HISTORY
it was this that Worsley pursued, as well as
bringing legal proceedings against Bisset.
Sir Richard sued Bisset for ‘Criminal
Conversation,’ the betrayal trust between
friends by having the affair. The closer the
friendship between the men, the more
money could be paid in recompense.
Worsley sought £20,000 compensation,
which would have bankrupted Bisset. He
would have had to sell his estate on the
Isle of Wight, most probably to Worsley.
The case took place at the Old Bailey on
21st February 1782, where Sir Richard’s
Counsel argued that Bisset had been a
close friend and a junior officer and had
betrayed his trust by having an affair
with his wife, severely damaging her
reputation. Furthermore, the couple had
run off to London and lived in the Royal
Hotel as man and wife. Mr Howarth KC,
acting for Bisset, argued that Bisset could
not possibly have damaged Seymour’s
reputation as he was not the first lover
she had taken in her marriage. In fact, he
claimed Bisset was her 28th! Moreover,
he alleged that Sir Richard was complicit
in the sexual relationships of his wife,
citing the Maidstone bathhouse incident
where he had encouraged Bisset to view
the naked Seymour.
The details in the case fascinated and
shocked Georgian London. What made it
unusual was that Bisset’s defence counsel
produced witnesses who admitted to
adultery with Seymour and testified to
Sir Richard’s desire to watch his wife with
her lovers. One witness, Lord Deerhurst
said, under oath, that he had stayed at
Appuldurcombe in the summer of 1779.
“Has your Lordship any recollection of
any particular expressions Sir Richard
Worsley made use of, respecting his wife,
in addressing himself to you?” asked Mr
Howarth. “He did, then, say, that many
“Sir Richard sued
Bisset for ‘Criminal
Conversation,’
the betrayal trust
between friends by
having the affair.“
young men had tried her, and that I had
his permission to try my chance with her,”
replied Lord Deerhurst. At 4 am as Lord
Deerhurst left Seymour’s bedroom, he
encountered Sir Richard by the door of her
dressing room. “Deerhurst! How come you
here?” was all Sir Richard could say.
The judge directed the jury that
Seymour had been prostituted with a
variety of men over a period of years
with the encouragement of her husband,
who colluded in cuckolding himself.
The jury deliberated and found for Sir
Richard, determining that Bisset had
behaved dishonourably. However, they
believed Sir Richard had encouraged
his wife’s behaviour for his own sexual
gratification, and awarded him just
one-shilling in damages. It was a major
humiliation for a man in his position.
The newspapers capitalised on the
sensational scandal. Days after the jury’s
decision a pamphlet, ‘The Trial with the
Whole of the Evidence between the
Right Hon. Sir Richard Worsley, Bart and
George Bisset Defendant, for Criminal
Conversation with the Plaintiff’s Wife’ was
published at one shilling and became a
best-seller. Elsewhere, erotic poems about
Seymour’s love life sold equally well.
Unable to cope, Sir Richard went
abroad to escape the public humiliation.
Soon after the trial Seymour fell
pregnant; Bisset left her for a younger
lover and the child was still-born. This
was an age when respectable society was
expected to shun a known adulteress.
Seymour was supposed to withdraw from
decent society and be shamed for her
immoral behaviour. Instead, she became
mistress to more men; had a child and
moved to France, where polite society did
not see her as an outcast.
Within a year of her arrival in France,
the revolution had broken out, and
Seymour found herself trapped in the
country during the horrors of the Reign
of Terror. She survived and managed
to return to England in 1797, although
by this time, gravely ill and heavily in
debt. She died in September 1818 aged
61, and was buried in Pere Lachaise
cemetery in Paris.
Appuldurcombe House
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