Henry Hissop
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| Portrayed by Gabriel Byrne (unofficial; NPC) | |
| Full Name | Henry Hissop |
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| Title | Duke of Pennington |
| Associated Noble House(s) | Dukedom of Pennington, Marquessate of St Elvan, Earldom of Dain |
| Date of Birth | 8 June 1766 |
| Father | Charles Hissop |
| Father's Rank | Duke of Pennington |
| Mother | Agnes Hissop |
| Mother's Rank | Duchess of Pennington |
| Town Residence | Pennington House |
| Income | ? |
| School | Eton |
| University | Oxford |
| Year Attained Title | 1793 |
| Year of Marriage | 1805 |
| Spouse | 1. Margaret Eglinton (1770-1792) 2. Julia Hissop Dancy (b. 1787) |
| Spouse's Rank | Duchess of Pennington |
| Issue | None |
Henry Hissop, 5th Duke of Pennington (b. 8 June 1766) is the husband of Julia, Duchess of Pennington and the current holder of the title Duke of Pennington. He is one of the foremost peers of the United Kingdom, with one of the largest landowners' incomes in the country. He has been married twice but as of the 1811 season still has no issue. His heir presumptive is Dominic Hissop, his second cousin once removed. The Duke is a taciturn and unhappy man with a frightening temper when roused.
Henry is a non-player character created by Rose and played by Casey and Emily.
Family
Henry is the second child and only son of Charles Hissop, 4th Duke of Pennington, and his first wife, Agnes, Duchess of Pennington (née Lady Agnes Carding, b. 30 September 1741, d. 14 July 1767; daughter of the 7th Earl of Dain). His elder sister is Anne, Countess of Whitby (b. 12 October 1759), married to Nathaniel Petty, 3rd Earl of Whitby. His father's second wife was Eleanor, Dowager Duchess of Pennington (née Lady Eleanor D'Avray, b. 12 March 1754, d. 28 October 1808; daughter of the 4th Earl of Sexton). His younger half-sister was Lady Isobel Asquith (b. 3 February 1778, d. 16 December 1799), married to The Honourable Simon Asquith, second son of the 3rd Baron Wolvercote.
Life
Childhood
Styled Marquess of St Elvan, the courtesy title of the Duchy of Pennington, Henry was impressed with a grand sense of his own importance from a young age, as even his nannies and tutors were ordered by Charles, the 4th Duke, to address the little boy as Lord St Elvan. His elder sister Lady Anne was bossy and cold, unwilling to share her memories of their mother in her childish selfishness. The Duke married his second wife on 1 May 1773, right before Henry's seventh birthday; his first impression of his stepmother was of a very elegant and distant young woman. His father was apathetic when it came to spending time with his children; they only saw him on semi-formal and formal occasions, when they were required to recite their lessons and stay silent otherwise. Because of his parents' inattention and his isolated position as heir, he was a stubborn and sullen child, prone to temper tantrums and vindictiveness when he did not get his way.
As in line with Hissop tradition, Henry attended Eton and then Oxford. When he was eleven years old, his younger sister Isobel was born. With her mother's pristine good looks, she became the baby of the family and Henry doted on her. Due to their father's aloof bearing, she came to view her elder brother as a paternal figure. He grew closer to Anne in later childhood, as she matured and softened her previously icy demeanour towards him. She married in the spring of 1778 to Nathaniel Petty, 3rd Earl of Whitby.
Illness
In Henry's first year at Oxford in 1782, he was gravely ill with a kidney infection (pyelonephritis), which was treated according to the medical procedures of the time. The infection lasted for around two months and recovery was extremely slow. Though he was returned to full health, the infection is the cause of his infertility. Though contemporary doctors are unable to confirm the causation, Henry fears (quite rightly) that his adolescent illness is the cause of his continuing childlessness.
First marriage
In the spring of 1785, due to the financial instability in France leading up to the French Revolution, Henry neglected Paris, the traditional first stop, during his Grand Tour. However, he did visit Versailles for a short time, to honour his great-grandfather's continuing legacy in the French Court. (Edward, the 2nd Duke, was a notoriously profligate gambler and frequent attendant in the court of Louis XIV.) The countries and regions he visited include Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Holland, and Flanders. He travelled with a large retinue of servants as well as a bear-leader, one of his tutors from university. He returned to England in the autumn of 1786, upon which the Duchess surprised him with the plans she'd concocted for his marriage. She desired that he marry the daughter of one of her childhood friends: Lady Margaret Eglinton (b. 2 June 1770, d. 12 December 1792), daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Abercrombie.
