1 00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. This is 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: part two of our two part series on Mary Eleanor 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,079 Speaker 1: Bow's so if you haven't listened to part one you 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: should probably start there. And just a brief content warning, 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: this episode contains descriptions of spousal abuse. In early February 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty five, a scandal swept the coffeehouses of upper 8 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: crust Georgian London. Mary Eleanor Bows, one of the richest 9 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: women in Britain, had disappeared. She had always been a 10 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: little bit eccentric, but in the years after marrying Irish 11 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: soldier Andrew Robinson Stoney, things had gotten well stranger. Bows 12 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: was known for being well spoken, elegant and poised, but 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: recently she had been appearing at dinners in tattered clothes 14 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 1: with cuts and bruises, sometimes barely saying a word, and 15 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: then one day she was gone. The most plausible hypothesis 16 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: was that she had eloped with some other man, but 17 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: even that was far fetched. No one had even heard 18 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: a rumor about another swain or suitor. The truth was 19 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: something no one could have guessed Mary Eleanor Bow's wealthy 20 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: heiress was hiding out using a fake name with no money, 21 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:44,559 Speaker 1: in a small apartment off an alleyway. At the time 22 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: of her disappearance, Mary Eleanor Bows had been married to 23 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: Andrew Robinson Stoney for eight years. As she discovered soon 24 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: after their shotgun wedding, he had wooed her under false 25 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: pretenses orchis an elaborate scheme including a fake psychic reading 26 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: and a fake duel to marry her and arrest control 27 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:14,239 Speaker 1: of her vast coal fortune. Stony then made Mary Eleanor's 28 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: life a living hell, starving her, isolating her, and beating her, 29 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: which brings us to her disappearance in early seventeen eighty five. 30 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: Fearing for her life, Mary Eleanor escaped with the help 31 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: of a few of her maids. She fled to a 32 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: little apartment off an alleyway in Holborn, with no possessions, 33 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: no money, and using a false name. Soon the public 34 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: would learn what had happened. As Mary Eleanor made initial 35 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: steps to secure her independence, she set in motion three 36 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: separate legal proceedings to try to get her freedom. The 37 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: first was to protect her life, getting physical protection from Stony. 38 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: The second motion was to protect her fortune, trying to 39 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: ensure a prenup that she had managed to secretly smuggle 40 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: away from under Stoney's nose would be honored. But it 41 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: would be the third motion that would prove most difficult 42 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: of all. Mary Eleanor Bowes was seeking a divorce from Stony, 43 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: the man she accused of quote beating, scratching, biting, pinching, whipping, kicking, imprisoning, insulting, provoking, tormenting, mortifying, degrading, tyrannizing, cajoling, deceiving, lying, starving, forcing, compelling, 44 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: and ringing of the heart. Under British law, that was 45 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: technically grounds for divorce, but in practice divorces were expensive 46 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: and extremely uncommon. Most of the plaintiffs in divorce cases 47 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: were men. Women rarely filed for divorce and rarely won. 48 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor must have been daunted by the legal battles 49 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: She knew she faced ahead, but achieving her freedom would 50 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: turn out to be more lengthy, expensive, and emotionally taxing 51 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: than she could have ever imagined, and it would put 52 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: her fortune, her reputation, and her life at risk. I'm 53 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 1: Danish Schwartz, and this is noble blood. Back at Gibbside Castle, 54 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: Stony was already enraged at Mary Eleanor's disappearance, so we 55 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: can only imagine his anger when he heard of the 56 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: three motions she was filing. He set his sights on 57 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: tracking his wife down, bribing servants to find and reveal 58 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: her address, and even paying off shop owners to keep 59 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: them from giving her food, hoping that if she's starved, 60 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: she might be more likely to return to him and 61 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: reconsider divorce. Stony also began in timid and paying off witnesses, 62 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: threatening to fire maids and valets to prevent them from 63 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: testifying against him. While he was stalking Mary Eleanor and 64 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: bullying potential witnesses in private. He took great pains to 65 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: appear in public as a long suffering, compassionate husband whose 66 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: mercurial wife had suddenly up and left, deserting him and 67 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: two young children. This made it all the harder for 68 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor, who was trying to find support for her 69 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: legal cases while still in hiding. Unlike Stony, who had 70 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: unfettered access to her family's estate, Mary Eleanor had no money. 