Elizabeth Staples, "the cruel Mrs Craven".

St Mary's Church in Kintbury, West Berkshire, contains a curious monument dating from the late eighteenth-century, when Jane Austen sometimes stayed in the village as a guest of her friend Eliza, wife of the vicar, the Rev. Fulwar Craven Fowle. He owed his job to his second cousin once removed, Lord Craven, who was the patron of the parish. The Rev. Fowle  commanded the local company of military volunteers, and did so very admirably, by all accounts. In 1799, he was complimented by George III in person.

The monument is one of a pair of very handsome marble memorials to members of the Raymond family, who owned the local manor house of Barton Court. It commemorates a Mr Jemmet Raymond and his second wife, Elizabeth who, before she married Jemmet Raymond, was Mrs Charles Craven, grandmother of both the vicar and his wife.

There are life-sized marble busts of both of them, in Roman attire, a large classical urn and this inscription:

"Sacred to the memory of Jemmet Raymond Esq, and Elizabeth his wife. He was the son of Sr Jemmet Raymond, Knt, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sr George Brown. She was the daughter of the Hon. Col. John Staples and the widow of the Hon. Charles Craven Esq., Governor of South Carolina, in the Reign of Queen Ann. 

He died August 9th 1767  at the age of 79

  She died April 27th 1771   "" "" ""      71"

A lot of money has clearly been lavished on this memorial, and there is no doubt that the motive of the widow was to have a memorial to herself. Charles Craven was granted the post of Governor of South Carolina from 1711-1717 because of his family link to Lord Craven. He was the son of a knight, Sir William Craven, and was 29 when he took on the responsibility of governing a state.  His wife spent some years with him in America where they hoped to make their fortune. But it seems they did not, and returned to live in Berkshire, near Kintbury, with their six children. 

Barton Court

Mrs Charles Craven was a scheming character who persuaded their neighbour, Mr Jemmett Raymond, owner of the local manor house, Barton Court, to make her his heir. Within a few months of Charles Craven's death she married Raymond. Once she had become the mistress of Barton Court she persuaded her son John Craven to marry, in 1756, Raymond's half-sister, a simpleton who had inherited an estate of her own.       

She earned her nickname "the cruel Mrs Craven"  for her harsh treatment of her five daughters. It was said that she starved them and used them as servants, rather than as daughters.  Her meanness was legendary. All of them eventually escaped. The eldest married a clergyman, Rev Thomas Fowle. The younger ones ran away, marrying a farmer and a horse-dealer respectively.

The youngest, Martha, survived as a sempstress until she married another clergyman, the Rev. Noyes Lloyd. They had two daughters, Eliza who married the vicar of Kintbury, and Martha who became Jane Austen's particular friend and confidante. 

       The bust shows a face of stern and domineering expression, without a trace of kindness. I came across somebody lately who mistook Elizabeth Craven the author for "the cruel Mrs Craven". I was happy to assure her that they are two quite different people! 
    

It has sometimes been suggested that the story of "the cruel Mrs Craven", told by her granddaughters, influenced Jane Austen's juvenilia, particularly Lady Susan. It is certain that  Jane Austen used the name Barton Park  - very similar to Barton Court  - in Sense and Sensibility.
     Jane's sister Cassandra was engaged to be married to Tom Fowle, who was a brother of the Rev. Fulwar Craven Fowle, but Tom died before the wedding could take place.

Another monument in the church to an earlier generation of the Raymond family.

In 1797, Mary Lloyd, sister of Eliza and Martha, married Jane Austen's elder brother the Rev James Austen, so a blood-link between the Austens and the Cravens was created. Many years after Jane's death Francis Austen, another of her brothers, married Martha. Luckily none of these descendants inherited the haughty temper or callousness of "the cruel Mrs Craven".

To find out more about Elizabeth Craven and her world read:-

Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European

by Julia Gasper 

https://vernonpress.com/book/334

The Worthies and Celebrities Connected with Newbury, Berks, and Its Neighborhood

By Henry Godwin, J. Blacket, prtr., 1859 

Collections of the South-Carolina Historical Society, Volume 3, South Carolina Historical Society, 1859

Jane Austen: A Family Record, by Deirdre Le Faye, ‎William Austen-Leigh, ‎Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh - 2004 .
Photograph of Barton Court from David Nash Ford's
http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/barton_court_kintbury.html

Kintbury Manor, Berkshire, England - Geni

https://www.geni.com/projects/Kintbury-Manor-Berkshire-England/25583

Jane Austen the Woman: Some Biographical Insights, by George Holbert Tucker.

The History and Antiquities of Newbury and Its Environs: Including Twenty -eight Parishes, Situate [sic] in the County of Berks , ...Edward William Gray, Hall and Marsh, 1839.