The Archbishop's Wife: Catherine Blackburne's Final Days at Downing Street
The 9th of June 1726 marked a poignant moment in Georgian London when Mrs Catherine Blackburne, wife of Lancelot Blackburne, Archbishop of York, breathed her last at their apartments in Downing Street, Westminster. Her death, recorded in The Newcastle Courant of June 18th, 1726, provides us with a fascinating glimpse into both the personal tragedy of one of England’s most colourful archbishops and the medical realities of 18th-century life.
A Marriage of Convenience and Affection
Catherine Blackburne, née Talbot, was no ordinary archbishop’s wife. Born Catherine Talbot around 1646, she was the elder sister of William Talbot, Bishop of Durham and a member of one of the most prominent ecclesiastical families of her era. Before her marriage to the future Archbishop, she had been Mrs Catherine Littleton, a widow, having previously married Walter Littleton of Lichfield. When she wed Lancelot Blackburne at the Savoy Chapel on 2 September 1684, she was already in her late thirties and “older than the archbishop”.
The marriage appears to have been both strategic and affectionate. Through Catherine’s family connections—particularly her brother William Talbot, who became Bishop of Durham and whose lineage connected to the Earl of Shrewsbury; Blackburne gained valuable ecclesiastical patronage. Her nephew Charles Talbot would later become Lord Chancellor, further cementing the family’s political influence. Yet their long marriage, lasting over forty years, suggests genuine companionship despite their unconventional lifestyle.
The Blackburne Family Background
Lancelot himself came from a respectable London merchant family. He was born in London on 10 December 1658, the son of Richard Blackburne, who had left his home in the North Riding of Yorkshire at seventeen to take up an apprenticeship in London and later became Warden of the Drapers’ Company, 1678-1679. Lancelot’s brother was Dr Richard Blackburne, suggesting the family valued education and professional advancement.
Life at Downing Street and the Unconventional Household
By 1726, the Blackburnes had established themselves at the heart of political London. The Archbishop “kept apartments in Downing Street, Westminster and spent much time at the royal court”, a lifestyle that reflected his worldly nature and his role as Lord High Almoner from 1723 to 1743. Their Downing Street residence was officially documented when it appeared as his address on the 1739 royal charter of the Foundling Hospital, for which he served as a founding governor.
Catherine would have witnessed her husband’s rise to become one of the most controversial church figures of his day. Described by Horace Walpole as “the jolly old Archbishop of York, who had all the manners of a man of quality, though he had been a buccaneer, and was a clergyman”, Blackburne maintained what was essentially a secular household. Even during Catherine’s lifetime, rumours persisted about his behaviour, and his mistress, Mrs. Conwys, sat at the head of the table in later years, with the alleged illegitimate son Thomas Hayter serving as chaplain.
The Archbishop's Controversial Career
Blackburne’s path to high office was unconventional. After his ordination in 1681, he travelled to the West Indies, where he was allegedly paid £20 by Charles II for “secret services”. Popular legend holds that he spent these years sailing with buccaneers, either as their chaplain or as a pirate himself, though evidence remains inconclusive. Upon his return to England in 1684 and marriage to Catherine, he began a rapid ecclesiastical rise, becoming Canon of Exeter (1691), Dean of Exeter (1705), Archdeacon of Cornwall (1715), and Bishop of Exeter (1717) before his appointment as Archbishop of York in 1724.
The Long Illness: Dropsy and Asthma
The contemporary newspaper account (Newcastle Courant – Saturday 18 June 1726) provides precious medical detail: Catherine died “after a long Illness of a Dropfie and an Afthma”. These conditions tell us much about both her personal suffering and the medical understanding of the Georgian period.
Dropsy, known today as oedema or edema, was one of the most common and feared conditions of the 18th century. The term derived from the Greek hydrops meaning water, and described “simply an abnormal accumulation of fluid”. Contemporary medical texts described how dropsy “puffed their bodies into grotesque shapes, squeezed their lungs, and finally brought slow but inexorable death”. Patients experienced progressive swelling that “made arms and legs swell so that they were immovable” and “waterlogged the lung cavity” making breathing impossible except when sitting upright.
The underlying causes of dropsy were “congestive heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure, and malnutrition”, though 18th-century physicians could not differentiate between these conditions. Heart failure was probably the most frequent of the four, and “untreated dropsy was, eventually, always fatal”.
