Elizabeth Apsley, Lady Morton (died 1626) was an English courtier and a companion to

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Wi ...

Family and early life

She was the eldest daughter of Sir Edward Apsley (died 1620) of

Thakeham Thakeham's History Thakeham is a village and civil parish located north of the South Downs in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village is situated approximately 12 miles south-west of Horsham and 11 miles north of the sea-s ...

and

Warminghurst Warminghurst is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Thakeham, in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It lies on the Ashington to Heath Common road 2.4 miles (3.9 km) northeast of Storrington. In 1931 the pari ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and Elizabeth Elmes (died 1640) of Lilford. She was a distant cousin of

Lucy Hutchinson Lucy Hutchinson (; 29 January 1620 – October 1681) was an English translator, poet, and biographer, and the first person to translate the complete text of Lucretius's ''De rerum natura'' (''On the Nature of Things'') into English verse, du ...

. Her mother, Elizabeth, Lady Apsley, was a friend of

Lady Anne Clifford Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, ''suo jure'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 1590 – 22 March 1676) was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became ''suo jure'' ...

and Sir Charles Montagu. Her sister, Anne Apsley, married Matt Caldicott from

Selmeston Selmeston is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is located eight miles (13 km) east of Lewes, to the north of the A27 road between there and Polegate. The church existed at the time of its men ...

, a servant of the

Earl of Dorset Earl of Dorset is a title that has been created at least four times in the Peerage of England. Some of its holders have at various times also held the rank of marquess and, from 1720, duke. A possible first creation is not well documented. About ...

. A brother, Edward Apsley (1605-1651) was at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

in the care of Joseph Mead.

Career at court

Elizabeth and her sister, Alice, who later married Sir John Butler of

Teston Teston /ˈtiːstən/ The Place Names of Kent,Judith Glover,1976,Batsford. or /ˈtiːsən/ BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names — is a village in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. It is located on the A26 road out of Maidston ...

, were maids of honour to Elizabeth Stuart and travelled with her in 1613 to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

after her marriage to Frederick V of the Palatinate. Princess Elizabeth's female attendants on her arrival at

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...

on 29 April 1613 were listed as the Countess of Arundel, Lady Harington, Lady Cecil, Mistress Anne Dudley, Mistress Elizabeth Dudley, Mistress Apsley, and Mistress (Mary) Mayerne. Alice or Elizabeth, or both sisters, quarreled with Anne, Lady Schönberg (died 1615). Princess Elizabeth wrote to Lady Apsley vindicating Apsley, "although I love Schonberg verie well". In 1618, Elizabeth Apsley was given the responsibility of looking after Princess Elizabeth's monkeys at Heidelberg, a gift from Dudley Carleton. She was dubbed "''Gouvernante'' to all the monkeys and dogs at the palace".

Marriage

She returned to England to marry

Albertus Morton Sir Albertus Morton (c. 1584 – November, 1625) was an English diplomat and Secretary of State. His widow's death, apparently from grief, is commemorated in a celebrated epigraph by his relative Sir Henry Wotton. Life Born about 1584, he wa ...

in November 1624. Morton fell off his horse on the way to meet her at

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

. They were married on 13 January 1625 at Eton. Elizabeth, Lady Morton and her mother corresponded with Elizabeth Stuart. The princes Henry Frederick and Rupert also wrote to Lady Morton and her mother. Princess Elizabeth wrote to Lady Morton two months after her husband's death in September 1625, discussing the idea of her marriage to a soldier Ned Harwood (died 1632). Elizabeth Morton died in 1626.

Henry Wotton Sir Henry Wotton (; 30 March 1568 – December 1639) was an English author, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1614 and 1625. When on a mission to Augsburg, in 1604, he famously said, "An ambassador is an honest gentlema ...

, unaware of her plans to remarry, wrote ''Upon the Death of Sir Albert Morton's Wife'';Henry Wotton, ''Reliquiae Wottonianae'' (London, 1654), p. 504. :He first deceased; she for a little tried :To live without him, liked it not, and died. Her brother, Colonel Edward Apsley was captured at Parnham on 7 December 1643. Her sister Alice's second husband Colonel George Fenwick (died 1656) was responsible for building the church at

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

. The family home Thakeham Place was demolished in the 18th century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apsley, Elizabeth 1626 deaths 17th-century English women British maids of honour Household of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Wives of knights