71 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: She reached out to her own family for financial, legal, 72 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:54,119 Speaker 1: or even emotional support. But they politely declined they saw 73 00:05:54,240 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: her divorce as an embarrassment. Surprisingly, it was actually Stoney's 74 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: family who was far more sympathetic to Mary Eleanor's plight. 75 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 1: Stoney's sister, who was grieving the death of her first child, 76 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: wrote a letter to Mary Eleanor saying, quote what a 77 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: blessing it would be if my brother had been taken 78 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: off at that age, while Stoney's father told Mary Eleanor 79 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 1: that Stoney was quote the most wretched man I ever knew, 80 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: But family loyalty prevented them from publicly supporting Mary Eleanor. 81 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: They refused to appear in court. While the Georgian elite 82 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: was more than willing to cast Mary Eleanor aside, as 83 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: scholar Wendy Moore put it, quote, those who had the 84 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: most to lose showed her the greatest loyalty. Mary Eleanor's 85 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: maid supported her without wages and were willing to appear 86 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: in court to speak about Stoney's abuse, putting their careers 87 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: and even their lives at risk. When shopkeepers were forbidden 88 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 1: from providing Mary Eleanor with food, gardeners sent her fruit 89 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: and vegetables to eat. Mary Eleanor's lawyers worked on her 90 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: case pro bono, assuming they would be paid if she won. 91 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: Needing a panoply of witnesses to provide proof of Stoney's mistreatment, 92 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,160 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor spent her days writing and responding to letters 93 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: trying to drum up support for her case. As her 94 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: maid and close confidant, Mary Morgan, ran the letters to 95 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: the post office. Being granted a divorce by a British 96 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: court required a high burden of proof. A separation would 97 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: only be granted if the offending party perpetuated life threatening, 98 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: unprovoked acts of violence and cheated habitually. Mary Eleanor had 99 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: a few witnesses testifying to Stoney's violence, but she needed 100 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: to prove his adultery to shore her case. Dorothy Stevens, 101 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: a wet nurse in the Beau's household, not only witnessed 102 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: Stoney's abuse but suffered it herself. Stoney had raped her 103 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: and gotten her pregnant before depositing her in a brothel 104 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: and leaving her and her newborn child destitute. When Mary 105 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: Eleanor tried to get in contact with sex workers that 106 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: lived with Dorothy, no one had seen any sign of her. 107 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: Four weeks it wasn't until Dorothy's parents reached out to 108 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor in April seventeen eighty five that Mary Eleanor 109 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: figured out what had happened. In order to prevent Dorothy 110 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:47,199 Speaker 1: from testifying against him, Stoney had kidnapped her and their 111 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: three month old daughter and imprisoned them in a house 112 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: in Kensington. Mary Eleanor and Dorothy's parents obtained a writ 113 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: of habeas corpus to free her from Stoney's grasp. Dorothy 114 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: appeared in court two weeks later, calling Stoney quote a 115 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:13,239 Speaker 1: man of very cruel, savage and abandoned disposition. Dorothy's testimony 116 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: opened the floodgates. From then, many of Stoney's tenants and 117 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: staff came forward with their own first hand experiences of 118 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: his violence toward his wife. Perhaps sensing that the tide 119 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: was turning against him, Andrew Stoney proposed an arbitration to 120 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: divide up the estate between him and Mary Eleanor in 121 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: exchange for Mary Eleanor suspending her divorce case. She agreed, 122 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: but we should know by now that peace seeking was 123 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: not in Stoney's nature. What would have normally been a 124 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: conciliatory move masked Stoney's plan to crush Mary Eleanor into submission, 125 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,440 Speaker 1: Stoney used the guise of reconciliation to try and track 126 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor down. He told his staff, who he knew 127 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: were providing Mary Eleanor with provisions and support, that they 128 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: had reconciled and that there was no more need to 129 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: hide her location. Finally, Stoney managed to find his wife 130 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: by seizing a weekly delivery of garden produce from one 131 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: of the groundskeepers, which contained her address. But Mary Eleanor 132 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: was tipped off to Stoney's attempt to find her, and 133 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: she managed to flee her apartment with no time to spare. 