Elizabeth Wilmot, Countess of Rochester (née Malet; 1651 – 20 August 1681) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

heiress and the wife of

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodie ...

, the "

libertine A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour ob ...

". She was the daughter of John Malet, of Enmore Manor, and Unton Hawley, daughter of

Francis Hawley, 1st Baron Hawley Francis Hawley, 1st Baron Hawley (14 January 1608 – 22 December 1684) was an English politician, soldier and peer. Biography Hawley was the son of Sir Henry Hawley of Wiveliscombe and Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Anthony Poulett. He serve ...

Rochester

became infatuated with Elizabeth Malet and asked for her hand in marriage. She refused to marry the earl, and on 26 May 1665 he attempted to abduct her. In his diaries,

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

describes Elizabeth Malet as the "great beauty and fortune of the North" and notes the scandal of her kidnapping by Rochester:

Thence to my Lady Sandwich’s, where, to my shame, I had not been a great while before. Here, upon my telling her a story of my Lord Rochester’s running away on Friday night last with Mrs. Mallett, the great beauty and fortune of the North, who had supped at White Hall with Mrs. Stewart, and was going home to her lodgings with her grandfather, my Lord Haly, by coach; and was at
Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...
seized on by both horse and foot men, and forcibly taken from him, and put into a coach with six horses, and two women provided to receive her, and carried away. Upon immediate pursuit, my Lord of Rochester (for whom the King had spoke to the lady often, but with no successe) was taken at
Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...
; but the lady is not yet heard of, and the King mighty angry, and the Lord sent to the Tower. Hereupon my Lady did confess to me, as a great secret, her being concerned in this story. For if this match breaks between my Lord Rochester and her, then, by the consent of all her friends, my Lord Hinchingbroke stands fair, and is invited for her. She is worth, and will be at her mother’s death (who keeps but a little from her), 2500l. per annum.

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

corrects Pepys. He writes about the Heiress of the West. Elizabeth Malet later forgave Rochester, and they were married on 29 January 1667. After the couple married, Rochester spent much of his time in London, where he engaged in public affairs, most famously with the actress

Elizabeth Barry Elizabeth Barry (1658 – 7 November 1713) was an English actress of the Restoration period. Elizabeth Barry's biggest influence on Restoration drama was her presentation of performing as the tragic actress. She worked in large, prestigious L ...

. Elizabeth Wilmot stayed in his house,

Adderbury Adderbury is a winding linear village and rural civil parish about south of Banbury in northern Oxfordshire, England. The settlement has five sections: the new Milton Road housing Development & West Adderbury towards the southwest; East Adder ...

House in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, along with Rochester's mother

Anne Wilmot, Countess of Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area **History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison R ...

, her mother Elizabeth Hawley, and Rochester's nieces Eleanor and Anne Lee (later the poet

Anne Wharton Anne Wharton (née Lee, 20 July 1659 - 29 October 1685) was an English poet and verse dramatist. Little of her work was published in her lifetime, but some 45 pieces have been ascribed to her. Life Anne Lee was born 20 July 1659 at Ditchley P ...

Children

# Charles Wilmot, 3rd Earl of Rochester (christened 2 January 1670/71 – 12 November 1681) # Lady Anne Wilmot (christened 30 August 1669 — 8 August 1703) married firstly Henry Bayntun, Esq., a country gentleman, by whom she had issue one son and one daughter Anne Bayntun (mother of

Sir Edward Bayntun-Rolt, 1st Baronet Sir Edward Bayntun-Rolt, 1st Baronet (1710–1800) was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons for 43 years from 1737 to 1780. His election in 1741 was instrumental in the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole's prem ...

). She married secondly the poet Hon. Francis Greville, MP (1 July 1667 – 11 October 1710), eldest son of

Fulke Greville Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, ''de jure'' 13th Baron Latimer and 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke KB PC (; 3 October 1554 – 30 September 1628), known before 1621 as Sir Fulke Greville, was an Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman wh ...

, 5th Baron Brooke of Beauchamps Court, and had two sons, the 6th and

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

Barons Brooke; the 7th Baron was father of

Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick, KT (10 October 1719 – 8 July 1773), known as Lord Brooke from 1727 to 1746 and Earl Brooke from 1746, was a British nobleman. He inherited Warwick Castle and the title of Baron Brooke from his father in 1 ...

. # Lady Elizabeth Wilmot (christened 13 July 1674 – 1 July 1757); she married 8 July 1689

Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich (10 April 1670 – 20 October 1729) was born in Burlington House, London, England to Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich and Lady Ann Boyle. He was styled Viscount Hinchingbrooke from 1672 until his access ...

(10 April 1670 – 20 October 1729), and had issue, one daughter (who died young) and one son

Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke Edward Richard Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke (7 July 1692 – 3 October 1722) was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1713 to 1722. Hinchingbrooke was the eldest son of Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwi ...

, father of

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) was a British statesman who succeeded his grandfather Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich as the Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten. During his life ...

(for whom the

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

is named). She became renowned for her learning and wit. # Lady Malet Wilmot (christened 6 January 1676 — 13 January 1708/9)Johnson has Malet Wilmot's christening and death as 1676 and 1709. Johnson, James William. ''A Profane Wit: The Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester.'' Rochester, NY, U.S.: University of Rochester Press, 2004. married

John Vaughan, 1st Viscount Lisburne John Vaughan, 1st Viscount Lisburne (7 December 1667 – 20 March 1721), of Trawsgoed, Cardiganshire, was a Welsh nobleman. Biography The son of Edward Vaughan and grandson of Sir John Vaughan, he was created Baron Fethard and Viscount ...

on 18 August 1692; their son was

Wilmot Vaughan, 3rd Viscount Lisburne Wilmot Vaughan, 3rd Viscount Lisburne (died 19 January 1766), styled Hon. Wilmot Vaughan until 1762, was a Welsh landowner and Irish peer. He inherited his titles and the Trawsgoed estate in Cardiganshire from his elder brother in 1741, but the es ...

, father of

Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne (1728 – 6 January 1800), of Trawsgoed, Cardiganshire, known as Viscount Lisburne from 1766 to 1776, was a WelshThe Vaughans of Trawsgoed peer and politician. Lisburne was the son of Wilmot Vaughan, 3r ...

, ancestor of the present Earl.

Death

Elizabeth Wilmot died in 1681, a little more than a year after her husband, aged 29 or 30. Her son Charles died soon thereafter.

Poetry

Elizabeth Wilmot's poetry survives in a manuscript that she and her husband produced together. The manuscript, now held by the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, includes songs and a fragment of a

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

attributed to Elizabeth Wilmot, some of which has been anthologized in ''Kissing the Rod: An Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Women's Verse''.

In popular culture

In the 2004 movie '' The Libertine'', Elizabeth was portrayed by

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...

Notes

Footnotes Citations

References

* Johnson, James William. ''A Profane Wit: The Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester''. Rochester, NY, U.S.: University of Rochester Press, 2004. * ''Kissing the Rod: An Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Women's Verse''. Edited by

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literatu ...

, Susan Hastings, Jeslyn Medoff, and Melinda Sansone. New York: The Noonday Press, 1988.

External links

A description of letters from John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester's mother (some of which concern Eilzabeth Malet Wilmot)Samuel Pepys' description of Elizabeth Malet Wilmot's abduction
*The Perdita Project link to Elizabeth Malet Wilmot's manuscript poetry