View source for Jane Vigor

{{Short description|English travel writer (1699–1783)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Jane Vigor
| image            = Jane-Vigor.jpg
| image_size       =
| image_upright    =
| alt              =
| caption          = Jane Vigor, 1744
| pseudonym        = Lady Rondeau
| birth_name       = Jane Goodwin
| birth_date       = 1699<br>(baptised {{Birth date|1699|02|20|df=y}})
| birth_place      = [[Graffham]], Sussex, England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1783|09|06|1699|02|20|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Windsor, Berkshire]], England
| resting_place    = St Nicholas churchyard, [[Taplow]], Berkshire, England
| occupation       = Letter writer
| language         = English
| nationality      =
| period           = 1728–1739
| notable_works    = Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia, to her Friend in England...
| spouses          = {{plainlist|
* [[Thomas Ward (diplomat)|Thomas Ward]] (1718–1731), his death
* [[Claudius Rondeau]] (1731–1739), his death
* William Vigor (1743–1767), his death
}}
| children         = Claudia Rondeau (1740)
| relatives        =
| years_active     =
}}
'''Jane Vigor''' (née Goodwin) (1699 – 6 September 1783) (other married names: Ward, Rondeau) was an English letter writer, best known for her "Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia, to her Friend in England ...",{{sfn|Vigor|1775| }} written when she was the wife of two successive [[List of ambassadors of Great Britain to Russia|British residents]] (ambassadors) to the court of the Empress [[Anna of Russia]]. Her letters "offer a unique eyewitness account of imperial and expatriate society at [[Saint Petersburg]]" in the 1730s.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB |last1=Turner |first1=Katherine |title=Vigor [other married names Ward, Rondeau], Jane (1699–1783) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-59244 |access-date=27 March 2021 |date=3 January 2008 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/59244 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Family and early life==
Jane Vigor was born at [[Graffham]] in Sussex, England in early 1699, the daughter of Revd. George Goodwin and his wife, Elizabeth, née Sykes.<ref name="British Travel Writers">{{cite web |title=Jane Vigor |url=https://btw.wlv.ac.uk/authors/1151 |website=British Travel Writers |publisher=[[University of Wolverhampton]] |access-date=27 March 2021 |date=2 July 2019}}</ref>{{ref|A|a}} George Goodwin was the [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of Graffham church, having been instituted as such in June 1698.<ref name="Clergy Database 988">{{cite web |title=Goodwin, George (988) |url=https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/persons/DisplayPerson.jsp?PersonID=988 |website=[[Clergy of the Church of England database|The Clergy Database]] |access-date=27 March 2021}}</ref> Jane Goodwin was baptised at Graffham church on 20 February 1699.<ref>{{cite web |title=England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/117525237:9841?tid=77410027&pid=44462855076 |website=Ancestry.co.uk |access-date=27 March 2021|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
[[File:Methley, St Oswald's Church - geograph.org.uk - 228160.jpg |left| thumb|St Oswald's Church, Methley]]
When Jane was ten years old, George Goodwin moved to [[Methley]] in Yorkshire where he was instituted as rector of St Oswald's Church in March 1709,<ref name="Clergy Database 109065">{{cite web |title=Goodwin, George (109065)|url=https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/persons/DisplayPerson.jsp?PersonID=109065|website=The Clergy Database |access-date=27 March 2021}}</ref> remaining  there until his death in 1750.<ref name="Clergy Database 109065"/><ref>{{acad|GDWN685G|name=George Goodwin}}</ref>
On 20 November 1718, Jane Goodwin (aged 19) married [[Thomas Ward (diplomat)|Thomas Ward]] at [[Temple Church]] in the City of London.<ref>{{cite web |title=England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/37950101:9852?tid=77410027&pid=44462855076 |website=Ancestry.co.uk |access-date=27 March 2021|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{ref|B|b}} Ward was the son of Sir [[Edward Ward (judge)|Edward Ward]], the former [[Chief Baron of the Exchequer]], and judge in the state trial of the pirate, [[William Kidd]].