Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet

Sir Lionel Tollemache (bpt April 25, 1624 - bur March 25, 1669) 3rd Baronet of Helmingham was the head of a powerful East Anglian family whose seat was Helmingham Hall in Suffolk. He was the son of Sir Lionel Tollemache, 2nd Baronet and Elizabeth Stanhope, an heiress of Lord Harrington.

Around 1647 Tollemache married Elizabeth Murray, the daughter of William, first Earl of Dysart and 'whipping boy' to King Charles I. He and his wife, who were both fervent royalists, moved to her house at Ham in Surrey, which in due course became a centre for the activities of the Sealed Knot. Together they were in contact with Charles Stuart, later Charles II, then in exile on the continent. Rather surprisingy however, Elizabeth was also said to be on very good terms with the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, leading to claims that he was the real father of some of her children.

Tollemache appears to have been plagued with ill-health throughout much of his life. Augustus Hare, in "The Story of My Life" (1900) suggested that this was as a result of his being slowly poisoned by his wife, who had used up his fortune turning Ham House into a grand palace and now needed new sources of income with which to pay off her creditors. There is no evidence to back up such a claim however and it must be seen that Elizabeth's reputation has suffered from its subsequent association with that of her second husband, John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, whom it was said she charmed even as her husband 's health deteriorated. Tollemache travelled to France in search of cures for his debilitating sickness, but died in Paris.

Sir Lionel and Lady Dysart had eleven children, five of whom survived to adulthood:

*His eldest son Lionel inherited the Earldom of Dysart on his mother's death in 1698.

*His daughter Elizabeth married Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll.

*Catherine Tollemache married James Stewart, Lord Doune and secondly John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland.

*Thomas Tollemache, Lieutenant-General, abandoned the family's devotion to the House of Stuart and became a key supporter of William of Orange.

*William Tollemache was a captain in the Royal Navy.

External links

* [http://www.helmingham.com/index.asp Helmingham Hall homepage]
* [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hamhouse.htm Ham House homepage]
* [http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/tt/tollemache1.htm Tollemache family tree]