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257:. Georgina was seen by the necessary two doctors, who obtained an interview with her under false pretences, pretending that they were interested in her musical orphanage. They then signed the lunacy order. Georgina realised that something was wrong and, when staff from the asylum arrived to take her away by force, she escaped and evaded capture for the seven days that the order remained valid. She then went to
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when her husband threatened to kill her and himself. In 1863 William Weldon took a mistress, the nineteen-year-old Annie
Stanley Dobson (born 1843), who secretly became his partner for life. She claimed to be a widow and went by the name Mrs Lowe, and gave him a son, Francis Stanley Lowe (1868–1955).
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During the sentence in 1885 she was brought from prison to court in a further case against Gounod who refused to come to London to defend himself. She was awarded £10,000 damages for libel in the undefended case and was returned to prison. Gounod refused to recognise the court’s verdict and she did
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law a married woman could not instigate a civil suit against her husband. However, having proved her point, Mrs Weldon publicised her story by giving interviews to the daily newspapers and the spiritualist press, in an attempt to provoke her husband and the two doctors into suing her for libel.
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in
Hampshire, causing her father to promptly disinherit her. Georgina Weldon hoped to follow a career on the stage, but her husband, like her father before him, refused to allow her to appear as a professional, and she was restricted to performing in amateur theatricals and charity concerts. In
303:. Between 1883 and 1888 she successfully sued all those involved in trying to have her committed in 1878, at one stage, in 1884, having seventeen cases in progress at the same time. She always represented herself and conducted all her cases without legal counsel. She became known as the "
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in 1885. On her release from both prisons she was cheered by thousands of well-wishers. She kept her prison clothes and wore them while delivering public speeches on judicial and prison reform. In her latter years she was a paying guest for twelve years at a convent in
206:. Weldon insisted he return to London to claim them in person. Only when he had virtually reconstructed the musical score, nearly a year later, did she return the draft to him with her name scrawled across each page in crayon. She then started a number of
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singing voice was trained by her mother, except for a few lessons she had in 1855 with Jules de Glimes in
Brussels. In 1856 the Thomas family changed its name to Treherne, the surname of Morgan Thomas's ancestors up to the mid-eighteenth century.
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when it opened in Paris. Gounod became increasingly disturbed by gossip and in June 1874 returned to his wife in Paris. Slighted by Gounod's departure, Georgina Weldon refused to send his personal belongings, including the draft of his opera
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By 1869 Georgina Weldon's childless marriage was breaking down. At this time she devised a scheme for a
National Training School of Music to teach music to poor children. The Weldons filled Tavistock House with orphans. She also joined
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Georgina Weldon's final years were spent in London and
Brighton. She lodged with a Mrs Gunn at 6 Sillwood Street, Brighton, and there she died on 11 January 1914. Her body was taken by train to
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and £1000 a year as a financial settlement. In 1878 he sought to reduce or stop this payment, and tried to use
Georgina's interest in spiritualism to prove that she was
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in 1872 as well as various songs and memoirs. It has been suggested that
Georgina and Gounod were lovers, and that he had promised her the title role in his opera
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in France, where she became a keen gardener and wrote her memoirs. She was thrust into the spotlight again through her association with the descendants of
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By the late 1880s
Georgina Weldon's popularity had waned. By 1900 she had brought over a hundred cases to court. She was herself sued for
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in 1882 allowed her to instigate the civil suit against her husband that she had wanted to pursue in 1878. In 1882 she published
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In 1882 Georgina Weldon successfully sued her husband for the restoration of her conjugal rights, but he refused to return to
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The
History of my Orphanage, or The Outpourings of an Alleged Lunatic and How I Escaped the Mad Doctors
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action to clear her name with Gounod's biographers. In 1908, as 'Grannie Weldon', she published
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with Mr and Mrs Weldon. This close association benefited Weldon's singing career. She published
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By 1875 Harry Weldon had tired of his wife's orphanage scheme and her growing interest in
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of the Law Courts", and her image appeared everywhere, even in an advertisement for
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On the death of his grandmother he inherited £10,000 a year and in 1870 he leased
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in Paris. By
November 1871 Gounod, who was in poor health, had moved into
586:"Mrs Weldon's Libels.; How She Sought Revenge Against A Concert Manager".
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at several venues in London, and took the solo soprano part in Gounod's
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A Monkey Among Crocodiles: the Disastrous Life of Mrs Georgina Weldon
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sympathised with her and was convinced that she was sane, but, under
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during which she claimed to have contacted the recently deceased
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On 21 April 1860, against her father's wishes, Georgina married
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in 1837, one of seven children and the oldest daughter born to
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394:, where she was interred in the Dalrymple family vault in
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432:, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 9 January 2010]
129:, which had a small theatre that had been added by
355:, one of a number of pretenders who claimed to be
442:UK Civil Divorce Record – Weldon vs Weldon 1888
37:; 24 May 1837 – 11 January 1914) was a British
650:History of mental health in the United Kingdom
76:in Sussex. Morgan Thomas was a non-practising
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164:That year Georgina Weldon sang the solo in
91:. Georgina spent most of her childhood in
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230:Mrs Weldon in an advertisement for
655:People involved with mental health
463:"Weldon on 'Notable Sussex Women'"
261:to press charges for assault. The
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635:English people of Welsh descent
511:"First Performance of Gounod's
57:She was born at Tooting Lodge,
625:19th-century English musicians
426:"Weldon, Georgina (1837–1914)"
359:. The public ignored her book
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259:Bow Street Magistrates' Court
599:Louis XVII; or, The Arab Jew
361:Louis XVII, or, The Arab Jew
297:Married Women's Property Act
532:List of Trials of the 1880s
116:August 1860 she suffered a
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665:Women of the Victorian era
548:8 May 1885, pg. 11, col. 4
342:in 1880 and six months in
542:'Action by Mrs Weldon' -
218:not receive any damages.
385:The Song of the Sparrow
381:Pussie's Christmas Song
597:Full text of Weldon's
575:, HarperCollins (2000)
353:Karl Wilhelm Naundorff
338:and served a month in
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181:Conservatoire de Paris
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645:English spiritualists
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357:Louis XVII of France
105:William Henry Weldon
660:Vexatious litigants
396:St Dunstan's Church
593:. 27 December 1879
590:The New York Times
519:The New York Times
469:on 17 October 2013
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155:Henry David Leslie
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109:18th Royal Hussars
82:Conservative Party
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562:The Musical Times
255:L. Forbes Winslow
24:Elliott & Fry
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496:Opera Today
377:Cradle Song
284:Vanity Fair
166:Mendelssohn
118:miscarriage
53:Early years
609:Categories
402:References
330:Later life
313:music hall
309:Pears Soap
263:magistrate
232:Pears Soap
222:Litigation
127:Bloomsbury
95:, and her
545:The Times
513:Polyeucte
490:Polyeucte
488:Gounod's
324:Not Alone
321:melodrama
267:Victorian
204:Polyeucte
198:Polyeucte
113:Aldershot
78:barrister
26:(c. 1884)
558:Obituary
492:reviewed
473:18 March
392:Mayfield
253:kept by
208:lawsuits
183:and the
93:Florence
89:Coventry
74:Mayfield
39:litigant
365:séances
179:at the
174:cantata
148:in 1882
97:soprano
45:of the
43:soprano
369:Gounod
349:Gisors
315:, the
305:Portia
287:(1884)
247:insane
177:Gallia
137:Gounod
35:Thomas
373:libel
336:libel
279:'Spy'
212:libel
33:(née
475:2013
383:and
87:for
560:in
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168:'s
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111:at
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85:MP
70:JP
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