Maurice George Bisset

Maurice George Bisset (1757–1821) is famous for his involvement in the highly scandalous court case in Britain involving Seymour Dorothy Fleming and Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet. He had an affair with Seymour Worsley during her marriage to Richard, and they had a child together (Jane Seymour Worsley), whom Richard claimed to be his own to avoid scandal.

James Gillray cartoon - "Sir Richard Worse-than-sly, exposing his wife's bottom; - o fye!"

Life

Maurice George Bisset was born in 1757 to Rev. Alexander Bisset. He was a captain in the South Hampshire militia. Bisset had been Worsley's close friend and neighbour at Knighton Gorges on the Isle of Wight. He fathered a child by Seymour in August 1781, and in November 1781 they ran away together so Seymour could escape her failing marriage with Richard. However, they were discovered. In February 1782, Worsley brought a criminal conversation case for £20,000 (2015: £2,220,000) against Bisset. Seymour was rumoured to have 27 lovers, and turned the case against Richard as it was made obvious that he consented and even encouraged the relationship between Bisset and Seymour. This testimony destroyed Worsley's suit and the jury awarded him only one shilling (2015: £5.54) in damages.

However, Seymour could not get a divorce from Richard, only a separation, meaning she could not remarry until he died. Because of this, Bisset eventually left Seymour, and went on to marry Harriat Mordaunt in 1787. They had at least two children together, including a daughter named Jane Harriot Fenwick. He died in 1821, aged around 64.

Welsh actor Aneurin Barnard played Bisset in the 2015 BBC2 television film The Scandalous Lady W, based upon Hallie Rubenhold's book Lady Worsley's Whim.

References
  • Richard WORSLEY (Right Hon. Sir); Maurice George BISSET; Robert Pye DONKIN (1782). The Trial with the Whole of the Evidence, Between the Right Hon. Sir R. W. ... Plaintiff and G. M. Bissett, Defendant, for Criminal Conversation ... Taken in Shorthand by R. P. Donkin ... Fifth Edition. pp. 10–.
  • Regina Hewitt; Pat Rogers (2002). Orthodoxy and Heresy in Eighteenth-century Society: Essays from the DeBartolo Conference. Bucknell University Press. pp. 86–. ISBN 978-0-8387-5501-3.
  • Susan Mitchell Sommers (6 October 2015). Thomas Dunckerley and English Freemasonry. Routledge. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-1-317-32047-0.
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