ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

In the mid-nineteenth century, Coombe Abbey was owned by the second Earl of Craven, who carried out extensive alterations there. He and his wife also spent a lot of money on improving the gardens, which would have pleased his grandmother, Elizabeth Craven, as she was always a tremendous garden enthusiast. A photograph of Coombe Abbey from the South side taken by Wingrave in 1860, just before the moat was added. The Earl employed William Andrew Nesfield to design and carry out the alterations. A moat was added and a round tower with a turret added to the building, overlooking it. To my mind this has something of the air of a French Gothic château. Some of these alterations were not completed until 1872.  In this period, the gardens of Coombe Abbey were well cultivated and much admired. A detailed description appeared in a periodical of 1864:-  "  Thanks to the refined taste of its proprietor, the gardens of Coombe Abbey are fast rising into notoriet...

    The Berkeley family had a long tradition of producing well-educated women. Theophila Berkeley, daughter of Sir Thomas Berkeley, was one of the earliest we know about. Her mother was Elizabeth Carey, daughter and heiress of Lord Hunsdon, the patron of Shakespeare's theatre company, and Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream to celebrate the Carey-Berkeley wedding in 1595. It is said that Elizabeth Carey, whose godmother was her father's cousin Queen Elizabeth I, was very accomplished and owned "thousands of books". [1]    Theophila, born on December 13th 1596, spent much of her childhood as a companion of James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth at Coombe Abbey (the house that later came into the possession of the Craven family). The royal household must have had the best tutors as Theophila was able to read French, Italian, Latin and Greek.     From a painting by Leonard Knyff (1671) at Berkeley Castle, permission of the Earl of Berkeley. Theophila wa...

   In 1470, in the middle of the Wars of the Roses, that family squabble that tore England apart in the second half of the fifteenth century, the Berkeley family and a rival clan, the powerful Talbots, headed by the Earl of Warwick, fought their own private civil war.     Like the Wars of the Roses, it was a dispute between cousins over succession and inheritance, and what was at stake was a huge amount of land and power.  The battle painted from imagination by Graham Turner To understand what happened at Nibley Green in 1470 we have to go back two generations, to the time of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Lord Berkeley (1352/53 –1417), known as the Magnificent. He owned Berkeley Castle and much of the most valuable land in Gloucestershire. In 1367, in the reign of Edward III, Thomas married Margaret de Lisle, 3rd Baroness Lisle suo jure (1360–1392), daughter of Warine de Lisle, 2nd Baron Lisle (d.1382). The couple had no sons, only a daughter and sole heiress: Elizab...

Events.    Benham Park, Elizabeth Craven's former home near Newbury in Berkshire, has been acquired by a company which is advertising it as a venue for weddings and special events. https://benhampark.com/ Publications.     A new edition of Craven's play The Georgian Princess has appeared, but unfortunately the details online, even the Amazon entry, do not seem to name the editor. ISBN: 9791041996261 Page count: 32 Published: April 6, 2024 Format: Paperback Publisher: Culturea Language: English Author: Elizabeth Craven This is the publisher's blurb:- "A tale of intrigue and change unfolds as we delve into the world of "The Georgian Princess" by Elizabeth Craven. Set against the opulent backdrop of 18th-century Europe, this narrative transports readers to a time of political maneuvering and social upheaval. The story centers around a young princess navigating the treacherous waters of court life, where alliances are as fragile as the porcelain teacups from whic...

   The novelist Lady Helen Emily Craven (1874-1926), was a direct descendant of Elizabeth Craven. The daughter of the 3 rd  Earl of Craven, she is usually known by her married name, Forbes, under which her novels were published.   She first ventured into print writing newspaper articles about fashion at the age of sixteen. On 7th October 1890 she advised readers of The Guardian :- "A fine and warm September has delayed considerably the production of autumnal novelties, for in these days of cheap imitation the best milliners and dressmakers jealously withhold their newest inventions till the last possible moment. Despite the rumours that reach us from Paris of a threatened revolution in dress, of stiff Holbein bodices, with padded rolls upon the hips, as yet the simple, graceful gored skirt and Princess polonaise continue to hold their ground. It is in the Tudor times, the long-past days of pearl-broidered kirtles and jewelled stomachers, that we shall find the o...

George Berkeley, 8th Baron of Berkeley. [I am taking the liberty of borrowing this excellent paper by John Morgan of Warwick University, about George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley, a direct ancestor or Elizabeth Craven. It reveals that while he was a cultivated, and well-travelled man, the 8th Baron was not, by the standards of most peers, rich. The Berkeley family narrowly escaped ruin during the Civil War, when they sided with King Charles I, but were rewarded with an earldom after the Restoration.] George Lord Berkeley, literary patron, nobleman, occasional sitting peer and fond traveller was born to Sir Thomas Berkeley and Elizabeth Carey in Essex, October 1601. Sir Thomas was the son and heir apparent of Henry Lord Berkeley, 7 th  Baron Berkeley. Henry outlived his son and died in November 1613, at Caludon in Coventry. John Smyth of Nibley, antiquary and life-long steward of the Berkeleys' estates notes that Henry 'may bee called  Henry the Harmlesse , or  Posthumous...