134 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: She rejected Stoney's settlement and pressed forward with her trials. 135 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: Back when Stoney had been trying to woo Mary Eleanor, 136 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: he had staged a duel. Now in an effort to 137 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: push back their divorce, he told the press that he 138 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 1: had shot himself. He hadn't, but he thought the confusion 139 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,960 Speaker 1: might delay things. But on May sixth, seventeen eighty six, 140 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: the divorce suit finally came up for hearing. According to 141 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: the court conventions at the time, lawyers had been hearing 142 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: depositions from witnesses on both sides for over a year, 143 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: cross examining them in private. The court convened just so 144 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: that the judge could make his decision. Astonishingly, he sided 145 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: with Mary Eleanor. The judge mandated that the couple be 146 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: divorced from bed bored and mutual cohabitation, and allotted Mary 147 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 1: Eleanor three hundred pounds a year in alimony on the 148 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: grounds of both adultery and cruelty. Mary Eleanor must have 149 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 1: been relieved to see her hard work pay off. She 150 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: had only sex workers and servants on her side, no 151 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:55,160 Speaker 1: money to pay her lawyers, and struggled against a patriarchal 152 00:11:55,240 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 1: society that demonized divorce. But after an unless win, Mary 153 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: Eleanor perhaps could exhale. But this was only the beginning 154 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: of the legal battle ahead. Mary Eleanor's prenuptial agreement was 155 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: still up for debate, which would either give her access 156 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: to the fortune she had lost or condemn her to 157 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:23,560 Speaker 1: a life of poverty. Moreover, Andrew Stony, a man who 158 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 1: had faked his own death two weeks earlier to avoid 159 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:30,840 Speaker 1: appearing in court, was not going to let go so easily. 160 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: He immediately appealed the divorce decision, sending the couple back 161 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 1: to court once again, and this time he was going 162 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: to play dirty to win. Even with another divorce trial 163 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: on the horizon and her prenup still up for debate, 164 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor was free, at least for a moment. At 165 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: social events, she appeared happy and relf. She visited friends 166 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:07,079 Speaker 1: in the countryside and played quadrille at opulent parties awaiting 167 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 1: the new legal term in the fall. But when the 168 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:15,760 Speaker 1: conversation veered toward her ex husband, Mary Eleanor's fear and 169 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: anxiety emerged. She spoke to friends about strange men pretending 170 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: to be law officers appearing at her doorstep, of deranged 171 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: women trying to break into her house, of carriages following 172 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: her down city streets, her male getting intercepted. Polite society 173 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:41,079 Speaker 1: dismissed her concerns, calling her paranoid. Behind her back, even 174 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor was questioning her own sanity. One night in 175 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:49,319 Speaker 1: October seventeen eighty six, one of her maids told her 176 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: that a Hackney carriage had been following their coach. The 177 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: maid could have sworn that she saw Stony leaning out 178 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: of the window of the carriage, but it turned doubt 179 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:04,199 Speaker 1: that she was mistaken. He had been convalescing in bed 180 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: after falling off his horse a few days prior. Even so, 181 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: Mary barred any strangers from entering her house, and she 182 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:17,079 Speaker 1: vowed to stay inside until her divorce appeal was over. 183 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: She hired a bodyguard to keep an eye out for 184 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: any suspicious carriages or onlookers lingering outside her home. After 185 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 1: a few days, on November tenth, seventeen eighty six, Mary 186 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: Eleanor felt sick of being cooped up and decided to 187 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: visit a friend on Oxford Street, not far from the 188 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: house on Bloomsbury Square where she was staying. Her bodyguard 189 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: told her that she had nothing to worry about, but 190 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor had trouble relaxing. She had barely sat down 191 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: for tea when she heard some commotion outside, and, fearing 192 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: the worst, she locked herself in a garret room before 193 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: her bodyguard appeared and told her it was safe to leave. 