Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale

Infobox Person
name = Elizabeth Maitland
Duchess of Lauderdale
and 2nd Countess of Dysart


image_size = 200px
caption = Elizabeth Murray, by Sir Peter Lely, c.1648
birth_date = 1626
death_date = 5 June, 1698
death_place = Ham House, London
resting_place = Petersham, London
occupation = Peeress
nationality =
parents = William Murray, 1st Earl of Dysart (d. 1655) and Catherine Bruce (d. 1651)
spouse = (1) Sir Lionel Tollemache (1624-1669)
(2) John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale (1616-1682)
children = Eleven by first husband, including: Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Earl of Dysart (1649-1727)
Hon. Thomas Tollemache (c.1651-1694)

Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale and 2nd Countess of Dysart (bapt. 28 September, 1626 – 5 June, 1698) was a Scottish peeress.

Early life

Elizabeth was the eldest of five daughters of William Murray (later created Earl of Dysart) and his wife, Catherine, and was baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 28 September, 1626. About that time, her father (a close friend of Charles I) obtained Ham House from The Crown and the family soon moved there. Her father ensured she received an intellectual education and she was taught philosophy, history, divinity and mathematics as well as domestic skills.

At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, Elizabeth's father was sent to Scotland to liaise with royalists there, whilst her mother stayed at Ham to repel the Roundheads from sequestrating their property. These diversions from domestic life prevented Lord and Lady Dysart from arranging marriages for their daughters and so it was not until her early twenties, that Lady Elizabeth's future was addressed.

Lady Elizabeth's father wished to marry her to the learned (yet poor) Sir Robert Moray, but she was instead engaged to Sir Lionel Tollemache, Bt., a rich landowner. They married in 1648 and eventually had eleven children.

Espionage

After their wedding, Lady Elizabeth was expected to settle down to domestic life but instead held court at Ham after her mother's death in 1649. She also claimed to have held correspondence with John Lauderdale, 2nd Earl of Lauderdale, a Presbyterian Scot, at that time.

One of Lady Elizabeth's regular guests at Ham was Oliver Cromwell, who friendship was useful in providing a cover for her own royalist activities. In 1653, she became an active member of the Sealed Knot, a secret, royalist organisation, and she carried coded correspondence of the supporters of the exiled Charles II between the continent and home. Her husband, who stayed out of politics, tried to disuade her from travelling back and forth to the continent, but she paid no heed.

In 1655, Lady Elizabeth inherited her father's titles, becoming Countess of Dysart and Lady Huntingtower. In 1659, her husband's house, Helmingham Hall, became a rallying point for royalists who were rejoicing at the death of Oliver Cromwell and the disintegration of the government of his son and short-lived successor, Richard. Following the Restoration a year later, the king awarded the countess with an annual pension of £800.

Re-marriage

In 1668, Sir Lionel went to Paris to receive treamtment for ill-health but died in January, 1669. Lauderdale, by now Secretary of State for Scotland, was one of the first people to go to Ham to offer his condolences to Lady Dysart. His own wife, Anna, was ill and his visits to Ham became more frequent and Lady Dysart was believed to have become his mistress at this time. Lauderdale and his wife then separated and she went to Paris to live in a house that he rented for her and paid a large allowance to her on condition that she never return to Britain. Anna died in November, 1671 and less than four months later in February, 1672, Lauderdale and Lady Dysart married. Despite the brief ensuing court scandal, Lauderdale was created a duke the following May.

Later years

The new duchess then used her influences to further her husband's career. They lived extravagant lives and renovated Ham House and Lauderdale's new Scottish residence, Thirlestane Castle. Lauderdale eventually fell from grace after suffering a stroke in 1680 and he died at Royal Tunbridge Wells two years later. The duchess then began legal proceedings for Lauderdale's brother, Charles (who inherited the earldom, but not the dukedom of Lauderdale), to pay her husband's debts and funeral expenses. Elderly and arthritic, the duchess seldom left Ham in her final years and died there in 1698 and was buried at Petersham.

Titles from birth to death

*1626 – 3 August, 1643: Elizabeth Murray
*3 August, 1643 – 1648: Lady Elizabeth Murray
*1648 – 22 May, 1651: Lady Elizabeth Tollemache
*22 May, 1651 – 1 May, 1672: "The Right Honourable" The Countess of Dysart
*1 May, 1672 – 5 June, 1698: "Her Grace" The Duchess of Lauderdale

ources

*Rosalind K. Marshall, "Murray , Elizabeth, duchess of Lauderdale and suo jure countess of Dysart (bap. 1626, d. 1698)", [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19601 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] , Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 22 October, 2007