Lady Ivie’s Audacious Quest for Shadwell

In 1684 a battle took place between two notorious figures in London over who had the best claim to a large part of Shadwell. Thomas Neale was a man-about-town and master of the King’s gaming tables; his opponent was Lady Ivie, an aristocratic heiress who had gained notoriety in a fight for alimony with her estranged husband, during which contest the sordid and salacious details of her disastrous marriage had been publicly aired. In a trial presided over by Hanging Judge Jeffreys, Ivie (the veritable Queen of Wapping who already possessed over 800 properties) challenged Neale for an area of land larger than the City of London. The stakes were high, very high. To the victor the spoils. The trial generated great public interest because, in a puritanical age where demur and pious women were cherished, Ivie’s aggressive and audacious pursuit of land made her exceptional and, for that alone, men were scathing of her. Fashionable attitudes towards women, with a husband’s superiority over his wife enshrined in law, meant a ‘humbling’ of Lady Ivie was the only outcome that would satisfy public expectation, at least the male half of it. This is the story of what led up to the trial and the aftermath - from previously unpublished sources.