194 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: As Mary Eleanor walked out the door onto Oxford Street, 195 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: she was greeted with a crowd of armed men pointing 196 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: their pistols right at her. Her bodyguard told her that 197 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,640 Speaker 1: she was being arrested, and he led her into her 198 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: carriage at gunpoint. Mary Eleanor screamed for help, begging to 199 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: be let go, but the gathering crowd simply watched as 200 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: the carriage sped away. She wasn't being arrested. It was 201 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: a kidnapping. On the carriage ride. Mary Elinor must have 202 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: wondered whether this was Stoney's doing or whether she just 203 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: happened to be the unlucky victim of an extortion or crime. 204 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: But as the carriage arrived at the Red Lion Tavern, 205 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 1: she had her answer. Stoney was waiting for her outside 206 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: the front door. It turned out that all of Mary 207 00:15:55,320 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: Eleanor's paranoia was warranted. Stoney had been planning this kidnap 208 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 1: for almost a month. Fearing that he would lose his 209 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: divorce appeal, Stoney came up with yet another scheme. If 210 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: he couldn't threaten Mary Eleanor into dropping the suit, he 211 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: would force her to live with him, which would undermine 212 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: her case, because the thinking went, why would he file 213 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: a divorce against someone you were quote unquote willingly living with. 214 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: He had bribed the man that became Mary Eleanor's bodyguard 215 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: to insinuate himself into her life when she hired him. 216 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: He reported to Stoney daily update about what she was 217 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: up to. The bodyguard told Stony that Mary Eleanor planned 218 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: to leave the house on November tenth, and so Stoney 219 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: set the last steps of his plan into motion. He 220 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: gathered together a group of cronies with guns to surround 221 00:16:55,040 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: her and force her into a carriage. Immediately upon returning 222 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: to Gibside Castle, Stoney and Mary Eleanor sat beside each 223 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: other at the long dinner table in the dining room. 224 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,879 Speaker 1: He held a pistol to her breast, threatening to shoot 225 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: her if she didn't drop the lawsuit. She refused. He 226 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:26,159 Speaker 1: told her to pray, and she did, saying I recommend 227 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: my spirit to God and my friend to his protection. 228 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: Fire and Stony did, but when he pulled the trigger, 229 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 1: the gunpowder failed to ignite. Enraged, he punched her twice 230 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: and asked her if that made her change her mind. 231 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: She said, you may shoot me or beat me to 232 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: a mummy. My person is in your power, but my 233 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: mind is beyond your reach. Perhaps a little in awe 234 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,479 Speaker 1: of her determination, he said, by God, you are a 235 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: wonderful woman. He had two of his cronies drag her 236 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 1: up to their bedroom and he ordered her to sleep 237 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,400 Speaker 1: with him, knowing that if they had sex, he could 238 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: claim that she wanted to remain his wife, which would 239 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: render the divorce suit invalid. But Mary refused to consent, 240 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: saying that she would accuse him of rape if he 241 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:27,640 Speaker 1: laid a hand on her. Stoney relented, letting her sleep alone. 242 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: The next day, he fled the castle and went into hiding, 243 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:37,719 Speaker 1: taking Mary Eleanor with him. Mary Eleanor's supporters produced a 244 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: writ of habeas corpus ordering Stony to bring Mary Eleanor back, 245 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: but that wouldn't be enough without a nationwide police force 246 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: to help her. Supporters hired a court tipstaff, which is 247 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: basically an armed bailiff, to track her down. Stoney and 248 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor moved throughout the English countryside, where he told 249 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: villagers that he was a doctor and she was his 250 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: delusional patient, which meant that the villagers could ignore her 251 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: cries for help. In the days after her kidnapping, the 252 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 1: astonishing story spread throughout England as multiple newspapers reproduced the 253 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,000 Speaker 1: sordid details. A plowman who had heard about the case 254 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: spotted a mysterious couple riding in Tunetia and ambushed them 255 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,680 Speaker 1: with that Mary Eleanor hopped on the generous plowman's horse 256 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: and they rode away back to London. Mary Eleanor appeared 257 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: in court a few days later, on November twenty third, 258 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: to call for Stoney's arrest. She was clearly disheveled, covered 259 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: with bruises and welts, and was in so much pain 260 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: she could barely walk as she spoke of her kidnapping 261 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: and mistreatment. The journalists and spectators in