Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|English courtier}}{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}

{{Infobox noble|typeofficeholder

| titlename = ''The Lady Masham''

| image = File:Abigail Masham portrait.jpg

| captionoffice = [[Keeper of the Privy Purse]]

| altterm_start = =1711

| CoAterm_end = =1714

| more monarch = no[[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]]

| reign-typesuccessor = Caspar Henning

| successorchildren = 5

| suc-typeparents = Francis Hill<br />Elizabeth Jennings

| successionbirth_name = Abigail Hill

| issue-pipedeath_place = [[High Laver]], Essex, England

| fullresting_place name = [[High Laver]], =Essex

'''Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham''' (''née'' '''Hill'''; {{Circa|1670}}{{snd}}6 December 1734), was an English courtier. She was a [[favourite]] of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], and a cousin of [[Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough|Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough]].

Abigail Hill was the daughter of Francis Hill, a London merchant, and Elizabeth Hill (née Jennings). Elizabeth Hill was an aunt of [[Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough|Sarah Jennings]], later [[Duke of Marlborough (title)|Duchess of Marlborough]]. The family was reduced to poor circumstances through her father's speculations,<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Masham, Abigail, Lady|volume=17|pages=836–837}}</ref> and Abigail was forced to work as a servant offor Sir John [[Rivers baronets|Rivers of Kent]].

Abigail was befriended by her first cousin Sarah Jennings, or Lady Churchill (as the duchess was then known), who was [[Lady of the Bedchamber]] to Princess Anne. Sarah's friendship towards Abigail may have derived from embarrassment that her cousin had fallen on such hard times rather than being based on any genuine affection.

Sarah Churchill's claim that she had only recently, and quite by chance, become aware of Abigail's existence was justifiable, as their mutual grandfather [[John Jennings (St Albans MP)|Sir John Jennings]] had 22 children, and Sarah may well not have known of all her numerous first cousins.<ref>Gregg,{{cite book|first=Edward ''|last=Gregg|title=Queen Anne'' |publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|location=New 1980Haven, p.Connecticut|date=1980|isbn=978-0300090246|page=112}}</ref> Sarah Churchill took Abigail into her own household at [[St. Albans]]. After the accession of Princess Anne to the throne in 1702, Abigail procuredreceived an appointment in the Queen's Household about the year 1704.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===The Queen's Favouritefavourite===

By 1704, the Queen had grown weary of Sarahboth Churchill'sthe frequent absences of [[Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough|Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough]] (as Sarah had now become), from the Court and her political lectures. There was a significant difference between them because Sarah, the Duchess, was a [[British Whig Party|Whig]] and Anne was a [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]]. Sarah wanted Queen Anne to appoint more Whig ministers, the majority of whom were in favour of the [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|1st Duke of Marlborough]]'s warscampaigns in [[The War Of Spanish Succession]]. The Queen, not prepared to abandon the "Church Party" (as the Tories were commonly known, and religion being Anne's chief concern) even for her favourite, confided to her [[Lord Treasurer]], the [[Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin|1st Earl of Godolphin]], that she did not feel that she and Sarah could ever be true friends again.<ref>Gregg p.193</ref>

It was not long before Abigail Hill began to supplant her powerful and imperious kinswoman in the favour of Queen Anne. Whether Abigail was guilty of the deliberate ingratitude charged against her by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, is uncertain. It is likely that Abigail's influence over the Queen was not so much due to subtle scheming on her part as to the contrast between her gentle and genial character and the stronger temper of the duchessDuchess: Sarah's influence, after many years of undisputed sway, had perhaps finally become intolerable to the Queen.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The first intimation that Sarah Churchill had of her protégée's growing favour with the Queen came to her in the summer of 1707. She learned that Abigail Hill had been privately married to a [[Samuel Masham, 1st Baron Masham|Samuel Masham]], a gentleman of the Queen's Household: the Queen had been present at the marriage. Sarah Churchill then found out that Abigail had, for some time, enjoyed considerable intimacy with her royal mistress, no hint of which had previously reached the duchessDuchess. Abigail was also, on her father's side, a cousin of [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer|Robert Harley]] (his mother Abigail Stephens was a niece of her grandmother, also named Abigail Stephens), and after Harley's dismissal from office in February 1708, she assisted him in maintaining confidential relations with the Queen. Harley was later created, in May 1711, the 1st [[Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer]].

