In a fitted box. Purple cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

Harriet Wilson began her career at the age of fifteen, becoming the mistress of William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven, 7th Baron Craven. Among her other lovers with whom she had financial arrangements was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who commented “publish, and be damned” when informed of her plans to write her memoirs. Wilson even attracted George IV’s attention, who claimed he would “do anything to suppress what Harriette had to reveal of [his mistress] Lady Conyngham”.

Wilson makes a claim in her memoir about Frederick Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne, assaulting her. She attributes his violent act toward her to the jealousy that she had become acquainted with the Duke of Argyle and a lover, a Lord Ponsonby. According to her account, Lamb attacked her because she refused him. For obvious reasons, most politicians with whom she had relationships paid high sums to keep their interactions with her private.

Her decision to publish was partly based on the broken promises of her lovers to provide her with an income in her older age. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson, Written By Herself, first published in 1825, is celebrated for the opening line: “I shall not say how and why I became, at the age of fifteen, the mistress of the Earl of Craven.”^[1] It was reprinted by the Navarre Society in 1924, as was a follow-up title Paris Lions and London Tigers with an introduction by Heywood Hill in 1935, although how much of this latter title was the work of Harriette Wilson herself is debatable.

Despite modern speculations that Wilson was mistress to the Prince George, Prince of Wales, there is no evidence of such in her memoir. She records a time when, while still serving as a courtesan to Lord Craven, she writes a letter to the Prince of Wales: “I am told that I am very beautiful, so perhaps you would like to see me.” She speculates that the response from the prince requesting her visit arrives via Colonel Thomas. Indignant that the prince would request she travel to meet him, she responds:

SIR,— To travel fifty-two miles this bad weather, merely to see a man, with only the given number of legs, arms, fingers, &c., would, you must admit, be madness in a girl like myself, surrounded by humble admirers who are ever ready to travel any distance for the honour of kissing the tip of her little finger; but, if you can prove to me that you are one bit better than any man who may be ready to attend my bidding, I’ll e’en start for London directly. So, if you can do anything better in the way of pleasing a lady than ordinary men, write directly: if not, adieu, Monsieur le Prince.

Wilson’s clients were politically associated with the Prince of Wales, but in her memoir, she does not record meeting or bedding him. However, it is said that “Wilson reminds us that the long-term mistress of the Prince of Wales, having been promised £20,000 which never materialised, died a pauper.” Wilson might not have met the man or bedded him, but she was aware that the Prince of Wales, like the many other politicians, did not ultimately financially support their courtesans—and her memoir represents this controversial failing of English officeholders.

Harriette Wilson (2 February 1786 – 10 March 1845) was the author of The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson: Written by Herself (1825). Wilson was a famed British Regency courtesan who became the mistress of William, Lord Craven, at the age of 15. Later in her career, she went on to have formal relationship arrangements with Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and other significant politicians.