Beauty of Bath.

I am somewhat amused that it takes a Bristolian to show us how we are underappreciating one of our own! A Bath-born woman who could be said to have been the Taylor Swift of her age.

While we are rightly happy to celebrate Jane Austen and Mary Shelley – to name but two famous writers who stayed in our city – are we doing enough to promote a local Georgian songstress who, in the 18th century, was wildly famous both for her voice, her charisma and her beauty?

Painted in oils by both Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds, it seems we only remember Elizabeth Linley for her elopement, from the family home in Bath’s Royal Crescent, with the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

However, today, Tuesday, October 7th, sees the official publication of a book that does much to ‘add flesh to the bones’ and fill out the life of this amazing woman.

Called ‘The Nightingale of Bath’, it has been written by Bristol-based Thomas Messel, a man better known as an internationally recognised bespoke furniture designer.

I met him off the train from Bristol this morning.

PS I recorded this interview yesterday, Monday, October 6th, but early this Tuesday morning, Thomas sent me confirmation of the book’s publication.

“I am delighted to announce that my historical novel, The Nightingale of Bath, is now available on Amazon.

Set in the late eighteenth century, it follows the exciting and fast-moving true-life story of an ancestor, the singer Elizabeth Linley. She was celebrated for her voice, charisma and beauty, painted by Gainsborough and Reynolds, fought over in a series of duels and scandalised society by eloping with the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. She endured a turbulent marriage, championed the Whig party, played a significant role in Warren Hastings’s Impeachment and the Prince of Wales’s Regency bid, before finding love with the Irish revolutionary Lord Edward FitzGerald.

Do have a look at the book trailer here to give you a taste of her story.

Copies are available through John Sandoe in London, No. 1 Royal Crescent in Bath, and Heron Books in Bristol, or through Amazon at the site here.”

PPS Thomas, by the way, has been involved with editing another book. One that celebrates the achievements of his late uncle Oliver Messel, an English artist and one of the foremost stage designers of the 20th century.