<ref>{{cite ODNB |title=Ward, Sir Edward (1638–1714) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-28681 |first1=Samuel |last1= Menefeeu|first2=  Stuart |last2=Handley|date=3 January 2008 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/28681 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=27 March 2021|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Following the death of her elder brother, Richard, in 1727, Jane inherited his share of their father's estate. George Goodwin appears to have come from a very wealthy family: writing in 1725, the Yorkshire diarist, John Hobson, describes a meeting with ‘Mr. Goodwin, minister of Medley (''sic''), who had lost £40,000 in the [[South Sea Company|South Sea]], and married his daughter to a Russian merchant, and had given her £14,000 to her portion’.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hobson |first1=John |title=Diary entries: 31 August 1725 |url=http://fretwell.kangaweb.com.au/The%20Fretwells/Links/hobsondiary_entries.htm |website=Fretwelliana |access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="Thackray">{{cite web |last1=Thackray |first1=Bill |title=The Remarkable Life of Jane Vigor |url=https://www.methley-village.co.uk/the-remarkable-life-of-jane-vigor |website=Methley Village |access-date=29 March 2021 |date=30 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="Sussex People">{{cite web |last1=Earley |first1=David |title=Jane Vigor: The remarkable story of an 18th-century girl from Graffham |url=http://www.sussexpeople.co.uk/jane-vigor/ |website=Sussex People |access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref>
==Life in Russia==
Little is known about the early married life of Jane and Thomas Ward, until they arrived in [[St Petersburg]] at the end of July 1728, accompanied by his secretary [[Claudius Rondeau]], shortly after Ward was appointed [[List of ambassadors of Great Britain to Russia|British consul-general]].<ref name=Cross>{{cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Anthony | author1-link=Anthony Cross (literary scholar)  |title=In the Land of the Romanovs |chapter=3. Reigns of Peter II (1727-1730), Anna (1730-1740), Ivan VI (1740-1741), and Elizabeth (1741-1762) |series=OBP collection |url=https://books.openedition.org/obp/2358 |access-date=29 March 2021 |date=2014|pages=80–89 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=9782821876224 }}</ref> Ward was considered a "low-calibre" resident at the Russian court<ref name="Jeremy Black">{{cite web |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy | author1-link= Jeremy Black (historian) |title=Anglo-Russian Relations, 1714–82 |url=https://www.gale.com/intl/essays/jeremy-black-anglo-russian-relations-1714-82 |website=www.gale.com |publisher=[[University of Exeter]] |access-date=29 March 2021 |date=2018}}</ref> and his tenure there was short-lived, as he died suddenly in February 1731.<ref name="ODNB" />
Following Ward's death, Rondeau applied to [[George Tilson]],  Under-Secretary for the [[Northern Department]], for Ward's commission,<ref>{{cite web |title=Rondeau to Tilson. Consul Ward dead |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6720711 |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=31 March 2021}}</ref> to which he was appointed in September,<ref name="Cross" /><ref name="Jeremy Black" /> following which he and Jane were married on 23 November 1731.<ref name="ODNB" /> Rondeau was a more effective resident than Ward, managing to reconcile the various factions within the [[Russia Company]] at St Petersburg.<ref name="ODNB" /> In the meantime, Jane took an active role in the Russian social scene, becoming a favourite of [[Anna of Russia|Empress Anna]] and attending various court parties, weddings etc.<ref name="Thackray" />
Jane had lost a child, probably in 1737,<ref name="Sussex People" />{{sfn|Vigor|1775|p=146}} following which she returned to London for medical attention.<ref name="British Travel Writers" />{{sfn|Loewenson |1957|p=399}} She became pregnant again, shortly before Rondeau died, probably from the effects of a cold, on 5 October 1739.<ref name="Thackray" />
==Return to England==
Following the death of Rondeau, and now pregnant, Jane decided to return to England. She set off in January 1740, taking with her a letter of recommendation from the Empress addressed to [[King George II of Britain|King George II]]:
{{Blockquote|text=We likewise having a particular benevolence towards the said widow for her good deserts, and consequently taking an interest in her welfare, are desirous on Our side any way to promote it; so We have found no other means than to recommend her to Your Majesty as a friend and sister to show to the said widow in her supplications your Royal Favour to her advantage and consolation in the melancholy station she is in.|source=Loewenson.{{sfn|Loewenson |1957|p=408}}}}
