Policies and Polkas -Norwich Union’s Dancing Directors and their Descendants
On the anniversary of Marie Antoinette’s birth I’m sharing a series of blogs I wrote for the Explore Your Archive campaign. The blogs explore the many links between Norwich Union and a family of Norwich dancing masters called Noverre who in turn had a link to the beheaded French queen.
I’m hoping that through these blogs I can share the journey of discovery I went on as I delved into our archive in search of the name Noverre.
It all started with a pamphlet.
As you can see, the pamphlet appears to have been a sort of early junk mail, perhaps delivered to all the houses within a certain area of Norwich. The pamphlets may have been targeted at the homes of those insuring with the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society, which would have been identifiable through the fire marks attached to the outside of the buildings.
Norwich Union customers may well have been the intended recipients as the pamphlet gives details of a meeting in July 1818 about perceived irregularities in the way the society was being run. One of the main thrusts of the argument was that those listed as Trustees, illustrious names such as The Dukes of Somerset, Beaufort and Argyll…
…whose involvement was intended to inspire confidence in the society, were actually not engaged in running the business at all. What caught the eye of a researcher in the archive was this…
… that the Earl of Craven had allowed his name to be used at the request of his family dancing master who was one of the directors of the society. On the following page, listed under the heading ‘directors’, Francis Noverre of Norwich, Gentleman has a little asterisk by his name…
…which identifies him as the dancing master in question. A quick search of the internet served to straighten out the relationship between Noverre and the Earl of Craven, the two were in fact brother-in-laws, and also added intriguing colour to the link between Norwich Union and the Norwich dancing master.
Francis Noverre was no ordinary dance master; his credentials to undertake such a career were impeccable. His uncle, Jean-Georges Noverre, was a famous dancer reputed to have taught dance to Marie Antoinette and described by theatrical impresario David Garrick as “the Shakespeare of the dance”. Considered by many as the creator of ballet d’action, Jean-Georges is of such importance in the world of dance that his birthday, 29th April, has been adopted as International Dance Day.
Francis’ father, Augustin, was also a dancer of some repute and was described in his obituary as “the most finished, elegant and gentlemanly minuet dancer that ever appeared.” The family’s first links to Norwich are thought to have been forged when Augustin fled to the city in 1755 believing, incorrectly, that he had killed an anti-French protestor who had jumped on to the stage at Drury Lane to attack him while he and his brother were performing.
I was determined to find out more about the family and its links to Norwich Union and my search for the Noverres began. As is often the case with archive research my detective work found both more evidence of their activities than I could have possibly hoped for and tantalising gaps in the records which left many questions unanswered. To find out what I discovered you’ll have to read my next blog.