the crowd were 262 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: shocked and moved. One wrote, quote, Lady Strathmore, from the 263 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: extreme ill treatment she has perceived since forced from the metropolis, 264 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,199 Speaker 1: is become an object of the most extreme pity and 265 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: compassion to every beholder. Stoney tried to make a play 266 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: for the audience's sympathy using his favorite trick, faking his 267 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: own death. He gave himself an emetic and made a 268 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: show out of vomiting on the street, bribing a doctor 269 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,000 Speaker 1: to tell the court that he was too sick to 270 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,439 Speaker 1: come in, But the judge dismissed his claims, and the 271 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: audience booed and heckled him as he limped into the courtroom. 272 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: The judge ordered Stony to jail until the divorce case 273 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: was heard setting his bail at twenty thousand pounds, which 274 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: was likely the largest bail figure to date in a 275 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:56,880 Speaker 1: case of domestic abuse. According to Wendy Moore, Stoney's lawyers 276 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: begged the judge to let him free, as a stint 277 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,679 Speaker 1: in jail might make his injuries and illness worse. The 278 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:08,439 Speaker 1: crowd laughed, tipstaffs carried Stoney out of court, and a 279 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: huge mob of onlookers crowded him, hurling insults and jeers. 280 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: Even on the way to jail. Stoney still had tricks 281 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 1: up his sleeve. The incredible story of Mary Eleanor's kidnapping 282 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,679 Speaker 1: had made the trial a media circus, with onlookers and 283 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 1: journalists filling the courtroom. Stoney planned to exploit the gossip 284 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 1: hungry press to turn the tide against Mary Eleanor and 285 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: perhaps rest control over her and her fortune once and 286 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: for all. Stoney had already made modest attempts to undermine 287 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,719 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor's reputation in the press even before his arrest. 288 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: Less than a month after Mary Eleanor won her first 289 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: divorced tree, while he commissioned a pornographic cartoon of her, 290 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 1: which appeared in the window of a print shop. The 291 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: caption proclaimed that Mary Eleanor was going to give her 292 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: stepson a taste of her dessert after dinner. A scene 293 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: performed every day near Grosvenor Square to the annoyance of 294 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 1: the neighborhood, and she was pictured drunk and bearing her 295 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: breasts as she beat an afraid looking boy. Other cartoons 296 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 1: would follow. A particularly salacious one was her breastfeeding her 297 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: cats as her son cried, I wish I was a cat. 298 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: My mama would love me. Then, now, with Stony's reputation 299 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:48,160 Speaker 1: in shambles, he had to bring out the big guns. 300 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: One off cartoons in random print shops weren't going to 301 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 1: cut it. It helped that he had purchased an interest 302 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,640 Speaker 1: in The Times, which was more than willing to give 303 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: air time to his side of the story. From his 304 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: prison cell, Stoney promised the press that Mary Eleanor's sympathetic 305 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:12,200 Speaker 1: story was not what it seemed, and that he would 306 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: reveal her equally scandalous misdeeds in court. On January twentieth, 307 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty seven, when Mary Eleanor's second divorce hearing began, 308 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,879 Speaker 1: onlookers and reporters filed into the court room Stoney began 309 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: the hearing with a bombshell allegation that Mary Eleanor had 310 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: been brazenly and repeatedly cheating on him with any male 311 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: acquaintance that would give her the time of day. While 312 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,439 Speaker 1: most of these made up encounters were dismissed by the court, 313 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: one made a particular splash. Stony accused Mary Eleanor of 314 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: an affair with George Walker, the executor of her prenup. 315 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: Stony was probably trying to kill two birds with one 316 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: stone here, both smearing Mary Eleanor's image and introducing evidence 317 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,880 Speaker 1: that could get the prenup annulled. The problem was there 318 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:10,960 Speaker 1: was no evidence for this alleged affair. Later, Walker told 319 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: the press that Stoney had approached him with a bribe 320 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: to lie on the stand, but Walker responded, I despised 321 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: his offers, as I despised the man, even though his 322 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:30,359 Speaker 1: claims she committed adultery strained credulity. Stoney's lawyers brought out 323 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: a document that would shock the court and the public alike. 