Louisa Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart

Louisa Tollemache
Portrait of lady Louisa Manners by John Constable after Reynolds and Hoppner.
Born	Louisa Grace Tollemache 2 July 1745
Died	22 September 1840 (aged 95) Ham House
Title	7th Countess of Dysart
Predecessor	Wilbraham Tollemache, 6th Earl of Dysart
Successor	Lionel Tollemache, 8th Earl of Dysart

Louisa Manners Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart (2 July 1745 – 22 September 1840) was a peer in the Scottish peerage.

Family and early life

She was one of the daughters of Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart, the second of three to survive to adulthood. She and her elder sister, Jane, were educated at Mrs Holt's School for Girls in South Audley Street, Mayfair.^[1]

Marriage and issue

The Countess married John Manners in 1765, the couple having eloped to Scotland from Ham House and Manners having thrown the key to the garden door back over the wall to prevent her from returning. At her father's request the marriage was repeated at St James's Church, Piccadilly.^[1]

The couple lived most of their lives at Ham House, spending some time at the other Tollemache family seat at Helmingham Hall, Suffolk.

They had ten children:

1. William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower (1766–1833)
2. Hon. John Manners Tollemache of Portman Square, co. Middlesex, was authorised by royal licence, dated 6 April 1821, to take the surname of Tollemache instead of Manners, and bear the arms of Tollemache. He died s. p. at York House, Twickenham, Middlesex, 13 February 1837. Married, 19 August 1806, Mary, daughter of Captain Benjamin Bechinoe, R.N., and widow of William, fourth Duke of Roxburghe. She died in April 1838.
3. Hon. Charles Manners-Tollemache (2 January 1775 – 26 July 1850), of Market Overton, co. Rutland, and Harrington, co. Northampton; was authorised by royal licence, dated 6 April 1821, to take the surname of Tollemache instead of Manners, and bear the arms of Tollemache. He died in Eaton Place, London, 26 July 1850, having married, first, at St. George's, Hanover Square, 4 August 1797, Frances, only daughter of William Hay, of Newhall, and niece of George, seventh Marquess of Tweeddale; she, who was born 1775, died 29 March 1801, and was buried at Helmingham 10 April. They had issue:
   1. Arthur Hugh, born 23 April 1799; died 11 December 1870.
   2. Wilbraham Francis, born 26 April 1800; commander R.N.; died 6 January 1864; married, 5 October 1841, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Alexander Munro, and by her, who died 13 October 1883, had issue.
   3. Louisa Grace, died young.

Charles married, secondly, at St. George's, Hanover Square, 8 August 1803, Gertrude Florinda, daughter of General William Gardiner (brother of Luke, Viscount Mountjoy), and widow of Charles John Clarke; she died 27 September 1864. They had issue :

1. 1. Charles William.
   2. George.
   3. Lionel, born 1806; captain 76th Foot; died at Fort George, Inverness, 6 February 1838.
   4. William, born 7 November 1810; died 17 March 1886; married, first, at Leamington Spa, 13 September 1838, Anna Maria Jane, third daughter of Edward Adolphus, eleventh Duke of Somerset, K.G., by whom he had issue ; she died 23 September 1873. He married, secondly, 11 May 1875, Emma, daughter of James Sidney of Richmond Hill, co. Surrey, and widow of Major-General Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes, K.C.B., K.C.S.I.
   5. Henry Bertie, served in the Scots Fusilier Guards; died 28 October 1886; married, at St. George's, Hanover Square, 12 August 1837, his cousin Emilia Magdalen Louisa, eldest daughter of Sir George Sinclair, 2nd Baronet, by Catherine Camilla Manners, and by her had issue. This marriage was dissolved by the Court of Session in Scotland 3 July 1841, and afterwards, 9 July 1859, by the English Courts. She married, secondly, 5 July 1841, Major John Power, 29th Regiment, and died 19 January 1864.
   6. Frances Louisa, born 23 September 1804. died 15 April 1893, and was buried in the churchyard of Petersham, Surrey; married, first, 1 June 1850, to Lieutenant George Richard Halliday,R.N., of Bridgefield, who died 11 November 1855; she was married, secondly, 28 November 1857, to her cousin the Hon. Algernon Gray Tollemache, who died 16 January 1892.
   7. Maria Eliza, born 27 October 1809, died 7 May 1893 ; For many years Maria lived with Louisa, her grandmother, as a companion at Ham House. She was married in the private chapel of Ham House, 20 August 1833, as second wife to Charles, first Marquess of Ailesbury, K.T., thirty-seven years her senior. He died 4 January 1856, and she survived him by a further thirty-seven years. She was a friend of Queen Victoria and Alexandra, Princess of Wales.^[1]
2. George, died an infant.
3. Elizabeth Louisa, died an infant.
4. Sophia, died an infant.
5. Catherine Sophia, born 1769; died in Grosvenor Square 28 May 1825; married at St. George's, Hanover Square, 16 August 1793, to Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 4th Baronet M.P. for co. Rutland, who died 26 March 1851, and by whom she had issue.
6. Maria Caroline, born 1775; died at Edinburgh 20 December 1805, and was buried at Helmingham 4 January 1806; married, 9 September 1799, at St. James's, Westminster, to James, Viscount Macduff, afterwards fourth Earl Fife, in the Peerage of Ireland, K.T., but had no issue.
7. Louisa Grace, born 1777 ; died 19 February 1816, and was buried at Hanworth; married, at St George's, Hanover Square, 15 August 1802, as his second wife, to Aubrey Beauclerk, 6th Duke of St Albans, by whom she had an only son, Aubrey, seventh Duke.
8. Laura, born 1780; died at Ham House 11 July 1834; married, 3 June 1808, to John William Henry Dalrymple, afterwards seventh Earl of Stair, which marriage was dissolved 16 July 1811 owing to a prior contract, 28 May 1804, between Mr. Dalrymple and Johanna, daughter of Charles Gordon of Oluny, but this contract was annulled in June 1820 by the Lords of Session in Edinburgh. By royal licence dated 13 March 1821 she was authorised to take and bear the surname and arms of Tollemache instead of those of Manners, and was then described as unmarried.

