Elizabeth Hervey
Lady Elizabeth Hervey , later Lady Elizabeth Foster , later Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (born May 13, 1758 in Horringer , Suffolk , † March 30, 1824 in Rome ) was British nobleman .
Life
Elizabeth was a daughter of Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol (1730-1803), and his wife Lady Elizabeth († 1800), daughter of Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Baronet. She was called "Bess" in the family.
In 1776 Lady Elizabeth married the aristocrat Sir John Thomas Foster († 1796). They had three children:
- Frederick Thomas Foster (1777-1853);
- Elizabeth Foster (1778-1778);
- Sir Augustus John Foster, 1st Baronet (1780-1848).
They lived at Ickworth House in Bury St Edmunds after 1779 . The marriage was not happy and they separated in 1781 after the relationship with a servant came to light. Then John Thomas Foster took over the sole upbringing of his sons.
In 1782 Elizabeth met William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (1748-1811) and his wife Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806) in Bath and became a close friend of the Duchess. From that time on they lived in a " ménage à trois " that existed for life. Elizabeth gave birth to two illegitimate children to William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (1748–1811):
- Caroline Rosalie Adelaide St. Jules (1785-1862);
- Sir Augustus William James Clifford, 1st Baronet (1788–1877).
After the Duchess died in 1806, Elizabeth herself married the Duke in 1809.
In 1804 she met the French writer Madame de Staël (1766-1817), with whom she was in literary correspondence.
She had affairs with Ercole Consalvi (1757-1824), John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (1745-1799), Hans Axel, Graf von Fersen (1755-1810), Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond (1735-1806) ), and Valentine Quin, 1st Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (1752-1824). There is some evidence that Quin fathered an illegitimate son with Elizabeth, the noted physician Friedrich Hervey Foster Quin.
literature
- Amanda Foreman : Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. 1998.
Web links
- Lady Elizabeth Christiana Hervey on thepeerage.com , accessed August 21, 2015.
- Lady Elizabeth Forster ( Memento of October 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Portraits of Lady Elizabeth Forster, later Duchess of Devonshire
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hervey, Elizabeth |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Foster, Elizabeth; Devonshire, Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British nobles |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 13, 1758 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Horringer , Suffolk |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 30, 1824 |
| Place of death | Rome |