324 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: During their marriage, Stoney had forced Mary Eleanor to write 325 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,439 Speaker 1: a list of her sins to prove that she deserved 326 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: his abuse. Stoney's lawyers brought this one hundred page document 327 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:54,480 Speaker 1: to court titled The Confessions of the Countess of Strathmore. 328 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: In the document, Mary Eleanor revealed various flirtations, the affe 329 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: she had had well married to her first husband, multiple abortions, 330 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: and her pregnancy out of wedlock, and all of it 331 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: was unmistakably in her handwriting. At first, it seemed like 332 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: Stoney might have made a mistake in introducing the document 333 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:23,360 Speaker 1: to the court. Mary's lawyer dismissed it since it had 334 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: clearly been written at Stoney's insistence. Even if the scandals 335 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:32,120 Speaker 1: it contained were true. The lawyer called it a pocket 336 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:36,320 Speaker 1: pistol meant to destroy her ladyship's fame and to harden 337 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: and steel the hearts of everyone against her. The judge agreed. 338 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,879 Speaker 1: The courtroom clerk read only a few pages before the 339 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 1: judge told him that this document was irrelevant to the 340 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:49,359 Speaker 1: case at hand and should be thrown out of court. 341 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:54,159 Speaker 1: They were right. Even if Stony had not forced Mary 342 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: Eleanor to create the document, and even if we agreed 343 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,360 Speaker 1: that having an abortion or cheating on your cold, indifferent 344 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:07,199 Speaker 1: first husband were unpardonable sins, Mary Eleanor's misdeeds would have 345 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: no bearing on whether or not Stoney had abused her. 346 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 1: The judge granted Mary a divorce yet again on May seventh, 347 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty seven, but the court of public opinion began 348 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: to see things differently the times which Stony had a 349 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: staken wrote quote, the cause of her ladyship is not 350 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: so immaculate as the world at large have been taught 351 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: to believe. Even Stoney's father, who had called his son 352 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,560 Speaker 1: quote the most wretched man he knew, was now saying 353 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:50,640 Speaker 1: that quote, there has certainly been many faults on both sides, 354 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: and that the divorce would set quote a dangerous precedent. 355 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: That said, he didn't totally take the side of his 356 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: son when when he died the following month, he left 357 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:07,080 Speaker 1: Stoney only two pounds as an inheritance. Even though Mary 358 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:11,880 Speaker 1: Eleanor's quote confessions were thrown out of court, Stoney's more 359 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:17,199 Speaker 1: sympathetic framing in the press did have legal implications. His 360 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: jail time was reduced from fourteen years to two, and, 361 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: feeling optimistic about the turning tide of public opinion, he 362 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:31,359 Speaker 1: appealed the divorce decision yet again at the High Court 363 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: of Delegates, which is the highest court of appeals the 364 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: case could go. Mary Eleanor struck back with another lawsuit, 365 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 1: charging Stoney with quote five counts of conspiracy that accused 366 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: him of imprisoning Mary in order to compel her to 367 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 1: drop her divorce suit, which brought the total lawsuits in 368 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: process to three, the prenup lawsuit, a divorce and a 369 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,679 Speaker 1: criminal trial. The criminals suit was heard first, and the 370 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:05,960 Speaker 1: trial more closely resembled what we picture in a modern courtroom, 371 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: with a jury, a judge, and two lawyers cross examining 372 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:15,479 Speaker 1: witnesses and giving impassioned arguments. Mary Eleanor's lawyer spoke in 373 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: front of the crowd as he described her kidnapping and 374 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 1: imprisonment in lurid detail. While kidnapping one's wife at gunpoint 375 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: in broad daylight was considered uncouth, it wasn't technically illegal 376 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,439 Speaker 1: at the time. A husband had the legal right to 377 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:38,920 Speaker 1: confine and reprimand an unruly wife, but Mary Eleanor's lawyer 378 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: pushed against the legal limits of the time. He described 379 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: how Stony forced himself on Mary Eleanor as she fought 380 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: him off, telling the likely skeptical all male jury that 381 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 1: a husband is liable to be tried for a rape, 382 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 1: even on his own wife, even though marital rape would 383 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:03,960 Speaker 1: not considered a crime for another two hundred years. The 384 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:08,160 Speaker 1: strategy worked. It took only a few minutes for the 385 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:13,240 Speaker 1: jury to unanimously declare Stony guilty, and the judge sentenced 386 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 1: him to three years in prison. On June twenty sixth, 387 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:22,760 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty