Elizabeth Craven, Aphra Behn and the scandal of Lady Harriet Berkeley
Lady Henrietta (Harriett) Berkeley
From an original picture by Sir Godfrey Kneller, at Strawberry Hill.
This scandal left its mark on the literature of the period, as Aphra Behn borrowed elements of the story for her sensational novel, Love Letters from a Nobleman to his Sister.
Ford, Lord Grey of Warke, was a bold, irepressible rake, mixed up in more than one risky enterprise. He took a leading part in the Monmouth Rebellion, and wherever there was trouble, he was likely to be found.
Grey had married the Earl's second daughter, Lady Mary Berkeley, in 1674, at Berkeley Castle, and soon became acquainted with her two younger sisters Arabella and Henrietta. When the Berkeley family came to live at their London home, Henrietta, the fair-haired youngest daughter, who was known as Harriet, caught his eye, and their attraction was mutual.
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| Lord Grey portrait miniature by Charles Turner |
Despite her mother's watchful care and the close presence of her sister, Grey succeeded in conducting an intrigue with the girl for a year before they were discovered. From time to time he even managed to get himself smuggled into her bedroom at night. When her mother finally became suspicious and sent Arabella to search Harriet's room, she found a letter in Harriet's writing to Grey, that ran – "My sister Bell did not suspect our being together last night; for she did not hear the noise. Pray come again Sunday or Monday; if the last, I shall be very impatient".
In the furore that followed, Harriet, who was still only seventeen, was taken away by her family to Epsom but this did not stop the liaison. She agreed to run away with her lover, and did so in the middle of the night in disguise.
Her family offered a reward for any information that would help to track her down. An advertisement in the London Gazette in September 1682, offering £200 for information about her whereabouts, described Henrietta as ‘a young lady of a fair complexion, fair haired, full breasted, and indifferent tall’.
Eventually the pair were found in a lodging-house at Charing-cross and Lord Grey was apprehended and brought to a court. He denied that he had abducted the girl and she corroborated that she had left of her own free will. When her furious father demanded to take his child home from the court, a man called Turner stood up and claimed to be her husband.
It later transpired that this was a ruse arranged by Lord Grey to prevent her father from getting Harriet back in his custody.
The headstrong girl soon afterwards departed with Lord Grey to Holland, where she gave birth to a child and he was involved in planning the Monmouth Rebellion. After its failure in 1685, Grey somehow managed to escape execution, and was incarcerated in the Tower of London. After the fall of James II he was released and his turbulent career did not prevent him from becoming a prominent statesman.
In 1695 in the reign of William and Mary he rose to become Lord Privy Seal and First Lord of the Treasury. He was made Earl of Tankerville and died in 1701. After his death most of his money and property passed to his four legitimate children. Henrietta was left with only a £200 annuity, and she died in obscurity in 1710.
While the story of their scandalous elopement was still topical, Aphra Behn, the playwright who had once been a spy, seized on it for the plot of a novel, and to make it sound as sensational as possible she called it Love Letters from a Nobleman to his Sister. Henrietta was of course Grey's sister-in-law, not his true sister, but a dash of incest helped to boost sales and give people an idea of the very licentious story that follows. Philander, the nobleman of the title, is certainly a philanderer and takes part in a rebellion similar to that of the Duke of Monmouth. The novel was successful enough for a sequel to be published.
And what happened to Lady Mary? She outlived her husband and re-married to Richard Rooth of Epsom in 1712. He was described as a gentleman merchant of the city of London. She died on 17th May 1719, at the age of 65. Her daughter Lady Mary Grey married Charles Bennett, Baron Ossulton, who was created Earl of Tankerville in his own right after the death of Lord Grey's only son.
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- published under Aphra Behn's name in the
Family[edit]
- Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley
- Rev. Hon. George Berkeley (d. 1694), graduated M.A. at Christ Church, 9 July 1669, took holy orders, and became a prebendary of Westminster, 13 July 1687, married Jane Cole and had issue
- Lady Elizabeth Berkeley (ca.1650–d.1681), married William Smythe Esq.,(ca.1645-d.1720) and had issue, Theoplia Smythe married 4 Nov. 1696 in Westminster Abbey Hen VII Chapel to Arthur Moore MP and their sons James Moore Smythe & William Moore M.P. for Banbury & Arthur Moore Smythe. and their dau. Elizabeth (Moore) Ormond, married 1718 Wyriott Ormond Sr. of London No: 11 Meard St. London & Bath N.C. Colonial Official and had issue including Roger Ormond or Ormand.
- Lady Theophila Berkeley (d. 1703), married Sir Kingsmill Lucy, 2nd Baronet and had issue, Sir Berkeley Lucy, 3rd Baronet, then married Robert Nelson
- Lady Arabella Berkeley, mar. Sir William Pulteney, son and heir of Sir William Pulteney, Bt., of Misterton, and had issue
- Lady Mary Berkeley (d. 19 May 1719), married first Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville and had issue, and second, aft. 22 May 1712, Richard Rooth
- Lady Henrietta Berkeley (b. c. 1665), unmarried, famously seduced by her sister's husband, the Earl of Tankerville, in 1682
- Lady Arethusa Berkeley (d. 11 Feb 1742/3), married Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan, and had issue
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