Asthma in the 18th century was understood quite differently from today’s definition. Medical authorities like John Floyer, who published “A treatise of the asthma. Divided into four parts“, the first English book on asthma in 1698, described it as “a disease of the lungs, which seldom admits of a cure” affecting “persons in the decline of life”. The condition was typically attributed to “cold, moist phlegm accumulating in the lungs” according to prevailing humoral theories.
Treatment options were limited and often counterproductive. The standard approach involved “purging, vomiting, bleeding and sweating in order to restore the body’s ‘humoral balance'”. For asthma specifically, physicians recommended “inhaling vapours from frankincense, myrrh and various gums”, though many remained sceptical of such treatments. Some practitioners even advocated “smoking tobacco” for respiratory complaints, despite growing evidence that this worsened symptoms.
Common Ailments of the Georgian Age
Catherine’s conditions were tragically typical of her era. Dropsy was among the top ten most common causes of death recorded in 18th-century burial registers. The disease “affected a huge variety of people” though it “tended to affect people over the age of 50 and there were slightly more women than men” who succumbed to it.
Asthma, while less fatal than dropsy, was increasingly recognised as a significant health problem. The period saw the “resurgence of interest in smoking for asthma” following the introduction of stramonium (Datura) from India through the East India Company. However, such treatments remained experimental and were often more harmful than beneficial.
The combination of dropsy and asthma that afflicted Catherine would have been particularly debilitating. Both conditions affected breathing—dropsy through fluid accumulation around the lungs, and asthma through bronchial constriction. In an age before effective diuretics, bronchodilators, or even basic understanding of cardiac function, Catherine’s “long illness” would have involved progressively worsening symptoms with little prospect of relief.
The End of an Era
Catherine’s death at “the 80th Year of her Age” was remarkable for its longevity in an era when life expectancy was significantly lower. She had lived through the reigns of Charles II, James II, William and Mary, Anne, and George I, witnessing the transformation of English society and the Church.
The couple “left no children”, though rumours persisted that Blackburne had fathered Thomas Hayter by another woman. Thomas Hayter later became Bishop of Norwich, and while Blackburne “did not himself identify Hayter as his son, he did leave a sizeable portion of his estate to Hayter”. Following Catherine’s death, the Archbishop continued his worldly lifestyle, openly maintaining “his mistress, Mrs. Conwys” at his table until his own death in 1743.
As Horace Walpole later recalled in a 1780 letter: “I often dined with him, his mistress, Mrs. Conwys, sat at the head of the table, and Hayter, his natural son by another woman, and very like him, at the bottom, as chaplain… I have heard, but do not affirm it, that Mrs. Blackbourne, before she died, complained of Mrs. Conwys being brought under the same roof”.
A Life of Contradictions
The Archbishop’s behaviour was notoriously scandalous even by 18th-century standards. He “often neglected his spiritual duties” and “stopped ordaining priests after 10 years” in favour of court activities. One famous incident saw him ejected by John Disney, the vicar of St Mary’s Church, Nottingham, after a confirmation service during which he asked for his pipe, tobacco and ale. Local legend even claimed that Dick Turpin was his butler.
Legacy and Final Rest
Archbishop Blackburne died at his Downing Street home on 23 March 1743 after a “lingering illness”. He was buried in the middle chancel of St Margaret’s church Westminster on 1st April 1743 but has no monument or gravestone. Catherine had predeceased him by seventeen years, and they were buried together.
Catherine Blackburne’s story illuminates both the personal cost of 18th-century medicine’s limitations and the complex social world of Georgian high society. Her “long illness” with dropsy and asthma reflects the medical realities that touched rich and poor alike, while her residence at Downing Street places her at the very heart of political and ecclesiastical power during a transformative period in British history.
Her death marked not just personal loss for one of England’s most controversial archbishops, but also the end of an era when senior clerics could maintain such openly secular households while occupying the highest positions in the established church. The Blackburnes’ story reveals the tensions between public duty and private morality that would increasingly define the Georgian church, making Catherine’s quiet dignity all the more remarkable amidst her husband’s notorious reputation.
🎧 Listen to London History Podcast Episode 139: Downing Street – A Microcosm of London and learn more about the former residents of Downing Street. and learn more about the former residents of Downing Street.
