Elizabeth Jervis (sometimes written Jarvis) was born 4
February 1689, in the village of Great Peatling in Leicestershire. (I will be
using her nickname, Tetty, throughout this post) According to Kate Chisholm’s
book Wits & Wives: Dr Johnson in the company of women: ‘The Jervis
family were gentleman-farmers, owning their land, from which they made enough
money to send both of Tetty’s brothers to boarding school.’ When Tetty was
26, she married Henry (Harry) Porter. They went on to have a daughter, Lucy and
two sons, Jervis and Joseph. The family lived in Birmingham, and through several
connections they one day entertained a young, skinny and strange-looking Samuel
Johnson. However, appearances can be deceptive and when he started talking
everyone listened, he had a way with words. Tetty said to Lucy ‘This is the
most sensible man I ever saw in my life.’ In September 1734 Tetty’s first
husband died and she went on to marry Johnson on 9th July 1735. Her
second husband was in his twenties, and she was in her forties. There was much
gossip surrounding the pair due to their age difference. For some reason, it
seemed inconceivable to people that the couple had simply fallen in love. Johnson later described their relationship as ‘a love match on both sides.’ Unfortunately,
only one of Tetty’s children, Lucy, remained on good terms with her after the
wedding.
Portrait of Samuel Johnson. by William Doughty after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1779. Victoria & Albert Museum, London. DYCE.2881
Johnson had yet to ‘make it’ and the pair used Tetty’s money
to fund a school at Edial. In March 1737, Johnson went to London to look for
work, after the school was deemed unsuccessful. Tetty stayed behind with his
mother and helped her run the bookshop at his childhood home in Lichfield, now The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum & Bookshop. The two were later reunited when Johnson brought his wife to
London, a place he adored. His wife however, is said to have disliked the capital.
The two had very little money and Johnson was never at home; it must have been
very lonely for her. Even when Johnson did start making money, she was often
left alone while he worked, explored the city, and socialised/made connections.
After being ill for some time, Tetty died on 18th
March 1752. She was buried at St Peter & St Pauls Parish Church, Bromley. Unfortunately,
she never saw her husband finish his dictionary. However, she did read some of
his Rambler editions in the days before she died, and Johnson told James Boswell that
she said to him, “I thought very well of you before; but I did
not imagine you could have written anything equal to this.” He found her
death heart-breaking and couldn’t even bear to organise or attend her funeral.
Johnson never re-married. He kept her wedding-ring in a little wooden box for the rest of his life. He also stayed on good terms with his stepdaughter
Lucy, and they continued to correspond.
Photo taken by me at The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum & Bookshop, Lichfield. Information about the ring here
None of Tetty’s letters survives, therefore we are unable to read her perspective or gauge her personality. There is a surviving letter from Johnson to Tetty and we also have some of Johnson’s journal entries, which were written after the death of his wife: 'March 28, 1769. I kept this day as the anniversary of my Tetty's death, with prayer and tears in the morning. In the evening I prayed for her conditionally…’ And on Easter Day 1778, ‘Poor Tetty…Whatever were our faults and failings, we loved each other - Could'st thou have lived!' These deeply personal inner thoughts show his sadness at her passing. She clearly meant a great deal to him.
There are very few reliable descriptions of Tetty. Many
of Johnson’s friends never met her and therefore came to their own conclusions about
her, as did some of the biographers of the time. One of the few accounts we
have is from the great 18th century actor David Garrick, who described
her “as [being] very fat, with a bosom of more than ordinary
pro-tuberance, with swelled cheeks of a florid red, produced by thick painting,
and increased by the liberal use of cordials; Alaring and fantastick in her
dress, and affected both in her speech and her general behaviour.” However,
Boswell writes in his Life of Johnson that he probably ‘…aggravated the
picture’. Garrick would also perform a comedic sketch of Tetty for his
friends. He was a larger-than-life character who enjoyed mimicking people to
get a laugh, so it is likely that he somewhat exaggerated his portrayal of her.
But sadly, Garrick’s harsh description and skit still come to mind whenever she
is mentioned, due to a lack of further information. Of course, it is entirely possible that her appearance and behaviour changed over time, so perhaps there is some grain of truth. William Shaw wrote that Tetty began drinking 'and, some say, [taking] opium.' She may have begun drinking and taking opium due to unhappiness or perhaps to dull the pain of a poorly leg she suffered from and then the illness that led to her death.
Mrs. Samuel Johnson by Marie Verelst, Circa 1735, Hyde Collection at the Houghton Library, *2003JM-8.
So, what did Tetty really look like? Hester Thrale, wrote that 'Mr Johnson has told
me that her hair was eminently beautiful, quite blonde like that of a baby; but
that she fretted about the colour, and was always desirous to dye it black,
which he very judiciously hindered her from doing.’ The portrait above is
by Marie Verelst, it was painted circa 1735, and resides in the Hyde Collection
at the Houghton Library. There is also a portrait below, at The Samuel Johnson
Birthplace Museum & Bookshop in Lichfield, which was painted after Marie Verelst’s
portrait by an unknown artist. These paintings portray a very different woman to Garrick’s unflattering
recounting of her.
Photo taken by me at The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum & Bookshop in Lichfield. Information about this portrait: here
We don’t know much about Tetty Johnson as a person. Shaw tells us that she enjoyed reading, like her husband. I don't think that Johnson could have married someone who wasn't interested in words! And in Kate Chisholm’s book Wits & Wives: Dr Johnson in the company of women, the author tells us how Hester Thrale once asked Johnson if he had ever disputed with his wife, to which he replied, 'Perpetually,' 'My wife had a particular reverence for cleanliness, and desired the praise of neatness in her dress and furniture, as many ladies do, till they become troublesome to their best friends, slaves to their own besoms, and only sigh for the hour of sweeping their husbands out of the house as dirt, and useless lumber.' Tetty apparently jokingly replied to her grumpy husband: 'But, Sir, a clean floor is so comfortable!'
Without any surviving written sources from the woman herself, and very few descriptions, Tetty remains somewhat of a mystery to us. It is very frustrating that we don’t have more
information about her. However, I like to think the well known phrase 'Behind every great man, there is a great woman', could be used to describe Tetty Johnson!
References:
Life of Johnson by James Boswell
Wits & Wives: Dr Johnson in the company of women by Kate Chisholm’s
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