Julia Hissop

Her Grace The Duchess of Pennnington

Portrayed by Romola Garai
Full Name	Julia Rebecca Hissop née Dancy
Associated Noble House(s)	Pennington, Raulings, Welby
Date of Birth	15 May 1787
Father	Thomas Dancy
Father's Rank	6th Baronet
Mother	Eleanor Dancy née Worthen
Mother's Rank	Daughter of the 3rd Baron Tyrawley
Town Residence	Pennington House, 20 Hanover Square
Year of Debut	1805
Dowry	£30,000
Year of Marriage	1805
Spouse	Henry Hissop
Spouse's Rank	5th Duke of Pennington
Issue	None

Julia Hissop, Duchess of Pennington (née Julia Dancy) was born 15 May 1787 to Sir Thomas Dancy of Weston, 6th Baronet, and Eleanor Dancy née Worthen, Lady Dancy. She is the second wife of the Duke of Pennington but as of the 1811 season still has no issue. A prominent leader of the London haut ton, she is known for her beauty, condescension, and flighty behaviour. She has few close friends and many enemies because of her spiteful and insincere personality. She is currently sponsoring a young poet, Evander Whinging. The arrival of her husband's heir presumptive Dominic Hissop from the West Indies has ruined all possibility of enjoyment this season and she is dealing badly with her shock and anger.

Julia was created by Rose and is played by Casey.

Life

Childhood

Julia is the first daughter and second child of a wealthy Oxfordshire baronet, Sir Thomas Dancy, and his wife, Eleanor Dancy née Worthen. Her older brother is Everett William (b. 30 March 1786) and her younger sister was Rachel Louise (b. 12 August 1789, d. 21 December 1801). She was privately tutored at home as befits the daughter of a wealthy gentleman and attained high standards of accomplishment in dancing, drawing and painting, the pianoforte, embroidery, and French and Italian. She had headstrong, bullying tendencies even in childhood: she frequently manipulated Rachel for her own means and amusement and often clashed with Everett before he left for Eton and then Oxford. Despite her dominating character, she quickly learned to become very good at deceiving adults, especially those who were not in regular contact with her. Governesses, caretakers, and other intimate acquaintances were more aware of her true disposition, though her parents wilfully ignored any criticisms of their children and indulged the three young Dancys to excess. Thus, Julia's nastier attributes escalated, unchecked.

For many years the two Dancy sisters were constant companions. Rachel, a sweet, clever girl of a happy temperament, learned to avenge herself by playing up her natural charm so as to attract most of the attention. Though a crafty and remarkably perceptive tactic, it flamed Julia's half-affectionate mockery into outright dislike. When Julia was fourteen and Rachel eleven, they were already on terms of such pronounced antagonism it was obvious even to guests (their parents, as always, chose to stay ignorant). In a fit of pique before Rachel's twelfth birthday, Julia prayed that her sister would die.

Within a few months, Rachel was confined to her bedchamber for constant bed rest following a bad attack of flu and then pneumonia that developed the undiagnosed complication of septicaemia. Rachel's eventual death from septic shock had a profound effect on the Dancy family; it was particularly traumatic for Julia, who harbours a dark, heavy sense of guilt concerning her unkindness to her sister throughout her life. She has especially confused feelings concerning her spiteful prayer, which has led to a tangled attitude of emotional, though not intellectual, bitterness in regards to religion that borders occasionally on agnosticism. In the immediate aftermath of Rachel's death, Julia's moods and mood swings became more and more passionate and she developed an obsession with her upcoming début into the haut ton.

Début

When Julia turned seventeen, she persuaded her parents to relocate to Bath to prepare her for her eventual come-out in London. The stifling rules and stuffy old gossips have stayed in her memory ever since and to this day she has a marked aversion to Bath. Originally planning to remain a year, the family returned to Oxfordshire after two months, caving into Julia's incessant whining. (Ironically, her parents developed a great fondness for the spa town and have been going there ever since their daughter's marriage.)

