A North Dorset countess helped rescue Shakespeare’s bawdy brilliance from censorship, and is finally getting the credit … 300 years overdue
A new book on The Shakespeare Ladies Club shines a spotlight on an 18th century woman from North Dorset who influenced a nation’s love of literature.
Today, Shakespeare features in school curriculums and re-ignites memories for all those who swotted for English exams. However, the plays we all studied at school are remarkably different to those people would have watched in the 1720s. During the early 18th century, Shakespeare’s work had largely been sanitised, thanks to a post-Puritan drive to rid the theatres of immorality. Cancel culture, 18th century style. London theatres favoured other plays and Italian operas, and
the Bard was on his way to being forgotten.
When four ladies started reading Shakespeare’s plays in the 1730s they realised that what they were reading was not the same as the drama they had seen on the stage. The original prose and bawdy remarks that added character and richness to the plays had been removed. Incensed, the ladies began a campaign to restore the content and increase the popularity of Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare Ladies Club
Susanna Ashley-Cooper, the fourth Countess of Shaftesbury from Wimborne St Giles, led the group. The other three ladies were Elizabeth Boyd, Mary Cowper and Mary Montagu. Susanna Noel was just fourteen when she married into the Ashley-Cooper family. Authors Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth reflected on where she got her love for the arts at such a young age:
‘Susanna Ashley-Cooper was 14 when she married the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury, who was the same age. We found multiple sources to suggest that the pair wanted to get married, that their marriage was loving and also a remarkable marriage of equals. Susanna had been educated under the direction of her highly intelligent mother, the dowager Countess of Gainsborough, and all of her siblings displayed a love of learning, theatre and music.
‘We believe that we are the first to connect a previously unknown story – Shakespeare and his troupe of players performed at a private stately home in Rutland in the late 1500s: the performance was at the ancestral family home of Susanna Noel, later 4th Countess of Shaftesbury who would found the Shakespeare Ladies Club.
‘We believe that a love and appreciation of Shakespeare was a family tradition over many generations of the Noel family.’
Christine and Jonathan are from Adelaide in Australia, and were fascinated by the story around the Shakespeare Ladies Club.
‘We were looking for a topic for a new book and reading widely about Shakespeare: we were interested in learning how and when Shakespeare became ‘famous’ and considered the best writer of the English language. We were intrigued by a couple of academics who had written about these obscure, influential women. We wondered if a book had ever been devoted to the Shakespeare Ladies Club – and none had. We decided to shift our focus onto these women, and what they had done for Shakespeare, to see if we could uncover any further information.
‘With previous books we have travelled to the UK and France to conduct research while also using digital archives. We found that much could be found for this book by reading books and papers, but since the restrictions of COVID we knew that that most archives, libraries and record offices have done a wonderful job digitising sources, or at least describing items they hold in their archives. This allowed us to work with archivists to have items copied and sent to us to read. This is not always a successful process, but we were fortunate, particularly with some collections. The Norfolk Record Office proved a jackpot of important poems and letters from Mary Cowper, one of the Shakespeare Ladies. We suspect the bundle of papers had remained undisturbed for hundreds of years.’
Using their influence in society, the ladies campaigned to get Shakespeare restored to the London stage in its original uncut format. Their impact, however, was much broader reaching, particularly among women. At the time, women had an inferior status in society and were not expected to lobby for change at all.
‘We now understand the impact of the Shakespeare Ladies Club in ‘rescuing’ Shakespeare’s original plays, making them popular and particularly attractive to women theatre-goers. It is possible to mount an argument that Susanna’s campaign from 1736 was, in fact, the missing link between the early 1700s when Shakespeare’s plays were considered too bawdy to perform without censorship and alteration, and 1800 when he was seen as a literary god.
‘Shakespeare reading clubs, particularly for women, became an enjoyable and empowering trend and could only have been seen as respectable, educative and fun because of the groundwork laid by Susanna and the Shakespeare Ladies Club.
‘A critical and admirable aspect of the original Shakespeare Ladies Club is that, far from being sheltered prudes, they were worldly-wise. They embraced realistic dramatisations of people and their passions. We think Susanna opened the door for women to embrace and enjoy Shakespeare’s bawdy and insightful characters and dialogue – on stage or page – free from shame or sexist restrictions.
‘This shift helped normalise women reading about human relationships and private lives, paving the way for the novel to become an enduring form of entertainment.’
Shakespeare in the Abbey
Susanna Ashley-Cooper also led the campaign to get a memorial to William Shakespeare erected in Westminster Abbey, where it remains today. In 1740, it was not legal for women to campaign, so the Shakespeare Ladies Club had to rely on men to work on their behalf, including David Garrick the actor, playwright and theatre manager. However, the men took the credit for the achievement.
That acknowledgement has never been challenged … until now. Christine and Jonathan have worked to petition Westminster Abbey: ‘Having written the book, we felt that, armed with knowledge, we should inform Westminster Abbey of the true story behind the statue’s accreditation to a group of men rather than the Shakespeare Ladies Club.
‘We were fortunate to have Professor Michael Dobson, director of the Shakespeare Institute, and Genevieve Kirk, a North American academic – both had written on the Shakespeare Ladies Club – agree to join us to petition the Abbey.
‘In effect we compiled a document of evidence in order for the Abbey professors to consider our claim that the ‘Ladies’ were the driving force behind public awareness, fundraising and arranging the commission of the Shakespeare monument.
‘We found the Poet’s Corner managers to be open-minded, and more than happy to correct this historical oversight, which they have now agreed to do. After nearly 300 years, Susanna and her club members will finally be credited.’
The Shakespeare Ladies Club is published on 15th June, and the authors will be giving talks in Sturminster Newton on 10th June, as well as in Stratford Upon Avon. Christine and Jonathan will be visiting Dorset for the first time: ‘We have always wanted to visit Dorset, says Jonathan. ‘Sturminster Newton Literary Festival provides us with the perfect opportunity to do so. We’re both voracious readers, and for Christine, Dorset stirs a longing for Enid Blyton childhood adventures with the Famous Five or Secret Seven. Of course, the inspiration of Thomas Hardy cannot be overstated, especially on a reader who wold like to be a writer.’
Thanks to Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth’s research, Susanna Ashley-Cooper is finally gaining the recognition she deserves. In a county steeped in literary tradition, it is fitting that North Dorset can now also lay claim to one of the most influential women behind Shakespeare’s revival – a campaigner who quietly shaped the nation’s love for the Bard, and helped ensure his place at the heart of English culture.
The Shakespeare Ladies Club: The Forgotten Women Who Rescued the Bawdy Bard will be published on 15th June. See Christine and Jonathan in conversation on 10th June at The Exchange, 6.30pm.
Tickets £10 Sturminster LitFest