seven. The next trial was for reinstating Mary 388 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: Eleanor's pre nup. This case, hinging on the validity of 389 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: a decade's old document might seem tangential, but this was 390 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,920 Speaker 1: as important as the divorce trial itself, because even if 391 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor was granted her divorce, she would not be 392 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:43,960 Speaker 1: entitled to any financial remittance outside of the poulsterry monthly 393 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: alimony payments. Meanwhile, Stoney was flush with money that, lest 394 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:55,000 Speaker 1: we forget, was originally Mary Eleanor's inheritance. While Mary Eleanor 395 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 1: had no money to speak of, relying on her friend's charity, 396 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: Stoney was i enjoying a rich man's life on her dime, 397 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: even while ostensibly in prison. He lived in a lavish 398 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: apartment in the Marshall, where he threw parties, eight decade 399 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:16,600 Speaker 1: in food and had affairs with mistresses, in addition to 400 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: hiring various cronies to abduct friends and servants of Mary Eleanor's. 401 00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:27,760 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor wrote quote, I believe that, instead of being tamed, 402 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 1: Stoney will grow more and more desperate. I am therefore 403 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 1: doubly cautious. On May nineteenth, seventeen eighty eight, the jury 404 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: convened for the prenup trial in Westminster Hall. The trial 405 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:47,080 Speaker 1: began with another bombshell, giving spectators and journalists even more 406 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: fodder for gossip. Mary Eleanor's council revealed that Stoney had 407 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: courted her under false pretenses, faking the duel that duped 408 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: her into an abusive marriage, with witnesses testifying to his 409 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 1: faked battle scars. Stoney's lawyers didn't even try to prove 410 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: that the duel was real. Instead, he essentially shrugged and 411 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 1: said quote strategem was fair in love as well as 412 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: in war. He tried his best to appeal to the 413 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:24,840 Speaker 1: patriarchal sensibilities of the all male jury, maintaining that Mary 414 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: Eleanor's prenup quote defrauded Stony of that absolute power which 415 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: the law gives the husband over the personal estate of 416 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: his wife. But After hearing the details of Stoney's scheme, 417 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: it was hard to have any sympathy for him. The 418 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: Lord Chief Justice said, quote, it was a marriage brought 419 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: about by a fraud, a fraud of such a kind that, 420 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 1: had it been practiced to obtain a hundred pounds from 421 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 1: Lady Strathmore, mister Bows must have answered for it Criminally. 422 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,560 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor won the suit and her vast estate was 423 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 1: finally hers once more. When the decision was announced, the 424 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: crowd erupted into cheers. Only one lawsuit remained, the final 425 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: divorce appeal, the last hindrance to Mary Eleanor's independence. The 426 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: court convened on February thirteenth, seventeen eighty nine, and after 427 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,920 Speaker 1: so many years of retrying the same case and hearing 428 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: constant updates in the press, spectators, jurors, journalists, and judges 429 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,920 Speaker 1: alike were more than familiar with the story. A parade 430 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 1: of servants and sex workers testified to Stoney's abuse, while 431 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: Stoney tried again to undermine Mary Eleanor's character. After reconvening 432 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 1: on March second, the six judges took just thirty minutes 433 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: to make their decision, and through Robinson, Stoney and Mary 434 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: Eleanor bows were officially divorced with no possibility of appeal. 435 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: It would take hundreds of years for the legal freedoms 436 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:20,080 Speaker 1: Mary Eleanor achieved to be codified into law in the UK. 437 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,680 Speaker 1: It wasn't until eighteen seventy, a century later, that women 438 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 1: were able to retain control over their estates after marriage 439 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: without a prenup. In the United States, starting in eighteen 440 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: thirty nine, women gained the right to have their own property, 441 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: to inherit independently of their husbands, to work for a salary, 442 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: right wills, and file lawsuits. Except for divorces. Women in 443 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,680 Speaker 1: the United States would not be able to file for 444 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 1: divorce until nineteen thirty five, and even then they had 445 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 1: to prove adultery, cruelty, or desertion, nearly the same standards 446 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 1: as in Mary Eleanor's time. In England, women with Mary 447 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: Eleanor's means and tenacity could file for divorce, but it 448 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 1: wasn't until nineteen twenty three that the burden of proof 449 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 1: was lowered. The relentless physical abuse Mary Eleanor suffered would 450 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: not be illegal in the United States until nineteen twenty 451 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: and marital rape, which Mary Eleanor's lawyer, tentatively raised in 452 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 1: court in seventeen eighty seven, would not be a crime 453 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:39,760 Speaker 1: until nineteen ninety one in the UK and nineteen ninety 454 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: three in the US. After her divorce trial, Mary Eleanor 455 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,239 Speaker 1: shied away from the public eye and resigned herself to 456 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: a quiet life. She prioritized rebuilding her relationships with her children, 457 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,400 Speaker 1: who she had been barred from seeing throughout her marriage. 