Julia made her curtsey at St James's in 1805, presented by her mother, a few short weeks before her eighteenth birthday. With her angelic looks and witty, repeatedly bordering on impertinent, conversation, Miss Dancy was instantly popular. Although she was not connected to any of the great aristocratic houses, her staggeringly large dowry and her impeccably genteel background assured that her dance card was always full moments after entering any assembly. However, she was not the most popular débutante: Lady Viola Fitzgerald was marginally more sought-after and Julia has never been able to forgive her for it. Though neither did anything as gauche as to spill a drink on the other's gown, they were constantly challenging each other by unspoken assent in matters of fashion, suitors, invitations, mentions in the Tatler, and other society markers.

The recipient of no less than eight offers of marriage in her first season, some of them from thoroughly eligible men, Julia surprised the ton by accepting the Duke of Pennington's offer, notwithstanding his extremely recent proposal to Lady Viola. They were married on 27 August 1805 at the Pennington ducal seat of St Elvan.

Marriage

The Hissops' marriage was not a romantic one for either party: Julia married to become a duchess while Henry married to silence the nagging of his various aunts about his lack of heir. Though never 'in love' at any point during their brief courtship or afterwards, they had a friendly relationship in the beginning, as both of them left each other to their own devices. This pleasantness has since disintegrated because of a variety of factors.

A practical awareness of what her husband required prompted Julia to begin marital relations dutifully. Their attempts have produced no heir as of the 1811 season. This 'humiliation' (as she sees it) is a vast source of misery in her life, as it casts her standing in aristocratic society on doubtful ground. Because she secretly believes that her husband is the infertile spouse, she has developed a bitter and harsh attitude in his company, which he returns wholeheartedly. They have taken to verbally harassing each other about the most trivial of details. As neither of them are mild in temper, their fights intensify at alarming rates, though there are some boundaries they both recognise cannot be crossed (e.g. Julia has never communicated her thoughts on his infertility, Henry has never accused her of social opportunism, etcetera).

The worst period in their marriage was around the fourth anniversary in 1809, which is coincidentally the last year the Hissops have celebrated their birthdays during the season. (Julia's birthday is 15 May; Henry's birthday is 8 June.) Since then they have mellowed, perhaps from exhaustion. They now snipe at each other carelessly, without great heat or venom. When they are not arguing, the Hissops have a rather strange dynamic which could even be seen as affectionate: Henry treats Julia with an air of long-suffering but denies her nothing while Julia openly scorns him in private or with close friends but is haughtily defensive of him in public. When they are both feeling exceptionally relaxed, they can actually hold rather extended discussions upon many different topics, as they are both intelligent and educated. The problem of children is the unrepentantly intrusive factor in their marriage. They both know that there is too much bad blood in the past as well as painful hope for the future for them to make peace at this stage.

With the arrival of Dominic Hissop, their marriage is effectively now a catastrophe of epic proportions.

Present

One of Julia's schemes for 1811 was to use her sponsorship of a young, acclaimed poet, Evander Whinging, to deflect attention for her continuing childless state. Otherwise, the season so far has not been too different from past seasons. She is very intrigued with some of the débutantes, including Lady Julianne (a cousin by marriage) and Miss Hampton, but has not yet formed any special friendships with any newcomers. She has attended the Emerson Ball, the Brixton House Party, and the Grafton Dinner Party out of the season's big events. A mild bout of flu prevented her from attending The Grove Masque and she used it as a convenient excuse to decline her invitation to the Earl of Wyck's rout and the Marquess of Avening's open invitation to Basil Brett's art exhibition (despite it being literally next door).

Now fully recovered, Julia is looking looked forward to re-joining the social calendar of the ton. But the arrival of Henry's heir presumptive, one Dominic Hissop, has plunged Pennington House into a state of war. Aware of the conclusions that London society will come to (that she is unable to bear children), she cannot forgive her husband for inviting the intruder without consulting or informing her. She despises Mr Hissop and is committed to hindering him in any way possible.