Status
Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
On the London stage ill the late eighteenth century, Dora Jordan was a star, probably the greatest comic actress the British theatre has ever known. Seductive and vivacious. as delightful off-stage as on, she was adored by the public and high society alike. Then, in 1791, she attracted the attentions of Prince William, the Duke of Clarence, third son of King George III. who eventually prevailed upon her to live with him. For more than twenty years. in spite of the attacks of caricaturists and satirists. she was a loyal and loving mate, bearing him ten children, helping to pay his debts out of her earnings as an actress, acting for all intents and purposes as his wife. Yet as Claire Tomalin shows in this brilliant rediscovery of Dora Jordan, the idyll had tragedy at its heart. Under pressure from the royal family and moved by his own ambitions, William abandoned her. For Dora, thrown out of her house, estranged from her children, it was a disaster; she was to die in poverty and loneliness in 1816. And while William evidently regretted the loss of the happiness he had known with her, he went on to marry a German princess and take the throne as King William IV in 1830. When his biography was published in 1884, Dora's name did not even appear in it. As in The Invisible Woman, her prizewinning biography of Dickens's mistress, Nelly Ternan, Claire Tomalin has here retrieved from obscurity a fascinating and important figure. She also offers us insight into an era. For Dora Jordan's tragedy, growing as it did out of the collision and interweaving of two worlds -- the rough and colorful world of the Georgian theatre where she was at home, and the glittering world of the court and the aristocracy, increasingly shadowed by the pall of convention that would define Victoria's reign -- is a vivid reflection of historical change. Yet the story told in Mrs Jordan's Profession is, ultimately, a personal one, a love story with a sad and brutal ending. Its essence lies in the gaiety and charm of Dora singing and joking onstage in Drury Lane, in the accounts of life with the children at 'dear Bushy,' in the notes she wrote to William in the days of happiness and the helpless, mystified letters that followed her dismissal. It is impossible to read without being moved -- and enchanted.… (more)
User reviews
Dora Jordan was a true survivor, taking all life threw at her with good humour and impressive dignity. The facts of her life - fourteen children to three different fathers, a career on the stage, and finally forced into exile abroad - would paint her as an atypical actress of low morals and mercenary ambitions, but the real Dora had a good heart, a true talent and a popular following. She was only let down by those she loved, and who professed to love her.
The father of her first daughter was her stage manager in Ireland, who may have raped her and was certainly guilty of blackmail; the second man in her life promised to marry her after his father died, so as to protect any possible inheritance, but never did; and her most famous 'husband', the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV) lived in domestic comfort with Dora for twenty years, a union producing 10 children, before dumping her during a midlife crisis! Dora's only failing, then, was trusting in weak and useless men to fulfill their promise to her. Twice she risked her already fragile reputation to live as a wife in name only, and both times she was badly let down. The Duke started chasing 'suitable' matches, to provide legitimate heirs to a possible future throne (he was third in line behind two brothers), and unceremoniously abandoned Dora, leaving the dirty work to his advisors (she would receive an allowance for her and the children, but only if she agreed to give up acting). Interestingly enough, descendents of this scandalous relationship today include author Adam Hart-Davis and politician David Cameron!
Like some modern celebrities, Mrs Jordan was better known for her private life than her talent on stage, but she was also a favourite and successful actress in London and throughout the provinces for over forty years. She began as a comedian, playing 'breeches' roles (one of her most popular being a character called 'Little Pickle') and singing songs. Audiences loved her for her natural charm and exuberance, and always welcomed her back to the stage, even when her age and figure should perhaps have excluded her from certain roles!
What is heartbreaking is how Dora's life ended. She should have been able to spend her final years in comfort, having supported others (including the Duke) and saved for her retirement throughout her long working life, and such a large brood must have guaranteed that she would not die alone. But she did, in exile in France, with little money and a large debt to her name (run up by her son-in-law); none of her children were present, and the Duke's only recognition of her passing was a tardy gesture to her memory commissioned many years later (a statue of Dora with two of her children, now in Buckingham Palace and afforded the recognition she long deserved and never received).
A sad ending to an entertaining and loving woman's life, told marvellously by a modern admirer.
The British paperback editions contain a 10 page afterword missing from the