A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Masham, Abigail
MASHAM, ABIGAIL,
Was the daughter of Mr. Hill, a wealthy merchant of London, who married the sister of Mr. Jennings, the father of the Duchess of Marlborough. The bankruptcy of her father obliged her to become the attendant of Lady Rivera, a baronet's lady, whence she removed into the service of her relative, then Lady Churchill, who procured her the place of waiting-maid to the Princess Anne. The maid retained her situation after her mistress ascended the throne, and gradually acquired considerable influence over her. Abigail Hill was not a woman of superior mind or attainments; but there were many points of sympathy between the queen and herself, which may account for the ascendency of this favourite. She possessed great powers of mimicry, and considerable taste in music, of which latter accomplishment the queen was very fond. She also favoured the tories, to which party the queen was secretly attached. Subjected for years to the violent and domineering temper of the Duchess of Marlborough, the queen turned naturally to the milder and more conciliating disposition of her maid in waiting for sympathy and repose; and she gradually superseded the duchess as favourite. In 1707, Abigail Hill married Mr. Masham, a man of ancient family, one of the pages of the court. This marriage was performed secretly, and in the presence of the queen. The Duchess of Marlborough, on learning these facts, gave way to such violence, that it severed finally the tie between herself and the queen; and in a short time she was deprived of all her offices and dignities at court. One of her situations, that of keeper of the privy-seal, was given to Mrs. Masham.
Mrs. Masham leagued herself with Harley and Bolingbroke, who were intriguing to remove the Duke of Marlborough and his adherents, and became an instrument in their hands. In 1711, a change of ministry took place, and Mr. Masham was raised to the peerage. Henceforward Lady Masham became involved in all the intrigues of the court, especially in those of the tories in favour of the exiled house of Stuart, which she warmly advocated. Attached to the cause of the Pretender, she was the medium of communication between the queen and her unfortunate young brother, in the latter part of her reign, when the succession was still uncertain, and when in her moments of vacillation and remorse she clung to the hope that her brother, by renouncing his religion, might succeed her.
Mrs. Masham's name occupies a prominent place in the political writings of those times, connected as she was with Swift, Arbuthnot, Bolingbroke, and other eminent men. Mrs. Masham was plain in appearance, and delicate in health. One of her personal traits was a remarkably red nose, furnishing the wits of the day with a constant subject at which to level their shafts. After the death of the queen, she lived in great retirement, and died at an advanced age. Her husband's title became extinct upon the death of her only son in 1776.