Scandal & Society · Lowther (near Penrith), Cumbria (Westmorland)
Wicked Jimmy — the Bad Earl of Lonsdale
The tyrant nicknamed 'Jemmy Grasp-all' who, when his tenant-farmer mistress died, could not bear to bury her — and kept the corpse until it could no longer be endured.
Evidence note. The dead-mistress story is widely repeated from 19th-century sources; presented as documented reputation, attributed to those sources.
The story
the tyrant who couldn't bear to bury his dead mistress. The story: "Jemmy Grasp-all"; the unburied-corpse story (period sources); the £4,000 owed to Wordsworth's father. What survives: Lowther Castle (ruined shell + gardens, visitor attraction). Visiting: Lowther Castle ticketed; the roofless shell is a superb subject.
Sources
Nearby on the map
The tiny lakeland cottage of William, his adored sister Dorothy — whose journals record wearing his wedding ring the night before he married — and his bride Mary. The intensity of the brother-sister bond has fascinated and divided scholars ever since; the documented record is devotion, and this entry claims nothing more.
Documented historyBohemian & LibertineDe Quincey's Opium Marriage at Dove CottageGrasmere / Rydal, Cumbria (Westmorland) · EnglandThe Opium-Eater moved into Wordsworth's old cottage, got a farmer's daughter pregnant, married her — and the Wordsworths never forgave the 'beneath him' match.
Documented historyLiterary PassionWordsworth's Secret French DaughterGrasmere, Cumbria (Westmorland) · EnglandEngland's poet of daffodils fathered a daughter in revolutionary France in 1792 — then quietly buried the fact for a lifetime.
Documented historyHot spotSpotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.