Rather than attempt to travel by sea through the winter, Jane set out with her servants overland by horse-drawn [[sledge]]; she was accompanied on her journey by William Vigor, a [[Quaker]] merchant, who was also returning to England.<ref name="Thackray" /> (Vigor was the St Petersburg agent of the [[Bristol]]-based timber, iron and steel importers, Graffin Prankard and Caleb Dickinson.<ref name="Somerset Archives">{{cite web |last1=Warren |first1=Bob |title=Jane Vigor: An Eighteenth Century English Gentlewoman Abroad |url=https://www.friendsofsomersetarchives.org.uk/files/Snippets/Snippets%20Dec%202013.pdf |publisher=Friends of Somerset Archives |access-date=21 May 2018 |archive-date=23 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823112340/http://www.friendsofsomersetarchives.org.uk/files/Snippets/Snippets%20Dec%202013.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Letter book of Graffin Prankard. 1728–1732 |url=https://somerset-cat.swheritage.org.uk/records/DD/DN/7/1/2 |publisher=South West Heritage Trust (Somerset Archive Catalogue) |access-date=31 March 2021}}</ref>) They travelled over 550 miles through the region of [[Livonia]] and the [[Duchy of Courland]] (now part of Latvia) before reaching the port of Memel (now the Lithuanian city of [[Klaipėda]]) on the Baltic Sea.{{sfn|Delany|1882|p=210}}
On their arrival at Memel, they found that the port was full of [[Prussia|Prussian]] officers and soldiers and the only accommodation available was in a crowded inn. The following day, Vigor found better accommodation in the home of a Mr. Meyer, a business contact. The next day, Jane Rondeau and Meyer were in conversation, when they discovered that the year before, Meyer's son had been travelling in [[Yorkshire]], England when he fell ill with [[smallpox]]. By coincidence, he was given shelter and nursed back to health in the home of Revd. Goodwin of Methley, Jane's father.<ref name="Thackray" /><ref name="Sussex People" />{{sfn|Delany|1882|pp=210–212}}
After a few days rest with Meyer and his family, Jane resumed her journey together with Vigor, travelling through [[Königsberg]] and [[Danzig]] (now Gdansk) to Hanover, where they spent a few days, before travelling on to the port of Helvoit (now [[Hellevoetsluis]]) in Holland, from where they were able to obtain a passage to England.{{sfn|Delany|1882|p=212}}
==Later life and death==
Jane's daughter, Claudia Rondeau was born at [[Canterbury]], Kent, the home town of Rondeau's family, on 8 May 1740, but she died on 31 May, only three weeks old. She was buried at [[St. Dunstan's, Canterbury|St Dunstan's Church]] in Canterbury.<ref name="Thackray" /> Subsequently, the body of Claudius was repatriated and buried alongside his daughter.<ref name= Taplow/>
Several other members of Claudius's family, including his parents, are also interred at St Dunstan's.<ref>{{cite web |title=Claude Rondeau 1703 St Dunstan's Church, Canterbury |url=https://kentarchaeology.org.uk/19/119.htm |publisher=Kent Archaeology |access-date=2 April 2021 |date=November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Memorials in St. Dunstan's Church |url=http://machadoink.com/St%20Dunstans%20Church%20Memorials.htm |publisher=Historic Canterbury |access-date=2 April 2021 |date=2007}}</ref> Jane later had a memorial plaque erected inside St Dunstan's to commemorate her husband and daughter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Canterbury, St Dunstan's Church: Monumental Inscriptions |url=https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/monumental-inscriptions/canterbury-st-dunstans-church |publisher=Kent Archaeology |access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref>
Jane and William Vigor were married at the [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|non-conformist]] chapel at [[Somerset House]] (in the parish of [[St Mary le Strand (parish)|St Mary le Strand]]) in Westminster on 4 May 1743. The priest who officiated at the wedding was the Revd. [[Thomas Newcomb]], who was rector at both [[Stopham]] and at [[Barlavington]] (three miles east of Jane's birthplace).<ref>{{cite web |title=England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567–1936 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/1693428:2972?ssrc=pt&tid=77410027&pid=44462855173 |website=Ancestry.co.uk |access-date=2 April 2021|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
After their marriage, Jane and William Vigor lived in London until 1749, when they settled at [[Taplow]] House, near [[Maidenhead]]. Although Vigor occasionally represented the London interests of his former employers, Prankard and Dickinson, the couple settled into a life of "genteel obscurity"<ref name="Somerset Archives" /> until William's death in October 1767.<ref name="ODNB" /> He was buried in the churchyard at St Nicholas, Taplow.<ref name="Thackray" /><ref name="ODNB" />
