1812: The elopement of naval hero, politician, inventor and radical Thomas Cochrane with Katherine (Kitty) Barnes to Scotland.
human interest
Sark Toll Bar – first stop over the border and nearer than Gretna Green!
Read about Sark Toll Bar, which was preferred by couples who feared a parent was about to catch up with them. It was half a mile closer than Gretna Green!
Elopement in Vauxhall Gardens popular song
The Honeymoon: An elopement song performed by Mary Ann Wrighten (1751-1796) at Vauxhall Gardens.
“Drive on, drive on, drive on!”: Ode on Moderation by Peter Pindar
Peter Pindar’s Ode on Moderation (1797). A satirical poem on the perils of elopement.
Post-chaises and postilions
The hiring of a post-chaise (or several) was typical of Georgian elopements – where could you get one and and who or what was the postilion?
Two 18th-century bride abductions
Two cases of bride abductions: Pleasant Rawlins and Lucy Ramsay. Their abductors were tried and executed.
Thomas Rowlandson: The Elopement
In Thomas Rowlandson’s 1792 watercolour The Elopement a schoolgirl lowers herself down from the first floor on to her lover’s shoulders, while his servant puts her trunk in the waiting post-chaise.
George Morland: The Laetitia series
George Morland’s (1763-1804) Laetitia series shows the trajectory of an elopement – from romantic aspiration and seduction through to abandonment and regret
The Elopement (John Collet)
John Collett’s Modern Love was a variation on Hogarth’s more famous Marriage a-la-mode: courtship, elopement, honeymoon and finally the unhappy marriage.
Grandmamma’s Elopement
1878: Nostalgic double page spread from The Graphic tells the story of “Grandmamma’s Elopement”. The Regency was seen as the golden age of runaway love.
John Fane and Sarah Anne Child
1782: John Fane and Sarah Anne Child married at Gretna Green. Her fabulously wealthy banker father cut her off without a penny.
Eliza Stables and Anthony Deane
1819: Eliza Stables and Anthony Deane ran off to Gretna Green but the marriage was opposed by his mother.
The Bristol elopement: Clementina Clerke and Richard Vining Perry
In 1791 14-year-old heiress Clementina Clerke was abducted by Richard Vining Perry, in a case that was dubbed the Bristol elopement.
1809: The doomed love of John Giles for Augusta Nicholson
A love match ended in premature death.
The Shrigley Abduction: Edward Gibbon Wakefield
1826: Edward Gibbon Wakefield abducted and married Ellen Turner, only child and heiress of the wealthy manufacturer William Turner.
