Ancestral Trails 2016 » Elizabeth PERCY (-1722)

Personal data Elizabeth PERCY 

• She was born on January 26, 1666/67 in Petworth House, Petworth, Sussex.Source 1
• She was baptized on January 29, 1665/66 in Petworth, Sussex.Source 2
• She died on November 24, 1722 in Northumberland House, The Strand, London, Middlesex, she was 56 years old.
• A child of Joceline PERCY and Elizabeth WRIOTHESLEY

Household of Elizabeth PERCY

(1) She is married to Charles SEYMOUR.

They got married in the year 1682, she was 15 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Algernon SEYMOUR  1684-1749 
2. Elizabeth SEYMOUR  1685-1734
3. Catherine SEYMOUR  1693-1731 

(2) She is married to Henry Percy CAVENDISH.

They got married in the year 1679, she was 12 years old.

(3) She is married to Thomas THYNNE.

They got married on November 15, 1681, she was 15 years old.

Notes about Elizabeth PERCY

Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Somerset (26 January 1667 - 24 November 1722), major heiress, was born Lady Elizabeth Percy, the only surviving child of the 11th Earl of Northumberland and deemed Baroness Percy in her own right. She carried the earldom of Northumberland to her son Algernon. Lady Elizabeth was one of the closest personal friends of Queen Anne, which led Jonathan Swift to direct at her one of his sharpest satires, The Windsor Prophecy in which she was named "Carrots."

She married firstly, Henry Cavendish, Earl of Ogle, the heir of the 2nd Duke of Newcastle on 27 March 1679, but he died the following year.

She married secondly, Thomas Thynne, known as "Tom of Ten Thousand" due to his great wealth, a relative of the 1st Viscount Weymouth, on 15 November 1681. He was murdered the following February by Swedish Count Karl Johann von Königsmark, using a gang, after gossip said her marriage was unhappy and Königsmark began to pursue her. For the rest of her life her enemies spread the story that she had incited the murder. The actual murderers were hanged, but Königsmark was acquitted of being an accessory to the crime, despite widespread public feeling against him.

Five months after the death of Thomas Thynne she married on 30 May 1682 Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and so became Duchess of Somerset. She was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Anne from 1710 to 1714. The marriage is said to have been unhappy: while she brought the Duke great wealth, it was said that she received neither affection nor gratitude in return.

The Duke and Duchess were among the Queen's oldest friends, with whom she had taken refuge in 1692 after a violent quarrel with William III and Mary. LIke Marlborough before him, Somerset used his wife's position as confidante to advance his career. Both of them became the target of violent verbal attacks, especially from Swift who hoped to influence the Queen through Abigail Masham, the obvious rival for the position of confidante. Apparently against Mrs. Masham's wishes he published a violent diatribe, The Windsor Prophecy, against the Duchess, referred to as "Carrots" (a common nickname derived from the Duchess' red hair). Swift explicitly accused the Duchess of having conspired to murder her second husband, and wildly suggested that she might poison the Queen "I have been told, they assassin when young and poison when old". The Queen was outraged; always a bad enemy to make, from then on she refused to consider Swift for preferment to a bishopric: even his appointment as Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was made against her strongly expressed wishes (she did not have power to veto it). Ignoring the gossip, she insisted on retaining the Duchess in her household.

The Duke's pride and arrogance eventually wore out the Queen's patience and he was dismissed from his court offices early in 1712. The Queen's doctor, Sir David Hamilton, advised her to keep the Duchess in her service "for her own quiet", and the Queen agreed. The Duchess remained with the Queen to the end of Anne's life, by which time Lord Dartmouth described her as "much the greatest favourite". During the Queen's painful last days, Elizabeth's calm and soothing manner is said to have brought some comfort, whereas Mrs. Masham was in a state of hysterics.

Elizabeth's influence on the Queen, together with her colourful past, made her many enemies. Like her husband she seems to have been proud, although Lord Dartmouth called her "the best bred as well as the best born person in England". She showed great skill in dealing with the Queen, her secret, it was said, being never to press the Queen to do anything, in contrast to Abigail Masham who constantly asked for favours. She was known as a shrewd observer of Court life and a notorious gossip; even the Queen, who was fond of her, called her "one of the most observing, prying ladies in England".

Lady Elizabeth Percy brought immense estates to her husbands and in addition her residences: Alnwick Castle, Petworth House, Syon House and Northumberland House in London.

Lady Elizabeth had five children:

Charles, Earl of Hereford (baptized 22 March 1683-died before 26 Aug 1683)
Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset (11 November 1684 - 7 February 1749)
Lady Elizabeth Seymour (1685 - 2 April 1734)
Lady Catherine Seymour (1693 - 9 April 1731)
Lady Anne Seymour (1709 - 27 November 1722)
SOURCE: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Seymour,_Duchess_of_Somerset

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Timeline Elizabeth PERCY

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