Lola Montez


Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Gräfin von Landsfeld. At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, she was forced to flee. She proceeded to the United States via Austria, Switzerland, France and London, to return to her work as an entertainer and lecturer.

Biography

Early life

Eliza Rosanna Gilbert was born into an Anglo-Irish family, the daughter of Ensign Edward Gilbert and Elizabeth Oliver, who was the daughter of Charles Silver Oliver, a former High Sheriff of Cork and member of Parliament for Kilmallock (Parliament of [Ireland constituency)|Kilmallock] in County Limerick, Ireland. Their residence was the former Castle Oliver, which stood a thousand yards to the south-west of the current castle by the same name. In December 1818, Eliza's parents met when Gilbert arrived with the 25th Regiment. They were married on 29 April 1820, and Eliza was born the following February, in the village of Grange in the north of County Sligo, refuting persistent rumours that her mother was pregnant with her at the time of the wedding. The family resided at King House in Boyle, County Roscommon, until early 1823, when they journeyed to Liverpool, England, and later departed for India on 14 March.
Published reports of Eliza's birthdate differ. For many years, it was accepted that she was born in Limerick, as she herself claimed, possibly on 23 June 1818; this is the year that was graven on her headstone. But when her baptismal certificate came to light in the late 1990s, it was established that Eliza Rosanna Gilbert was born in Grange, County Sligo, in Connacht, Ireland, on 17 February 1821. At the time of her birth, all of Ireland was part of the United [Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]. She was baptised at St. Peter's Church in Liverpool on 16 February 1823, while her family was en route to her father's post in India.
Shortly after their arrival in India, Edward Gilbert died of cholera. Her mother, who was then 19, married Lieutenant Patrick Craigie the next year. Craigie quickly came to care for the young Eliza, but her spoiled and half-wild ways concerned him greatly. Eventually, it was agreed she would be sent back to Britain to attend school, staying with Craigie's father in Montrose, Scotland. But the "queer, wayward little Indian girl" rapidly became known as a mischief-maker. On one occasion, she stuck flowers into the wig of an elderly man during a church service; on another, she ran through the streets naked.
At the age of ten, Eliza was moved again—this time to Sunderland, England, where her stepfather's older sister, Catherine Rae, set up a boarding school in Monkwearmouth with her husband. Eliza continued her education there. Her determination and temper became her trademarks. Her stay in Sunderland lasted only a year, as she was then transferred to a school in Camden Place, Bath, for a more sophisticated education.
In 1837, 16-year-old Eliza eloped with Lieutenant Thomas James. The couple separated five years later, in Calcutta, India, and she became a professional dancer under a stage name.
When she had her London debut as "Lola Montez, the Spanish dancer" in June 1843, she was recognised as "Mrs. James". The resulting notoriety hampered her career in England, so she departed for the continent, where she had success in Paris and Warsaw. At this time, she was almost certainly accepting favours from a few wealthy men, and was regarded by many as a courtesan.

Life as a courtesan

In 1844, Eliza, now known as Lola Montez, made a personally disappointing Parisian stage debut as a dancer in Fromental Halévy's opera Le lazzarone. She met and had an affair with Franz Liszt, who introduced her to the circle of George Sand. After performing in various European capitals, she settled in Paris, where she was accepted into the city's literary bohemia, becoming acquainted with Alexandre Dumas, with whom she was also rumoured to have had a dalliance. In Paris she met, "owner of the newspaper with the highest circulation in France, and also the newspaper's drama critic". Through their romance, Montez revitalised her career as a dancer. Later, after the two had their first quarrel over Montez's attendance at a party, Dujarrier attended the party and, in a drunken state, offended. When Dujarrier was challenged to a duel by de Beauvallon, Dujarrier was shot and killed.
In 1846, Montez arrived in Munich, where she was discovered by and became the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. There was a rumour that when they first met, Ludwig asked her in public if her breasts were real. Her response to the question was to tear off enough of her garments to prove that they were. She soon began to use her influence on the king and this, coupled with her arrogant manner and outbursts of temper, made her extremely unpopular with the Bavarian people. Despite opposition, Ludwig made her Countess of Landsfeld and Baroness of Rosenthal on his next birthday, 25 August 1847, and along with her title, he granted her a large annuity.
For more than a year, Montez exercised great political power, which she directed in favour of liberalism, anti-Catholicism, and in attacks against the Jesuits. Her ability to manipulate the king was so great that the Minister of State, Karl von Abel, was dismissed because he and his entire cabinet had objected to her being granted Bavarian nationality and the title of countess. The students at Munich University were divided in their sympathies, and conflicts arose shortly before the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848, which led the king, at Montez's insistence, to close the university.
In March 1848, under pressure from a growing revolutionary movement, the university was reopened, Ludwig abdicated in favor of his son, King Maximilian II, and Montez fled Bavaria, ending her career as a power behind the throne. It seems likely that Ludwig's relationship with Montez contributed greatly to his forced abdication despite his previous popularity.
After a sojourn in Switzerland, where she waited in vain for Ludwig to join her, Montez made a brief excursion to France and then removed to London in late 1848. There she met and quickly married George Trafford Heald, a young army cornet with a recent inheritance. But the terms of her divorce from Thomas James did not permit either spouse's remarriage while the other was living, and the beleaguered newlyweds were forced to flee the country to escape a bigamy action brought by Heald's scandalised maiden aunt. The Healds resided for a time in France and Spain, but within two years the tempestuous relationship was in tatters. George survived a reported drowning in Lisbon in 1853, but died three years later from tuberculosis. Meanwhile, in 1851 Montez set off to make a new start in the United States, where she was surprisingly successful at first in rehabilitating her image.

