My wife's ancestors - Hunter - Contents

Chudleigh

• References:
  • Elizabeth Chudleigh in [DNB].
  • 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull in [DNB].

• Sources yet to be consulted:
  • An authentic detail of particulars relative to the late Duchess of Kingston, 1788.
  • Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life of the Duchess of Kingston, Claire Gervat, 2003.

Elizabeth Chudleigh as Iphigenia at the ball in 1749.
From NPG. Creative Commons.
See other copy. From here.
See other copy. From copy of [1788 biography]. On sale at Liber Antiquus.
See more pictures at NPG.

Elizabeth Chudleigh, born 1720.
Became maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales in 1743.
She mar 1stly, secretly, in 1744, to Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol [born 1724] and had issue (a child who died in infancy).
They separated 1749.
She kept her marriage secret and stayed at court. She had a number of lovers.
Her parties were the most fashionable in London.
She famously appeared half-undressed as Iphigenia at a ball in 1749 in the old Somerset House, where George II was present.

By the early 1750s [David Erskine] she was the on-off mistress of the unmarried Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull [born 1711].
In 1763 Hervey had an affair with Kitty Hunter and had issue.
In 1768 Hervey asked Elizabeth for a divorce. To avoid scandal she wanted to declare that the marriage had never taken place, which declaration she got from court 1769.
She mar 2ndly, in 1769, to her lover, the 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull.
Pierrepont died 1773, age 62 yrs, leaving her all his property. They had been together for decades, but Pierrepont's relatives still thought she had no right to it. To try to secure his property for themselves, they reopened the case of her marriage.
They got Elizabeth prosecuted for bigamy by the House of Lords 1776, even though her husband was now dead.
Convicted of bigamy 1776. She fled to the Continent.
She died Paris, 1788, age 68 yrs.

Elizabeth Chudleigh as Iphigenia at the ball in 1749.
See full size.
From British Museum. Creative Commons.
See more pictures at BM.