Art

John Constable's sketch of Ham House, June 1835

A portrait of Louisa by Sir Joshua Reynolds was engraved by V. Green, and another by Hoppner, as a peasant, has also been engraved. Hoppner's portrait was sold at Messrs. Robinson and Fisher's rooms for 14,050 guineas on 27 June 1901. This portrait originally belonged to Louisa's daughter, Lady Laura Tollemache, from whom it passed to Louisa's granddaughter, Maria, Marchioness of Ailesbury, and finally came into the possession of the latter's daughter-in-law, the Lady Charles Bruce, by whose executors it was sold.^[2] Thomas Lawrence's portrait of Lady Louisa was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1794.^[3] Louisa was a notable patron of John Constable, entertaining him at Helmingham, Ham House and London residences at Pall Mall and in Picadilly. Constable's letters make several references to Lady Dysart and he was evidently at ease with the family. Louisa employed his brother, Golding Constable, as gamekeeper at Helingham.^[1] Constable painted copies of Reynolds' and Hoppner's works, including a portrait of Louisa dated 1823.^[4] Others to derive works from Hoppner, Lawrence and Reynolds portraits of Louisa include Henry Bone, Charles Knight and Richard Smythe.^[5]

Title

The death of John Manners 23 September 1792, when Louisa was aged forty-seven, bought the 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) of the Manners' Buckminster estate into the Tollemache family. She succeeded her brother Wilbraham in the earldom of Dysart and barony of Huntingtower 9 March 1821, aged seventy-five, and on 13 March 1821 she, together with her only unmarried daughter, Laura, was authorised by royal licence to take and bear the surname and arms of Tollemache instead of Manners.

Death and succession

Increasing blind in her old age, Louisa died at Ham House, Surrey, 22 September 1840, aged 95, and was buried at Helmingham 8 October following. Not only did she survive her husband by more than half her lifetime, she outlived all of her children except her son, Charles. Her will was proved February 1841. She was succeeded by grandson, Lionel Tollemache, 8th Earl of Dysart, son of William, Lord Huntingtower.^[1][6][7]

References

1. Pritchard, Evelyn (2007). Ham House and its owners through five centuries 1610-2006. London: Richmond Local History Society. pp. 47–51. ISBN 9781955071727.
2. "Pictures". The Connoisseur: 43. 1901.
3. Bryant, Julius (2003). Kenwood, Paintings in the Iveagh Bequest (illustrated ed.). Yale University Press. pp. 326–333. ISBN 9780300102062.
4. "Lady Louisa Tollemache (1745–1840), Countess of Dysart". Retrieved 25 November 2013.
5. Portraits of Louisa Manners at the National Portrait Gallery, London
6. Forsyth Harwood, H. W.; Murray, Keith W. (1906). Paul, James Balfour, ed. The Scots Peerage. 3. Edinburgh: D. Douglas. pp. 412–414.
7. Urban, Sylvanus (1840). Cave, Edward; Nichols, John, eds. "Obituary — The Countess of Dysart". The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, for the Year ... London: William Pickering, John Bowyer Nicholls and Son. 168: 652.

Sources

This article incorporates text from The Scots Peerage (1904-1914) article "Murray, Earl of Dysart" by H. W. Forsythe Harwood and Keith W. Murray, a publication now in the public domain.