Talk:Margaret Hughes

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Note[edit]

I see some obvious errors in this biographical article about Margaret Hughes. Some of the key biographical dates are reported inconsistently. Example: Her date of birth is reported to be in the year 1630. Then shortly after, the article states: "Margaret Hughes was born in the late 1650s." Similarly, her year of death is reported as being 1685, but then later 1719. And one last obvious chronology error -- the article says Margaret Hughes met Prince Rupert in 1868. Besides the problem this presents of her meeting someone after her reported death, whether in 1685 or 1719, there is also the dubious fact that this would have her meeting Rupert when she was well over 200 years old. Something's really chronologically awry in this article. I would add corrections, but I do not have that information nor any reliable source material readily on hand.

Janetwikione 20:26, 10 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I edited out recent additions that were clearly contradictory—if Hughes had been born in the late 1650s, she would have been a toddler when she appeared onstage in 1660. Ugajin 06:01, 11 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Expansion...[edit]

I've added a bit more in places, and put in a couple of relevant pictures. On the question of Hughes' death, all the references I came across stated 1719 so I've gone for that; I couldn't find any reference to confirm her date of birth.

Hchc2009 (talk) 19:34, 2 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Morganatic marriage?[edit]

Hughes is described as Prince Rupert's "morganatic wife," however elsewhere it is stated that the couple were never married. I don't have Spencer (the reference cited for this sentence) to hand but an online search turns up eg this and this which both mention a relationship but no marriage. Can someone comment on whether Spencer asserts that they were married? GoldenRing (talk) 04:16, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Spencer volume being referred to in this article is the one listed in the bibliography, which gives the full details of the volume (ISBN 9780753824016 if that helps). The sentence you've highlighted about "morganic marriage" isn't actually referenced though; the citation is attached to the following sentence. I've added a citation needed tag. Hchc2009 (talk) 06:34, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Commented out image may not be of Hughes[edit]

Looking at the source for the image, it says "the identity of the sitter is uncertain" and more importantly doesn't give the identity as Margaret Hughes. Is there any reason to think that this is she? Wugapodes [t^hɔk] [ˈkan.ˌʧɻɪbz] 03:30, 10 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

According to Tate Gallery the previously used "Margareth Hughes" picture is "Portrait of an Unknown Woman c.1670–5" by Lely. According to Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University this is the painting of Margareth Hughes. Here on Wikipedia that corrent picture is however (mis)labeled as Frances Bard (c 1646-1708) by Peter Lely. Pavel Vozenilek (talk) 18:01, 11 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

- I have put the image back in. It's true that the portrait in question is named "Portrait of an Unknown Woman", but the Tate still seems to think that this is Margaret Hughes. (Not that that settles the question, of course.) The other portrait, ostensibly of Frances Bard -- I can't find any evidence that it isn't Frances Bard. We can't talk about "the" portrait of Hughes by Lely, because (allegedly) he painted her four times. He also painted Bard. Confusion is to be expected. I hope some expert comes along to straighten this all out. (JMHO: Ultimately, does it matter? Lely painted them all in a way that makes them look the same... ;-) 68.100.231.72 (talk) 02:42, 16 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Gaps[edit]

This article is purportedly a biography, but it seems to begin (other than her birth date) when its subject is about thirty years old (and begins with a discussion of the history of the stage), and the treatment of her later life is almost as scanty. The "Personal life" section is a description of her lovers. There is nothing about her parents, siblings, birthplace, schooling, etc. If these are unknown, the article should say so. Or perhaps this article needs to decide if it is a biography or an expostulation of the Restoration stage or a discussion of affairs. --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 14:58, 8 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]