American career

From 1851 to 1853, Montez performed as a dancer and actress in the eastern United States, one of her offerings being a play called Lola Montez in Bavaria. In May 1853, she arrived in San Francisco, where her performances created a sensation and inspired a popular satire, Who's Got the Countess? She married Patrick Hull, a local newspaperman, in July and moved to Grass Valley, California, in August. Her marriage soon failed; a doctor named as in the divorce suit brought against her was murdered shortly thereafter.
Montez remained in Grass Valley for nearly two years. Her restored residence is California Historical Landmark No. 292. She inspired another aspiring young entertainer, Lotta Crabtree, whose parents ran a boarding house in Grass Valley. Montez, a neighbour, provided dancing lessons and encouraged Lotta's enthusiasm for performance.

Australia tour

In June 1855, Montez left the U.S. to tour Australia and resume her career by entertaining miners at the gold diggings. She arrived in Sydney on 16 August 1855.
Historian Michael Cannon writes, "in September 1855 she performed her erotic Spider Dance at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne, raising her skirts so high that the audience could see she wore no underclothing at all. Next day, The Argus thundered that her performance was 'utterly subversive to all ideas of public morality'. Respectable families ceased to attend the theatre, which began to show heavy losses."
Montez earned further notoriety in Ballarat when, after reading a bad review of her performance in The Ballarat Times, she attacked the editor, Henry Seekamp, with a whip. Although the "Lola Montes Polka" is rumoured to have been inspired by this event, the song was published in 1855 and the incident with Seekamp occurred in February 1856. At Castlemaine in April 1856, she was "rapturously encored" after her Spider Dance in front of 400 diggers, but drew the wrath of the audience after insulting them following some mild heckling.
She departed for San Francisco on 22 May 1856. On the return voyage her manager and purported lover was lost at sea after going overboard.

Later life in the U.S.

Montez failed in her attempts at a theatrical comeback in various U.S. cities, but found a new profession as a lecturer, appearing in the U.S., Britain, and Ireland and speaking on a variety of topics, including "The Comic Aspects of Love" and "Wits and Women of Paris". In 1857, she arranged to deliver a series of moral lectures in Britain and America written by Charles Chauncey Burr. She also found some success as a writer, beginning with the publication of her letters, which were well-received enough for her to write and publish The Arts of Beauty, or Secrets of a Lady's Toilet, with Hints to Gentlemen on the Art of Fascinating. She spent her last days in rescue work among women, which included working with women who had been prostitutes but were trying to leave the profession. In November 1859, The Philadelphia Press reported that Montez was:
living very quietly up town, and doesn't have much to do with the world's people. Some of her old friends, the Bohemians, now and then drop in to have a little chat with her, and though she talks beautifully of her present feelings and way of life, she generally, by way of parenthesis, takes out her little tobacco pouch and makes a cigarette or two for self and friend, and then falls back upon old times with decided gusto and effect. But she doesn't tell anybody what she's going to do.

Burial

Reports of Montez's death vary, with contradictions among sources about both the cause and the year of her death. One source claims that by 1860, Montez was showing tertiary effects of syphilis and her body had begun to waste away. Another says she died of syphilis at age 39 on 17 January 1861 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, where her tombstone erroneously lists her age at death as 42, reading "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert | Died 17 January 1861 | Æ. 42". A third source says Montez died of pneumonia at the age of 40.

In popular culture

Fiction

Film and television

Stage and music

  • "Whatever Lola Wants" is a popular song, sometimes rendered as "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets". The music and words were written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross for the 1955 musical play Damn Yankees. The song is sung to Joe Hardy by Lola, the Devil's assistant, a part originated by Gwen Verdon, who reprised the role in the film. The saying was inspired by Montez. Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_Lola_Wants
  • Montez's time in the Australian goldfields was the subject of the musical Lola Montez staged in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney in 1958 starring Mary Preston. A recording of the musical was released on LP in 1958.
  • Trestle Theatre Company created a 2008 production titled Lola about the life of Montez.
  • Musician Joanna Newsom's title track on the 2010 album Have One on Me is about Montez.
  • Danish metal band Volbeat's song "Lola Montez" is on its 2013 album Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies. The lyrics reference Montez's spider dance and the incident with Henry Seekamp.
  • Lola Montez appears as a non-singing character in John Adams's opera Girls of the Golden West, performing the Spider Dance for miners in a California gold rush mining camp. In the 2017 San Francisco premiere, the role was played by Lorena Feijóo.
  • The song Lola Montez Danced The Spider Dance appears on Cass McCombs's 2025 album Interior Live Oak.

Historical Account

  • Montez appears briefly in Mary Seacole's autobiographical ''The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands.''

Places