Elizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady Cramond (1576/77 – 1651) was an English

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and peeress.

George Cokayne George Edward Cokayne, (29 April 1825 – 6 August 1911), was an English genealogist and long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London, who eventually rose to the rank of Clarenceux King of Arms. He wrote such authoritative and standa ...

The Complete Peerage ''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant''; first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition rev ...

, 1887–98 She is remembered for her collections of prayers.

Biography

Born Elizabeth Beaumont, she was the eldest child of Sir Thomas Beaumont (brother of

Huntingdon Beaumont Huntingdon Beaumont (c.1560–1624) was an English coal mining entrepreneur who built two of the earliest wagonways in England for trans-shipment of coal. He was less successful as a businessman and died having been imprisoned for debt. Beaum ...

) and his wife, Catherine. On 27 November 1594 she married John Ashburnham (knighted in 1604) at Stoughton, Leicestershire, and they had ten children including John Ashburnham (MP). Their daughter, Elizabeth, was the first wife of

Frederick Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis Frederick Cornwallis, 1st Baron Cornwallis (14 March 1610/1 – January 1662) was an English peer, MP and Privy Counsellor. He was Treasurer of the Household 1660–1662. He was the eldest surviving son of Sir William Cornwallis of Brome, Su ...

. Sir John's death in 1620 left the family in financial difficulty, but Lady Ashburnham was considerably influential at

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

due to

Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham (née Beaumont; c. 1570 – 19 April 1632) is perhaps best known as the mother of the royal favourite Sir George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. She was the daughter of Anthony Beaumont of Glenfield, Le ...

(mother of King James's favourite,

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and possibly also a lover of King James I of England. Buckingham remained at the ...

) being her cousin. She procured a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

cy for her son-in-law, Edward Dering, in 1627 and a letter to Buckingham, that year, indicates she enjoyed the company of his wife,

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and Catherina, other variations are feminine Given name, names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria ...

, of Lady Carlisle and of Queen

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

. On 14 December 1626 Lady Ashburnham married

Sir Thomas Richardson Sir Thomas Richardson (1569 – 4 February 1635) of Honingham in Norfolk,RICHARDSON, Thomas, 2nd Baron Cramond (1627-74), of Honingham, Norf. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 198/ref> wa ...

(later Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales) at St Giles in the Fields. Through his influence, she was created

Lady Cramond The title of Lord (of) Cramond was a title in the nobility of Scotland. It was created on 23 February 1628 for Dame Elizabeth Richardson. She was married to Sir Thomas Richardson, the second marriage for both, and had no children together. The ...

in the

Peerage of Scotland The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union, ...

, on 29 February 1628 (with a special remainder to her stepson, Thomas and the issue of his body), an event which elicited 'many gibes and pasquinades...for the amusement of

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

'. On 9 September 1629, she was granted an annual

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

of £300 for the duration of her life.

Works

Lady Cramond's wrote ''A Ladies Legacie to her Daughters'', a collection of poems in three parts, published in 1625, 1635, and 1645. She had originally started writing in 1606 when she wrote ''Instructions for my children or any other Christian''.

Family

Lady Cramond died in 1651 and was buried next to her first husband on 3 April that year, at

St Andrew, Holborn The Church of St Andrew, Holborn, is a Church of England church on the northwestern edge of the City of London, on Holborn within the Ward of Farringdon Without. History Roman and medieval Roman pottery was found on the site during 2001/02 ...

.Parish register, St Andrew's church,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

, London Her stepson having died in her lifetime, her title passed to his son,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

. She was the grandmother

Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis of Eye (1632 – 13 April 1673) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1662 when he inherited the peerage as Baron Cornwallis. Early years Cornwallis w ...

Notes and references

*Victoria E. Burke, ''Richardson, Elizabeth, suo jure baroness of icCramond (1576/7–1651)'',

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 200
accessed 18 November 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cramond, Elizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady 1570s births 1651 deaths Hereditary peeresses created by Charles I English letter writers Women letter writers Year of birth uncertain 16th-century English writers 17th-century English writers 16th-century English women writers 17th-century English women writers Lords of Parliament (pre-1707) 17th-century letter writers