Elizabeth Yorke, Countess of Hardwicke

Elizabeth Yorke, Countess of Hardwicke (1 October 1763 - 26 May 1858), née Lindsay, was a British playwright and member of the aristocracy.

Elizabeth Yorke
Countess of Hardwicke
Native nameElizabeth Scot Lindsay Yorke
BornElizabeth Scot Lindsay
1 October 1763
Died26 May 1858
Spouse(s)Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke
IssuePhilip Yorke, Viscount Royston
FatherJames Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres
MotherAnne Dalrymple

Early life and education edit

Born 1 October 1763 to James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres and Anne Dalrymple, Hardwicke married Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, on 24 July 1782. She became Countess of Hardwicke in 1796 when her husband succeeded his uncle. The couple had eight children, four boys and four girls. All four boys died young. Hardwicke regularly wrote and produced plays and performances in Wimpole Hall but she was very conservative in her views and saw this less as a profession of writing than an example of her duty as a mother and charitable lady. In 1831 she was involved in the Irish Distress Committee raising money to relieve the suffering of poor Irish people and with the permission of Queen Victoria published The court of Oberon which she had written in the 1790s. She also provided the illustrations for the book.[1][2][3][4]

She died on 26 May 1858 near Tyttenhanger Houseat age 94. She is buried in Chicheley Chapel in Wimpole commemorated on the monument she had erected to the memory of her husband and sons.[5][6]

Bibliography edit

  • The Court of Oberon, or The Three Wishes. A Drama in Three Acts, 1831[7]

References and sources edit

  1. ^ "Lady Elizabeth Scot Lindsay". Main Page. 28 December 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  2. ^ Center, Yale; Maj, Lec. "The court of Oberon, or, The three wishes". collections.britishart.yale.edu. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  3. ^ Engel, L.; McGirr, E.M.; Brooks, H.E.M.; Bush-Bailey, G.; Francus, M.; Hawley, J.; Higa, J.; Jones, E.D.; Ledoux, E.M.; Lowerre, K. (2014). Stage Mothers: Women, Work, and the Theater, 1660–1830. Transits: Literature, Thought & Culture, 1650–1850. Bucknell University Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-61148-604-9. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  4. ^ Franceschina, J.C. (2014). Sisters of Gore: Seven Gothic Melodramas by British Women, 1790-1843. Taylor & Francis. p. 460. ISBN 978-1-134-82089-4. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Dictionary of Irish Biography". Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  6. ^ Odell, Steve. "Monument Inscriptions from Monuments in Wimpole Parish Church". Wimpole Past. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  7. ^ "The court of Oberon : Hardwicke, Elizabeth Yorke, Countess of, 1763-1858". 23 October 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2019.