Elizabeth Pierrepont – Bigamist

In the prior blog post, it says the following regarding Evelyn Pierrepont, second duke of Kingston, “His grace married Miss Chudleigh, one of the maids of honour to the late dowager princess of Wales; a marriage of which it is here unnecessary to speak, inasmuch as the peculiar circumstances attending it, are to be found at large in the records of the State Trials.” And in a post I wrote a few months ago, I wrote, “He had married, but the marriage was later found to be bigamous. His nephews challenged his will, but the bigamy was found not to affect his wife’s inheritance of the property.” But what is really going on here? And why was it so significant that it is recorded in the “State Trials”? More investigation is needed.

 

Research

Article on Evelyn Pierrepont in Wikipedia:

“On 8 March 1769, Pierrepont married Elizabeth Hervey at Keith's Chapel in the parish of St George's, Hanover Square, Westminster, although their marriage was later judged to have been bigamous. He died in 1773 without issue, and his titles became extinct. On the death of the bigamous Duchess in 1788, the Pierrepont estates passed to Charles Medows, who was the son of the 2nd Duke's sister, Lady Frances Medows. Charles Medows changed his name to Pierrepont in 1796 and, in 1806, he was created the first Earl Manvers”

Article on Charles Medows/Pierrepont from Wikipedia:

“In 1773, Medows's uncle, Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, died and left his estates at Thoresby and elsewhere to his wife Elizabeth, Duchess of Kingston, the former wife of the Earl of Bristol. The duke's nephews challenged the will on the grounds of bigamy, and the proceedings which followed established that the marriage of the Duchess had indeed been bigamous. However, this was found not to affect her inheritance, so she was able to retain the Pierrepont estates until her death, which took place in August 1788. Upon inheriting the estates, Medows adopted the surname of Pierrepont by Royal Licence.”

Article on Elizabeth Chudleigh/Pierrepont in Wikipedia:

“On 4 August 1744, she was privately married to Hervey … The wedding was held at night to preserve the secrecy (so she could continue to work as a maid of honor) … Hervey wanted to end their marriage by divorce, but Chudleigh preferred to avoid any public acknowledgement of it. She initiated a suit of jactitation (see note below) … the consistory court in February 1769 pronounced her a spinster … Within a month she married Kingston.”

Note – Jactitation is where one person falsely asserts that he or she is married to another and the wronged party can obtain an order restraining further repetitions of the falsehood.

An interesting blog post by someone else in regard to the picture in the Wikipedia article:

[Chudleigh as Iphigenia]

“One of her famous stunts was her appearance at a costume party [in 1749], where King George II, among others, was present, and in fact the good King took quite a personal interest in Miss Chudleigh's original costume. She was semi-dressed as a maiden from Greek mythology, Iphigenia. Whether it was historical faithfulness or mere artistic license at work, readers will have to decide for themselves, but the costume Miss Chudleigh / Mrs. Hervey wore apparently began at the waist and worked its way diaphanously down her legs, declining to travel any distance at all in the northerly direction. Topless, in other words.”

A recent article in the New York Post:

How a 56-year-old ‘bigamist’ duchess became most notorious lady in England.

A manuscript from the University of Nottingham:

“The 1776 trial for bigamy of Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston, gripped the nation. … Tickets for the trial were keenly sought by members of the public. … The trial for bigamy took place over five days… After hearing the evidence, all 119 Lords took it in turn to declare their verdict. Each spoke the word ‘Guilty’.”

I was able to get a copy of a manuscript that was written about that trial, “An authentic detail of particulars relative to the late duchess of Kingston” which was published shortly after she died in 1788. Besides the information on her life and the trial, a large portion of this manuscript is devoted to a complete copy of the will that she left in 1788. In this there were dozens of specific bequests, including many to her nephew, Charles Medows, despite his involvement in the lawsuit against her which resulted in her fleeing to France and Russia for the last dozen years of her life.

 

Summary

Was Elizabeth Chudleigh/Hervey/Pierrepont a bigamist? Most certainly. There were witnesses to her wedding at night, there were witnesses to the birth of her child with Hervey, etc. The evidence was overwhelming enough that the vote of the jury of the house of lords was 119-0. But she was still able to flee England after the trial and continue living abroad.

Upon her death she was quite generous, giving not only much to Charles Medows, her nephew, but she even had a bequest to the Pope in Rome.

However, since the charge of bigamy did not prevent her inheritance from the Duke of Kingston, it meant that Charles Medows did not inherit what/when he thought he should. Thus, instead of taking over the Duke’s estates in 1773, it had to wait another 15 years until 1788. Thus, it was not until then that he adopted the surname of Pierrepont (as the finally owner of Holme Pierrepont). Eight years later (at the age of 59 instead of 44) he was created Baron Pierrepont and Viscount Newark and then in 1806 (at age 69) he was elevated to Earl Manvers. It was fortunate that he lived to the age of 79 as otherwise the title of Earl Manvers might never have come his way.

The escapades of Elizabeth Chudleigh were not only sensational for that time in English history but had real consequences for other people as well.