Emma Bennet, Countess of Tankerville (1752 – 20 November 1836) born Emma Colebrooke was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

heiress, art patron and botanist. Lady Tankerville's collection of botanical illustrations are held at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. '' Phaius tankerville'' was named in her honour by Sir

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

because she was the first person to make it flower successfully in England.

Life

She was one of two daughters of Mary (born Skyner) and James Colebrooke. Her father was a member of parliament from 1751 to 1761 and the owner of

Gatton Park Gatton Park is a country estate set in parkland landscaped by Capability Brown and gardens by Henry Ernest Milner and Edward White (landscape architect), Edward White at Gatton, Surrey, Gatton, near Reigate in Surrey, England. Gatton Park is n ...

With her sister Mary, Emma inherited her parents' estate when they died in 1761. Emma and Mary were raised largely by their uncle

George Colebrooke Sir George Colebrooke, 2nd Baronet (14 June 1729 – 5 August 1809) was a British merchant, banker and politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1754 to 1774, representing the constituency of Arundel. Born in Chilham, Kent, he wa ...

, a banker and Chairman of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. She married

Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville (15 November 1743 – 10 December 1822), styled Lord Ossulston from 1753 to 1767, was a British nobleman, a collector of shellsGatton, Surrey making her the 4th Countess of Tankerville. He was a cricket enthusiast and a collector of shells. They would have eleven children. While her two eldest children were young she was painted by Daniel Gardner. The painting shows her, and two of her daughters, Caroline and Anna. The inclusion of flowers hints at her interest in botany. She and her husband had interests in the lands and slaves on

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

and they owned agricultural land in Northumberland. They also owned a very profitable lead mine. They divided their time between Chillingham Castle in Northumberland and their house 'Walton House' at

Walton on Thames Walton-on-Thames, known locally as Walton, is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in northwest Surrey, England. It is in the Borough of Elmbridge, about southwest of central London. Walton forms part of the Greater London Built-up ...

in Surrey. Thomas Creevey wrote of her in 1805:

Lady Tankerville has perhaps as much merit as any woman in England. She is, too, very clever, and has great wit; but she, like her Lord, is depress'd and unhappy.

The Hon

Henry Grey Bennet The Honourable Henry Grey Bennet Royal Society, FRS (2 December 1777 – 29 May 1836) was a British politician. Life Bennet was the second of three sons and fourth of eight children of Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville, and his wife, Em ...

, their second son, became the member of parliament for

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

in 1806 whilst their third son, The Hon John Astley Bennet, became a captain in the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

but died in September 1812. The 5th Earl,

Charles Augustus Karl August, sometimes anglicised as Charles Augustus (3 September 1757 – 14 June 1828), was the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Weimar and of Saxe-Eisenach (in personal union) from 1758, Duke of Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach ...

, who was born on 28 April 1776 was

treasurer of the household The Treasurer of the Household is a member of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The position is usually held by one of the government deputy Chief ...

during the short administration of Mr Fox in 1806. In 1811, she moved to Madeira in Portugal with two of her children, to aid their recovery from consumption. Drawings she completed during the 18 months she spent on the island were made into an exhibition at Northumberland County Council in 2023.

Botanical career

Lady Tankerville's collection of botanical paintings has been described as 'a jewel of the Kew Gardens archives'. The collection was donated to Kew Gardens in 1932 and comprises 648 watercolours of plants and flowers. The drawings represented every flower cultivated by Lady Tankerville at Walton House in Surrey. During Lady Tankerville's lifetime, women in England were not allowed to attend university or join the Royal Society; both of which would have allowed her to pursue a scientific or artistic career. Despite this, she included scientific scope notes on the margins and backs of her the paintings in her collection outlining such things as classification, conditions for growth, history, and her own observations. Lady Tankerville collected and funded hundreds of botanical illustrations. '' Phaius tankerville'' was named in her honour by her friend Sir

. Her '' Phaius tankerville'' was the first tropical orchid to flower in England and it flowered in her greenhouse at Walton House. The gardens at Mount Felix were well regarded many years after her death.

Botanical Works by Mary Elizabeth Bennet

In addition, her daughter Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet (21 May 1785 to 27 February 1861) worked with their gardener (William Richardson) to cultivate new strains of tri-colored viola

pansy The garden pansy (''Viola'' × ''wittrockiana'') is a type of polychromatic large-flowered hybrid plant cultivated as a garden flower. It is derived by hybridization from several species in the section ''Melanium'' ("the pansies") of the ge ...

flowers that were presented to the botanical society and horticulture groups in 1812. Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet was an accomplished artist in watercolor and was invited to many exhibitions. She was trained by London artist John Varley. Her works are in private collections including a composition of her home at Belsay Castle rendered in 1834 after her marriage on 26 July 1831 to Sir Charles Miles Lambert Monck, Bt. The painting of her home at Belsay Castle in Northumberland by Lady Mary Elizabeth Monck was found to be included as part of the Monck estate in 1912 and now resides in a private collection in the US. Another of her works is the Burial Place of the Breadalbanes from the Churchyard at Killin done in 1826-1827 on a trip to the Scottish highlands with her brother. This haunting graveyard work may have been inspired by the seat of her father's estate as the Earl of Tankerville being at Chillingham Castle. Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet also trained and worked with the London artist

John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...

in engraving as well as miniature painting on ivory. They together produced a set of (12) engravings about Chillingham Castle that were started in 1815 and not finished and published until 1818. Linell gave Bennet lessons in painting on ivory in 1822/3.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colebrooke, Emma 1752 births 1836 deaths British art patrons English botanists Daughters of baronets Tankerville Emma