I am sure that in some long-gone blog posting, we looked at Gretna Green wedding groups, but I particularly like the model that comes with a plaque.
The inscription on the plaque is thought to refer to the elderly Lord Erskine, who eloped to Gretna Green with his young housekeeper, Sarah (sometimes referred to as Mary) Buck.
The couple took along their three illegitimate children, but the story gets better: Lord Erskine is said to have traveled in disguise because he wanted to avoid his legitimate children, who were in hot pursuit, wanting to stop a marriage that might jeopardize their inheritance. And what did his lordship wear as a disguise. A wig, you might think? No, Lord Erskine wore "female cloaths with a "Leghorn Bonnet" & veil."
Lord Erskine was the lord chancellor of Great Britain and the greatest trial lawyer in English history, and his hot-headed elopement stunned the nation. Of course, the tale grew as it spread, and it seems that Lord Erskine's clothing may just have been a figment of gossip-mongers' imaginations rather than an accurate account of what happened. In the same spirit, Staffordshire figure potters could not resist poking fun at Lord Erskine in clay, but they were not the only ones to capitalize on this tantalizing tale. Look at this amazing satirical print in the British Museum.
Lord Erskine was the lord chancellor of Great Britain and the greatest trial lawyer in English history, and his hot-headed elopement stunned the nation. Of course, the tale grew as it spread, and it seems that Lord Erskine's clothing may just have been a figment of gossip-mongers' imaginations rather than an accurate account of what happened. In the same spirit, Staffordshire figure potters could not resist poking fun at Lord Erskine in clay, but they were not the only ones to capitalize on this tantalizing tale. Look at this amazing satirical print in the British Museum.
The online catalog describes it thus:
A (burlesque) Gretna Green marriage in an open-fronted smithy. Erskine, in woman's dress, wearing a huge feathered bonnet over a barrister's wig, holds the right hand of a demure-looking woman, modishly dressed and apparently pregnant. He holds a paper: 'Breach of Promise'. With them are three young children. The smith, in profile to the right, wears Highland dress; he holds a red-hot bar on the anvil and raises his hammer, saying, "I shall make a good thing of this Piece [cf. No. 10668] at last." Erskine says: "I have bother'd the Courts in London many times, I'll now try my hand at the Scotch Bar—as to Miss C— she may do her worst since I have got my Letters back." The woman says: "Now who dare say, Blacks the White of my Eye," showing that her origin is low, see No. 13081, &c. In the background (right) a young woman rushes down a slope towards the smithy, shouting, "Oh Stop Stop Stop, false Man, I will yet seek redress tho you have got back your letters—" Beside her is a sign-post pointing 'To Gretna Green'. A little boy with Erskine's features, wearing tartan trousers, stands on tip-toe to watch the smith; on the ground beside him is a toy (or emblem), a cock on a pair of breeches (cf. No. 13145). A little girl stands by her mother nursing a doll fashionably dressed as a woman, but with Erskine's profile. Another boy with a toy horse on a string stands in back view watching 'Miss C'. Behind the smith (left) is the furnace; on the wall hang many (large) rings: 'Rings to fit all Hands"
A (burlesque) Gretna Green marriage in an open-fronted smithy. Erskine, in woman's dress, wearing a huge feathered bonnet over a barrister's wig, holds the right hand of a demure-looking woman, modishly dressed and apparently pregnant. He holds a paper: 'Breach of Promise'. With them are three young children. The smith, in profile to the right, wears Highland dress; he holds a red-hot bar on the anvil and raises his hammer, saying, "I shall make a good thing of this Piece [cf. No. 10668] at last." Erskine says: "I have bother'd the Courts in London many times, I'll now try my hand at the Scotch Bar—as to Miss C— she may do her worst since I have got my Letters back." The woman says: "Now who dare say, Blacks the White of my Eye," showing that her origin is low, see No. 13081, &c. In the background (right) a young woman rushes down a slope towards the smithy, shouting, "Oh Stop Stop Stop, false Man, I will yet seek redress tho you have got back your letters—" Beside her is a sign-post pointing 'To Gretna Green'. A little boy with Erskine's features, wearing tartan trousers, stands on tip-toe to watch the smith; on the ground beside him is a toy (or emblem), a cock on a pair of breeches (cf. No. 13145). A little girl stands by her mother nursing a doll fashionably dressed as a woman, but with Erskine's profile. Another boy with a toy horse on a string stands in back view watching 'Miss C'. Behind the smith (left) is the furnace; on the wall hang many (large) rings: 'Rings to fit all Hands"
The same Staffordshire figure model was sometimes made without a plaque. Alongside is an example just added to John Howard's stock. I suspect that the model was in production when Lord Erskine and Miss Buck and the kids eloped--and the potters added a plaque to take advantage of the comic situation.
So what happened to Lord Erskine and his new family? Alas, the story does not end well. By 1820, Lord Erskine tried to have his marriage ended, but in that era there was no divorce law, so he was stuck! By 1821, the Erskines had separated. In 1823, Lord Erskine died. By 1825, Sarah Erskine and her children were destitute, and she died shortly thereafter.
