Joanne Major

Etienne Daly has been researching the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle for a decade now. In that time, he has uncovered some fascinating facts to add to those already known.

What is more unusual is that the subject of the painting is holding a mantle edged with ermine. In art, this usually denotes royalty or at least a high peerage. It seemed strange that, in a little more than a century, a woman who was noted enough to be painted by Winterhalter had lost her identity.

The time for assembling is generally from ten to twelve o’clock, or even later, as many persons visit several of these places in one evening.

Dido was the natural daughter of a former African enslaved woman and Sir John Lindsay. She was brought up at Kenwood House in Hampstead, London alongside her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, and also at Lincoln's Inn Fields and Bloomsbury. The girls' great-uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield owned the estate. You may have seen the film about Dido’s life, Belle (2013).

This is a fascinating story that proves fact is stranger than fiction. Grab a drink, sit back and enjoy!

I do hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed researching and writing Kitty’s life story. It's a treat for the eyes too as most of the images within it have been reproduced in colour, including some of the wonderful portraits of Kitty.

I can't help but think that Kitty is somehow behind this, teasing and ramping up the drama! However, it is a lady's prerogative to be fashionably late and so I hope you will forgive both Kitty and I for making you wait a little longer.

Recently, I was asked to share a list of five books that I'd recommend to other readers. Shepherd Books is a new online site that allows readers to discover new books through curated lists, compiled by authors.

Kitty Fisher managed her public relations and controlled her image with care. In a time when women’s choices were limited, she navigated her way to fame and fortune. Hers was a life filled equally with happiness and tragedy, one which left such an impact that the fascinating Kitty Fisher’s name still resonates today. She was the Georgian era’s most famous – and infamous – celebrity.

Recently, Etienne Daly commissioned a miniature portrait of Dido, in the style of Andrew Plimer. He chose Edwina Hannam to paint this miniature, and I'm delighted that Etienne has permitted me to share it on my blog. It gives a wonderful insight into how Dido may have looked a few years on from the portrait above. Also, how she may have appeared wearing a powdered peruke, so fashionable at the time.

You had to pass Beau Nash’s scrutiny to be granted admission to balls and card parties. Even the highest in the land had to do as he said.

Around early July 1819, a pretty woman thought to be in her early 20s turned up at a lodging house in George Court off Aylesbury Street in Clerkenwell. She told the owner that she was a stranger in London, having just arrived from the country.

If you're thinking that Princess Caraboo’s story sounds far-fetched, you'd be right!

[A] Frost Fair began on the canal in St James’s park, where many thousands met, some for skaiting, others for sliding; several of whom, by the ice breaking, had the misfortune to drop in up to their armpits, which caused great diversion to most of the spectators...

Legend says Catherine worked at Liverpool's Black Jack Tavern which had a skittles alley. That was the origin of her nickname: Skittles.

Kim Kardashian might have broken the internet but Kitty Fisher did the Georgian era’s equivalent. Kitty was a ‘celebrated’ courtesan, a style icon and the eighteenth century's version of today’s ‘it-girl.’