Henry had known Margaret since childhood, as she had often visited St Elvan during the summer with her parents and siblings. A very pretty and charming girl, she rather liked the idea of becoming a duchess and he, knowing that he would be chased by all the Matchmaking Mamas of the haut ton, was thankful that he could avoid the fuss with an early engagement. The Duchess of Pennington and the Marchioness of Abercrombie were delighted with the success of their plan and organised frequent meetings so their children could become better acquainted with their future spouses. To the mothers' absolute ecstasy, Henry and Margaret did slowly begin to fall in love. She had a serene disposition and could coax him out of his bad moods; in return, he was devoted to making her happy. They were married 12 August 1787, at the end of Margaret's début season. She made her presentation at St James and then spent the rest of the season as an engaged woman, frequently attending functions on Henry's arm (to the ire of many other débutantes).
The newlyweds settled happily in St Elvan and did not frequent London, as Margaret disliked city life. Although there was some uneasiness about her seeming inability to conceive, they were so in love it did not seem to matter and they felt they had all the time in the world to become parents. Perhaps their optimism tempted fate, for in the third year of their marriage she began to have excruciating headaches and seizures. The best doctors were called in to tend Lady St Elvan, but her strange illness worsened drastically: she began experiencing uncharacteristic forgetfulness, partial vision and hearing loss, intense dizziness, hallucinations, and frequent vomiting for no reason. Contemporary medical practise was unable to diagnose her disease, which is perhaps a small blessing, for she had a primary, high-grade malignant brain tumour which would have been treated with lobotomy had it been discovered. She died 12 December 1792, at which time she had been bedridden for almost two years. Henry was heartbroken and was further devastated when his father died 31 January 1793, making him the 5th Duke of Pennington. He never was close with his father, but his death so soon after his wife's was overwhelming at such an unfortunate time. However, in the dark days that followed, he forged an unexpectedly strong friendship with his previously distant stepmother Eleanor that lasted until her death.
End of mourning
Though Henry was sufficiently depressed to stay at St Elvan for the rest of his life, he did his duty for his younger sister Lady Isobel, who débuted in 1795. He was not prepared for the many girls chasing after the new duke; he assumed (wrongly) that the recent death of his wife would put many off out of respect. Though he was always on his best behaviour with Isobel, he became increasingly sullen and close-mouthed without Margaret's placating influence. Isobel had two seasons; by the end of the second she was engaged to Simon Asquith, second son of the 3rd Baron Wolvercote. It was a headstrong and idealistic love match. They were married in spring 1798 and Henry gladly returned to St Elvan permanently. He began an affair with his groundskeeper's widowed sister; his suspicions about infertility were confirmed when she never conceived during their year-long dalliance. (Eventually remarried to an innkeeper in the town of Cambridge, she was the first of a handful of long-term mistresses.) The Dowager Duchess and his father's sisters were determined that he remarry and often forced him to accompany them to urban locations where they strategically met friends' daughters. In his unwillingness to flirt, he developed a reputation for being rather ungallant.
His sister Lady Isobel Asquith died 16 December 1799 while giving birth to twins (a boy and girl who thankfully survived). Henry and the Dowager Duchess were grief-stricken and Anne, Countess of Whitby, left her family for a month to return to her childhood home, to do what she could to console her family.
Second marriage
By 1804, the din from his stepmother and aunts had become deafening. By Christmas of that year, he had sent along orders for Pennington House in London, which had long stood empty of its aristocratic inhabitants, to be ordered for his arrival in town for the 1805 season. He was unromantic in his approach. Immediately making it known that he was looking to remarry upon entering town, he considered only whichever girl would become the Incomparable. He proposed to the clear frontrunner, Lady Viola Fitzgerald, who rejected him. He then proposed to Miss Dancy, her rival, who accepted. They married on 27 August 1805.
Although he greatly prefers the countryside, the Hissops have of recent years lived primarily in town, as Julia loves being in society. They have an unhappy marriage, mostly stemming from their childless state. Contrary to rumours, since his remarriage he has not kept a mistress and has strayed from fidelity only a few times over the years (mostly when drunk), though his wife tends to believe the worst.
For more details on this topic, see this article.
Present
Currently, Henry spends much of his time at his clubs (White's and Brooks's) and expends most of his mental faculties on the problems of the House of Lords, though he rarely speaks. His power lies in a staggering three pocket boroughs in addition to his seat, making him one of the most influential backbench aristocrats. He vaguely identifies as a Whig.
Unbeknownst to his wife, Henry has spent considerable sums locating his heir presumptive. In January 1811, a private detective located him: Dominic Hissop, a second cousin once removed. Dominic is the great-grandson of Henry's grandfather's younger brother. Henry, despite his reservations, has sent a letter informing him that he is the next duke and expressing encouragement that he might visit England depending on mutual future convenience. He still hasn't told Julia. Mr Hissop arrived early May 1811, complicating the Duke's life. (This is an understatement.) At this point, Henry is so done with life and wants everyone to stop shouting and to leave him alone.