delicate health, doctors recommended that she live in a warmer climate.[103] Speransky agreed to allow her to go to Kyiv (now in Ukraine) and Vasily bought a house there for Marianne and her family.[103][104] During this time, Stephens lost her husband's sister, Marie, and brother-in-law, Joseph Ferrand, in France.[105][lower-alpha 5] Their orphaned children, Melanie and Henri joined the Speransky family.[106][109] Henri was enrolled in the Page Corps, but died in 1811 in the cholera epidemic.[111][110] Melanie went to Kyiv to join Stephens, where she met Christian Gottlieb Bunge, an instrumental pediatrician.[112] Melanie and Bunge married in 1806 in Kyiv and had three children Ekaterina, Maria, and Heinrich.[113] In February 1805, Konstantin resigned from the civil service and returned to the family estate in Volsk.[114][115] Marianne returned to Saint Petersburg from Kyiv, and Vasily bought an estate Velikopolye for her in the Novgorod Oblast and she moved there.[100][114][lower-alpha 6] At Velikopolye, Marianne took in a young man from Siberia surnamed Stranek. They had an affair and she became pregnant with a daughter, Annette, known in Russian as Anyuta.[117][118]

In the early summer of 1809, Stephens, Francis, and her grandchildren returned to Saint Petersburg at Speransky's request and moved into his new house near the Tauride Garden on Sergievskaya Street.[119] Stephens and Speranskaya occupied the lower floor of the house, which had a hall, drawing room, dining room and his reception room, as well as a study where Speransky slept. Francis lived on the upper floor, which also housed Speransky's office.[120] Days in Saint Petersburg were spent studying and evenings were full of entertainment with frequent guests.[121] Marianne divorced Konstantin Zlobin in 1810 and made plans to marry Stranek.[122] Early in 1811, Stephens and Speranskaya went to visit Marianne at Velikopolye for several months.[100] Before Marianne and Stranek could marry, she died at the end of 1811, leaving her estate there to Speranskaya and her daughter to be cared for by Stephens.[73][123][124]

Speransky had risen from being the son of a priest with no surname born on the Saltykov estate in Cherkutino to the role of Secretary of State, and the advisor who was closest to Alexander I between 1808 and 1812.[125][lower-alpha 7] In March 1812, Speransky fell out of favor with the tsar, primarily because of his inability to cooperate or ingratiate himself with Russian nobility and was sent into exile.[126][127] He left a note for Speranskaya that she and Stephens were to join him in Nizhny Novgorod, as soon as it could be arranged.[126][128][129] Francis and Annette accompanied his mother and niece.[130] Stephens was bitter about the exile and concerned about how it would impact her reputation.[131] She upset both Speransky and Speranskaya by spreading rumors that Annette was his illegitimate child.[132][133] In the late summer, Speransky was relocated to Perm and Stephens moved there with the rest of the family.[134][135] Because he was ostracized in Perm, Speransky sent the family back to Saint Petersburg at the end of 1813,[136] but they continued to visit him.[127] When Speransky had trouble getting messages delivered to Tsar Alexander to explain his financial difficulties, Speranskaya was able to deliver a letter to the emperor, who allotted her father an annual stipend.[136][137] At the beginning of 1814, Speransky had the family move to Velikopolye and he joined them there later that year.[138][139][140] At that time, he also returned to government service holding various provincial posts until 1821.[141] Concerned that Stephens' bitterness would impact his daughter, in April 1815, he sent his mother-in-law to Kyiv to live with Melanie Bunge. He agreed to pay her a pension of ₽ 2,000 to 3,000 annually.[142]

Stephens died on 25 December 1815 in Kyiv.[143][lower-alpha 8] Her niece Melanie died in Kyiv two months later, on 20 February 1816.[109] After Stephens' death, Speransky and Speranskaya continued to care for Francis. He spent Sundays with Speransky and often traveled back and forth between his niece's home and her father's house, where he lived and was cared for.[146] Speransky provided for his support and expenses, ensuring that he was not neglected. Francis died in November 1848.[135]

Because Russian law forbade recognition of an illegitimate child and imposed harsh penalties on the parents,[147][lower-alpha 9] Speransky came up with a plan to care for Annette and protect her from the stain of illegitimacy.[118][122] In February 1816, he brought her from Kyiv back to Velikopolye.[145] Enlisting the help of Maria Weikard, he proposed that Annette be enrolled in a boarding school in Saint Petersburg, where she could study French, German, and Russian (also English if possible), music, and be raised in the Russian Orthodox faith. To explain why he was providing funds for her, Annette was to be enrolled under the name of Anna Andreevna Smirnovna, as an orphan daughter of Speransky's nephew Andrey Smirnov who had died.[117][154] She studied in the pension of Madame Vogel and prepared to graduate in the middle of February 1824.[155] In April 1825 at the home of Alexei Andreyevich Yelagin and his cousin Avdotya Yelagina in Saint Petersburg, Annette married Alexey Osipovich Imberg (also transliterated as Imburkh), who was an administrator for Nikolai Repnin-Volkonsky, the Governor-General of the Poltava Governorate in Ukraine.[156][157] Their first child was born in 1826 and others in 1827 and 1828.[158] Speransky continued to support their family, sending an allowance of ₽1,000 annually.[159] In 1830, he secured a position for Imberg in Vilna, where he worked as the postal inspector.[156][160] Imberg was granted the Order of St. Stanislav in the 2nd degree in 1836 and the following year had another child.[161]

In 1816, Speranskaya returned to Saint Petersburg, where she resided with Maria Weikard, who served as her surrogate mother.[162] After passing her examination in 1819, she began teaching.[163] Three years later, she became a lady-in-waiting to Louise of Baden, who had become Empress of Russia.[164][165] Married in 1822 to Prince Alexander Frolov-Bagreev, the governor of the Chernigov Governorate,[73][127][165] she subsequently had three children.[166][167][168] Her father bought her another estate, Velyka Burimka near Poltava in Ukraine in 1831.[166][169] Until 1850, she managed her estates and then moved to Vienna, where she became a writer until her death in 1857.[170][171] Both of her sons died young.[172][173] Her daughter, Maria Frolova-Bagreeva, married Prince Rodion Nikolaevich Cantacuzène on 19 November 1846,[174] and they took over management of Speranskaya's estates when she moved to Austria.[175] Maria's son, Mikhail Rodionovich Cantacuzène, was granted his grandfather's title of Count Speransky during the centennial celebrations for Speransky's birth in 1872.[176][177] His son, Mikhail, by Elizabeth Sicard, married Julia Dent Grant, granddaughter of United States President Ulysses S. Grant in 1899.[178][179] The Velyka Burimka estate was destroyed by the Bolsheviks during the Ukrainian–Soviet War in 1918.[180] When the area became Soviet Ukraine in 1919, the family fled, first to Kyiv and then abroad to Constantinople, Malta, and eventually Paris.[181] The Velikopolye estate was destroyed during World War II.[182]