Following her husband's death, Jane Vigor moved to [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] where she died on 6 September 1783. She was buried alongside William in Taplow churchyard.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name= Taplow>{{cite web |last1=Haymonds |first1=Alison |title=Letters from a Lady: the Remarkable Life of Jane Vigor |url=https://windsorlocalhistorygroup.org/jane-vigor-an-extended-article/ |publisher=Windsor Local History Group |access-date=5 November 2024}}</ref>
Her obituary by [[John Nichols (printer)|John Nichols]] in ''[[The Gentleman's Magazine]]'' described Jane as having "lived much in the world, and being well acquainted with books, her conversation was the delight of all who had the pleasure of knowing her" and that her loss was "severely felt by the neighbouring poor, amongst whom she was constantly searching after proper objects for the exertion of her charity and benevolence".<ref name="ODNB" />
Another English resident of St Petersburg, the governess [[Elizabeth Justice]], described Jane as "a fine woman; very tall, and perfectly genteel", and "in all her answers, even to her inferiors, she shows the greatest condescension, and most obliging temper".<ref name="ODNB" /> The German historian, [[Gerhard Friedrich Müller]], described her as "an Englishwoman by birth: a young, beautiful, lively, well-behaved and intelligent woman".{{sfn|Loewenson |1957|p=407}}
==Letters from a Lady...==
[[File:Jane-Vigor-letters-English.png|right|thumb|upright]]
During her eleven years in St Petersburg, Jane wrote regularly to her friends and family in England. In 1775, a selection of her letters was published by [[James Dodsley]] of [[Pall Mall, London]], under the title "Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia, to her Friend in England. With historical notes".{{sfn|Vigor|1775| }} In ''The Gentleman‘s Magazine'', John Nichols states that "she was in a manner obliged to publish, to prevent a spurious and incorrect copy from being obtruded on the world".<ref name="ODNB" />{{sfn|Vigor|1784|p=vi}}
Despite the absence of the author's name, contemporaries soon found out that the anonymous letters had been written by Mrs Vigor.{{sfn|Loewenson |1957|p=399}} As most of the 37 letters had been written during the time she was married to Claudius Rondeau, the letters were generally referred to as "Lady Rondeau’s Letters".{{sfn|Loewenson |1957|p=399}}{{ref|C|c}}
The letters immediately aroused considerable interest both in England and elsewhere and were translated into German, French and Dutch by 1776.{{sfn|Loewenson |1957|pp=399-400}} In 1777, a revised English edition was published with misprints in the original corrected. In 1836, the letters were translated into Russian; this edition was considered unsatisfactory, as it was heavily censored, and a completely revised edition was published in 1874 by [[Evgeny Karnovich]], with additional notes by [[Sergey Shubinsky]] and an introduction by [[Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin]].{{sfn|Loewenson |1957|p=400}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Джейн Вигор (Рондо) - Письма леди Рондо |publisher=libking.ru |url=https://libking.ru/books/nonf-/nonf-biography/224393-dzheyn-vigor-rondo-pisma-ledi-rondo.html |access-date=7 April 2021 |language=Russian}}</ref>
In 1784, after Jane's death the previous year, some more letters were found among her papers; these were published under the title "Eleven additional letters from Russia, in the reign of Peter II. By the late Mrs. Vigor. Never before published".{{sfn|Vigor|1784| }} The preface states that these letters were "found among her papers since her decease" and include a short biographical preface and some historical notes.{{sfn|Vigor|1784|pp=v–vi}} These letters precede the originals chronologically and cover her earliest years at St Petersburg, during the reign of [[Peter II of Russia|Peter II]] and were more personally revealing than those she had published during her lifetime.<ref name="ODNB" />
The letters offer a unique eyewitness account of life at the court at St Petersburg and amongst the expatriate community;<ref name="ODNB" /> contemporary reviewers praised the anecdotes of courtly occasions, including marriages, coronations and funerals, as well as stories of aristocratic intrigue and romance.<ref name="ODNB" />
==Victoria and Albert Museum==
[[File:Conversation-piece-by-Joseph-Highmore-for-Jane-Vigor.-.jpg|right|thumb|A portrait of the Vigor family by [[Joseph Highmore]] in 1744.]]