458 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,360 Speaker 1: She also lavished attention on her he many pets. She 459 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 1: had many cats and dogs, a donkey, a parrot, and 460 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,920 Speaker 1: a robin named Bob. She insisted that each of her 461 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:11,760 Speaker 1: dogs have a bed of its own and a hot 462 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:16,120 Speaker 1: meal every day. Although Mary Eleanor set her literary and 463 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:22,320 Speaker 1: botanical ambitions aside, she wrote a poem to Stony in prison, quote, 464 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:27,040 Speaker 1: he was the very enemy of mankind, deceitful to his friends, 465 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:32,279 Speaker 1: ungrateful to his benefactors, cringing to his superiors, and tyrannical 466 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:37,040 Speaker 1: to his dependence. She died at age forty six. In 467 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,680 Speaker 1: her will, she made two requests for her burial. The 468 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 1: first was that she wanted to be buried in her 469 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: wedding dress from her first marriage to the Earl of 470 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: Strathmore back when she was eighteen. Even though it seems 471 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: a little weird for someone who had such agonizing, miserable marriages, 472 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: it speaks to a romantic sensibility that survived even an 473 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:05,360 Speaker 1: unspeakable violence. Her second request was for a statue of 474 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:09,800 Speaker 1: the blindfolded Figure of Justice to be placed on her tomb. 475 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: That request was unfortunately ignored, but even without the statue, 476 00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:20,760 Speaker 1: her life was a testament to justice. Mary Eleanor Bows 477 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,560 Speaker 1: fought for it in the face of a cruel system 478 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:29,239 Speaker 1: and a pathologically abusive husband, and despite the odds, she won. 479 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,720 Speaker 1: That's the story of Mary Eleanor Bow's but keep listening 480 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,839 Speaker 1: after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit 481 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:54,400 Speaker 1: more about one of her descendants. It was a divorce 482 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: trial that catapulted Mary Eleanor Bows into the spotlight, and 483 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:02,520 Speaker 1: almost two hundred years later, the lives of one of 484 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 1: her direct descendants would also be changed forever because of 485 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: a divorce, or rather because of a divorcee. In nineteen 486 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,960 Speaker 1: thirty six, King Edward the Eighth abdicated the throne in 487 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,319 Speaker 1: order to marry the woman he loved, an American named 488 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,800 Speaker 1: Wallace Simpson, who was twice divorced with her previous husband 489 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,680 Speaker 1: still alive. Seeing as the King of England was also 490 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,120 Speaker 1: the head of the Church of England, that simply could 491 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,239 Speaker 1: not be abided, and so Edward the eighth stepped aside 492 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,560 Speaker 1: and his younger brother rose to the throne as George 493 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:43,719 Speaker 1: the sixth. And at George's side was his wife, Elizabeth 494 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,759 Speaker 1: Bow's Lion, a woman who never would have imagined that 495 00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 1: she might become queen now. The late Queen Elizabeth is 496 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: more frequently known as the Queen Mother because she was 497 00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,880 Speaker 1: the dowager Queen for decades and mother to the Queen 498 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 1: Elizabeth who reigned for much of the twentieth century. But 499 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:11,280 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Bow's Lion Queen Mother was also the great great 500 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 1: great granddaughter of Mary Eleanor Bows. Noble Blood is a 501 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,560 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manke. 502 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is created and hosted by me Dana Schwort, 503 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:39,240 Speaker 1: with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, 504 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:44,040 Speaker 1: Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is 505 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:48,560 Speaker 1: edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and rema Ill Kahali, 506 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:54,319 Speaker 1: with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, 507 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:59,640 Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 508 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:04,680 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 509 00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:05,760 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.