Elizabeth Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort

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This article is about the Duchess. For the actress with a similar name, see Elizabeth Berkley.

Elizabeth Somerset, née Berkeley, Duchess of Beaufort, painting attributed to Michael Dahl

Elizabeth Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort (née Berkeley; c. 1713 – 9 April 1799) was born in Stoke Gifford in Gloucestershire to John Symes Berkeley and Elizabeth Norborne.[1] Her younger brother was Norborne, Lord Botetourt.

On 1 May 1740 she married Charles Noel Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort, younger son of Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort and his second wife Rachel Noel. They had six children:[2]

  1. Lady Anne Somerset (11 March 1741 – 18 May 1763, aged 22), married Charles Compton, 7th Earl of Northampton on 13 September 1759 and had issue
  2. Lady Elizabeth Somerset (12 March 1742 – 7 May 1760, aged 18)
  3. Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort (16 October 1744 – 11 October 1803, aged 58)
  4. Lady Rachel Somerset (August 1746 – May 1747) (died an infant)
  5. Lady Henrietta Somerset (26 April 1748 – 24 July 1770, aged 22), married Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet on 6 April 1769, no issue.
  6. Lady Mary Isabella Somerset (1 August 1756 – 2 September 1831, aged 75), married Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland on 26 December 1775 and had six children.[3]

A stone monument to the memory of her daughter Lady Elizabeth Somerset is located in Stoke Park, Bristol. It is engraved with the Latin inscription:[4]

ELIZABETHA SOMERSET
CAROLI DUCIS BEAUFORT FILIA SECUNDA HIC OBIIT VII
MAII MDCCLX
RESTITUTUM ANNO MMIV

This translates as 'Elizabeth Somerset, second daughter of Charles Duke of Beaufort, died here 7 May 1760. Restored in the year 2004'. She was killed when her horse shied.

References[edit]

  1. ^ G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H. A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 54-55
  2. ^ Charles Mosley, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 302.
  3. ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004), "Lady Mary Isabella Somerset in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68363, retrieved 30 May 2023
  4. ^ Rawnsley, Hardwicke Drummond (1877). A Book of Bristol Sonnets. Hamilton, Adams.


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