In 2009, London's [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] was allocated a group of twenty two embroidered sofa and chair covers together with a portrait of the Vigor family by [[Joseph Highmore]] in 1744; these had been accepted by the British Government in lieu of [[Inheritance Tax in the United Kingdom|Inheritance Tax]]. The portrait, described as a "[[Conversation piece]]" shows two seated women, probably Jane and her sister-in-law, Ann, together with their husbands, William and Joseph Vigor (both standing), and a seated man, possibly [[John Penn ("the American")|John Penn]] (1700–1746), son of the founder of Pennsylvania, with whom the Vigors were on close terms.<ref>{{cite web |title=A group of 18th-century embroidered sofa and chair covers and a related conversation piece by Joseph Highmore. |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/group-of-18th-century-embroidered-sofa-and-chair-covers-related-conversation-piece/ |publisher=Victoria & Albert Museum |access-date=5 April 2021 |date=2016}}</ref><ref name="V&A seat cover">{{cite web |title=Chair Seat Cover |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1155747/chair-seat-cover-vigor-jane-mrs/ |publisher=Victoria & Albert Museum |access-date=5 April 2021 |date=5 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="V&A Highmore">{{cite web |title=A portrait of the Vigor Family: Jane Vigor, Joseph Vigor, Ann Vigor, William Vigor and probably John Penn |url=http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1135992/a-portrait-of-the-vigor-oil-painting-highmore-joseph/ |publisher=Victoria & Albert Museum |access-date=5 April 2021 |date=4 August 2009}}</ref>
In the picture, Jane is holding an example of her embroidery, while Ann is knotting silk thread with a [[Shuttle (weaving)|shuttle]].<ref name="V&A Highmore"/> The seat covers were probably worked by Jane Vigor while still in St Petersburg, "adapting Russian materials to her English design and needle skills".<ref name="V&A seat cover"/>
==Notes==
*{{note|A|a}}   The biography in the [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] incorrectly claims that Jane was the daughter of the Revd Edward Goodwin of [[Rawmarsh]] Hall, Yorkshire, and Jane Wainwright.<ref name="ODNB" /> This claim is repeated in several other sources.
*{{note|B|b}} The preface to "Eleven additional letters from Russia" published in 1784, the year after Jane Vigor's death, includes some biographical notes, which state that she was married "to Thomas Ward, Esq. Consul General to Russia, 1728".{{sfn|Vigor|1784|p=vi}} This seems to refer to the date on which Ward took up his appointment in Russia, rather than the date of the marriage, which is how it has been interpreted in the ONDB article and elsewhere.<ref name="ODNB" />
*{{note|C|c}} The incorrect appellation "Lady" presumably came about because of the use of the word in the full title of the publication, although Jane was always plain "Mrs".
==See also==
*[[Lillie de Hegermann-Lindencrone]] <!--another diplomat's wife who left behind her two diaries of diplomatic court life -->
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Delany |first=Mary |author1-link=Mary Delany|editor= Woolsey, Sarah Chauncey |editor-link=Sarah Chauncey Woolsey|title=The autobiography and correspondence of Mrs. Delany.|date=1882 |publisher=Roberts Bros. |location= Boston|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyan00coolgoog/page/n228/mode/2up}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Loewenson |first1=Leo |title=Lady Rondeau's Letters from Russia (1728–1739) |journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |date=June 1957 |volume=35 |issue=85  |pages=399–408 |jstor=4204849 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4204849 |access-date=31 March 2021}}
* {{cite book |last1=Vigor |first1=Mrs William |title=Letters from a Lady, Who Resided Some Years in Russia, to Her Friend in England |date=1775 |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation (Elibron Classics) |isbn=978-1421254975 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Vigor |first1=Mrs William |title=Eleven additional letters from Russia, ... |date=1784 |publisher=Gale Eighteenth Century Online |isbn=978-1170442005 }}
==External links==
*[https://issuu.com/visitlancashire/docs/visit_lancashire_magazine_2018_onli/77 Article] about bust of Mrs Jane Vigor held at [[Browsholme Hall]], Lancashire.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigor, Jane}}
[[Category:1699 births]]
[[Category:1783 deaths]]
[[Category:English women travel writers]]
[[Category:English travel writers]]
[[Category:People from Petworth]]
[[Category:English women letter writers]]