The completenesscompletion of Abigail's ascendancy was seen in 1710 when the Queen compelled [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Marlborough]], much against his will, to give an important command to [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]] [[John Hill (courtier)|John Hill]], Abigail's brother. [[Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland|Sunderland]], [[Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin|Godolphin]], and the other [[British Whig Party|Whig]] ministers were soon dismissed from office, largely through Abigail's influence, to make way for Harley and [[Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke|Bolingbroke]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

In the following year, although she was [[Duke of Marlborough (title)|Duchess of Marlborough]], Sarah was dismissed from courtCourt. Abigail, now known as Lady Masham, took her place as [[Keeper of the Privy Purse]]. In 1711, the ministers, intent on bringing about the disgrace of Marlborough and arranging the [[Peace of Utrecht]], found it necessary to secure their position in the [[House of Lords]] by creating twelve12 new peers known as [[Harley's Dozen]]. One of them was Samuel Masham, Abigail's husband, who was created [[Baron Masham]], though the Queen showed some reluctance to raise her bedchamber woman to a position in which she might prove herself less ready to give her personal services to the Queen. Lady Masham remained as a [[Woman of the Bedchamber]] as of 1713.<ref name="WB">{{cite web |title=Warrant Books: April 1713, 1-15 Pages 169-184 Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 27, 1713. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1955. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-treasury-books/vol27/pp169-184 |website=British History Online |access-date=13 July 2020}}</ref>

Abigail soon quarreledquarrelled with Harley, who was now known as Lord Oxford and Mortimer, and set herself to foster by all the means in her power the Queen's growing personal distaste for her minister. Harley's vacillation between the [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]] and the adherents of the [[Act of Settlement 1701|Hanoverian succession]] to [[the crownCrown]] probably strengthened the opposition of Abigail, who now warmly favoured the Jacobite party led by Bolingbroke and [[Francis Atterbury]].

Altercations took place in the Queen's presence between Abigail and the minister. Finally, on 27 July 1714, Anne dismissed [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer|Lord Oxford and Mortimer]] (as Harley was now known) from his office of [[Lord High Treasurer]], and three days later gave the staff to the [[Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury|1st Duke of Shrewsbury]]. Anne died on 1 August 1714, aged 49. Abigail then retired into private life and lived quietly at her country house Otes until her death in 1734.<ref name="EB1911"/> She is buried in the churchyard of All Saints in the village of [[High Laver]] in Essex.

Abigail Masham is portrayed by American actress [[Emma Stone]] in the 2018 film ''[[The Favourite]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Eric|last=Kohn|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2018/09/yorgos-lanthimos-the-favourite-lesbian-love-triangle-1201999899/|title=Yorgos Lanthimos on the Lesbian Love Triangle of 'The Favourite': 'I Didn't Want This to Become an Issue'|magazine=[[IndieWire]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]|location=Los Angeles, California|date=3 September 3, 2018|accessdateaccess-date=3 September 3, 2018}}</ref> She is also portrayed by Svetlana Smirnova in the 1979 Soviet movie ''[[A Glass of Water (1979 film)|A Glass of Water]]'', based on an 1840 [[The Glass of Water|play of the same name]]. She is portrayed by [[Jill Balcon]] in the 1969 BBC series ''The First Churchills''.

{{Reflist|30em}}

[[Category:16701670s births]]

[[Category:MembersCourt of theAnne, BritishQueen Royalof Great HouseholdBritain]]