Hello, and welcome to the Season 2, Episode 19 of the Bones & Bobbins Podcast!
If you’re looking for this episode’s show notes, options for listening, and ways to connect with us, you’re in the right place. Welcome, creepy, vintage-y friends!
Listen:
The Bones & Bobbins Podcast, Season 2, Episode 19: She Walks in Beauty Like a Fright?
S02E19: Mrs. Margaret Smith-Wilkinson, nicknamed the Countess of Monte Cristo, and Lady Jane Lewson, the possible real life inspiration for Miss Havisham.
Come meet a hotel mogul turned high society con artist (who probably wasn’t a black widow), and the enigmatic walking fire hazard that might have inspired Dickens’ fictional jilted bride; two women whose actual lives are truly the stuff of fiction.
Support the show:
If you like what we’re doing, please rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice! Ratings tell the internet gremlins that you like us, which means our podcast will show up in more people’s recommendations!
Listen on YouTube:
Show Notes:
Here are links to the sources and resources we used while researching this episode:
Links to research materials:
Mrs. Margaret Smith-Wilkinson, The Countess of Monte Cristo:
- Photo of Mrs. Smith-Wilkinson with her husband in 1921: https://www.alamy.com/society-and-stage-at-devonshire-house-ball-in-aid-of-the-people-s-league-of-health-mrs-smith-wilkinson-famous-for-her-wonderful-dresses-and-her-husband-26-november-1921-image359816792.html
- Mrs. Smith-Wilkinson in a fabulous striped dress: https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/portrait-of-mrs-smith-wilkinson-women-who-broke-all-records-in-the-picture-id500253813
- The Bizarre Tale of Mrs Smith Wilkinson: https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-bizarre-tale-of-mrs-smith-wilkinson/1713/
- Matlock: Chesterfield House Hydro Brochure, 1906-17: https://www.andrewsgen.com/matlock/pix/matlock_chesterfieldhousehydro_brochure01.htm
- Weekly Dispatch (London), 15 March, 1925: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003358/19250315/039/0003?browse=False
- Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser, Sunday 13 December, 1924: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001670/19241213/114/0007?browse=False
- Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Monday 05 July, 1926: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000250/19260705/160/0003?browse=False
- Liverpool Echo, Wednesday 13 July 1921: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000271/19210713/118/0004?browse=False
- Hull Daily Mail, Saturday, 20 January 1923: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000324/19230120/002/0001?browse=False
- The Countess of Monte Cristo, Sunday Post, Sunday, 17 July 1921: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000566/19210717/121/0016?browse=False
- New York Times, July 20, 1921: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/07/20/109814451.html?pageNumber=2
Lady Jane Lewson, possible inspiration for Miss Havisham:
- Great Expectations: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1400/1400-h/1400-h.htm
- The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/suffolk-history-antiquities/vol1
- The Serpent’s Pen Blog: https://www.davidcastleton.net/miss-havisham-lady-lewson-jane-charles-dickens-great-expectations/
- All Things Georgian blog: https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2018/02/08/the-truth-about-the-eccentric-jane-lewson-who-died-aged-116/
- Wikipedia Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Lewson
- The English Eccentrics by Edith Sitwell: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/839814.The_English_Eccentrics?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=OH1ozeIVOS&rank=1
Further Reading:
- A Recipe for Miss Havisham’s Bride Cake: https://www.inliterature.net/food-in-literature/baked-goods/cakes/2013/04/great-expectations-miss-havishams-bride-cake.html