Elizabeth Capell, Countess of Essex (1 December 1636 – 5 February 1718; née Percy) was an English noblewoman, the daughter of

Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, KG, JP (29 September 160213 October 1668) was an English aristocrat, and supporter of the Parliamentary cause in the First English Civil War. The Percies had been the leading famil ...

. She was the wife of

Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, PC (163113 July 1683), also spelt Capel, of Cassiobury House, Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English statesman. Early life He was the son of Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (executed in 1649) ...

. Elizabeth was the subject of a portrait by court painter

Sir Peter Lely Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 7 December 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. Life Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch ...

Family

Lady Elizabeth was born on 1 December 1636 at Petworth Manor,

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, one of the five daughters of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland by his first wife, Lady Anne Cecil. She had one older surviving sister, Anne who married

Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield PC FRS (1634 – 28 January 1714) was a peer in the peerage of England.G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors. The Comp ...

. Her paternal grandparents were

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, KG (27 April 1564 – 5 November 1632) was an English nobleman. He was a grandee and one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth I. Under James I, Northumberland was a long-term prisoner i ...

, known by his

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

of The Wizard Earl, and Dorothy Devereux, the sister of

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a ...

. Elizabeth's maternal grandparents were

William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, (28 March 1591 – 3 December 1668), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1605 to 1612, was an English peer, nobleman, and politician. Early years, 1591–1612 Cecil was the son of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of ...

and Lady Catherine Howard. When Elizabeth was just a year old, her mother died; her father married secondly in 1642, Lady Elizabeth

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

. Elizabeth had a younger half-brother from her father's second marriage,

Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland Josceline (or Joceline) Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland, 5th Baron Percy (4 July 1644 – 31 May 1670), of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland and Petworth House, Sussex, was an English peer. Origins Percy was the eldest son of Algernon Percy, 1 ...

Marriage and issue

On 19 May 1653 at Petworth, Elizabeth married Arthur Capell, 2nd Baron Capell of Hadham. On 20 August 1661, he was created Viscount Malden and the first Earl of Essex by King

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

; Elizabeth was henceforth styled as the Countess of Essex. The marriage produced one surviving son and a daughter: *

Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex PC (28 December 1670 – 10 January 1710, Watford) of Cassiobury House, Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English nobleman, a soldier and courtier. Origins He was the son of Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex ...

(28 December 1670 – 10 January 1710), married Mary Bentinck, by whom he had one son

William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex, (11 January 16978 January 1743) was an English courtier and diplomat. Early life He was the son of the 2nd Earl of Essex and Lady Mary Bentinck. His younger sister, Lady Mary Capel, married Alan Brodrick, 2n ...

who in his turn married Lady Jane Hyde, by whom he had issue. * Anne de Vere Capell (1675- 14 October 1752), married on 25 July 1688,

Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, PC (c. 1669 – 1 May 1738) was a British nobleman, peer, and statesman. Charles Howard was the eldest son of Edward Howard, 2nd Earl of Carlisle, and inherited his title on the death of his father in 1692 ...

, by whom she had two sons and four daughters. She had five other sons who all died in early infancy. * Unknown Child (1668- ) In 1672, Elizabeth's husband was made a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...

, and appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was dedicated to stamping out English corruption in Ireland; one of his many acts was to prevent

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tre ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

from being granted to King Charles's former mistress Barbara Villiers who had been promised the Park as well as the fertile lands surrounding it as a gift from the king.

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and pr ...

, ''King Charles II'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1979, p. 315 In point of fact, it was due to the Earl of Essex that Phoenix Park continues to exist in the 21st century. In 1677, the Essexes returned to England; in 1679, the Earl was appointed First Lord of the Treasury. He was implicated in the

Rye House Plot The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York. The royal party went from Westminster to Newmarket to see horse races and were expected to make the ...

in June 1683 and sent to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

. It was there on 13 July 1683 that he committed suicide by cutting his own throat, leaving Elizabeth a widow at the age of forty-six. She never remarried.

Death

She died on 5 February 1718, and was buried in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

Art

Elizabeth Percy was the subject of a portrait by the celebrated court painter, Sir Peter Lely. It was painted in 1653, the year of her marriage, when she was sixteen years old.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Essex, Elizabeth Capell, Countess of 1636 births 1718 deaths English countesses Daughters of British earls People from Petworth

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

17th-century English women