Elizabeth, Lady K(i, y)tson born Lady Elizabeth Cornwallis (1546/7 – 2 August 1628) was an English music patron. She came from East Anglia and married the owner of

Hengrave Hall Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor era, Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Rokewode-Gage baronets, Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusant ...

in Suffolk. The Kitsons also had a London house. They gave permanent employment to musicians.

Life

Elizabeth Cornwallis was born in 1546 or 1547. Her parents were

Thomas Cornwallis Thomas Cornwallis ( – ) was an Kingdom of England, English politician and colonial administrator. Cornwallis served as one of the first Commissioners of the Province of Maryland (Proprietary Colony of Maryland), and Captain of the colony's mil ...

and Anne Jerningham. Her brothers were the diplomat

Sir Charles Cornwallis Sir Charles Cornwallis (died 1629) was an English courtier and diplomat. Life He was the second son of Thomas Cornwallis (died 1604), Sir Thomas Cornwallis, controller of Mary I of England, Queen Mary's household, who had been imprisoned by El ...

and the politician Sir William Cornwallis and she had three sisters.Cornwallis, Sir Thomas (1518/19-1604), of Brome, Suffolk, History of Parliament
Retrieved 27 May 2013. Elizabeth received the training necessary to be the household manager of a rich family. Lady Elizabeth Kitson and Sir Thomas Kytson Monument in Hengrave church

Lady Elizabeth Kitson and Sir Thomas Kytson Monument in Hengrave church

She married Sir Thomas Kitson (1540–1603) who was the heir of Sir Thomas Kitson. He had just lost his first wife of only a year. Elizabeth had a dowry of £600 and she took on the management of the family seat of

. Lady Elizabeth and her husband were keen on music and employed resident musicians Edward Johnson and twenty years his junior the madrigalist

John Wilbye John Wilbye (baptized 7 March 1574September 1638) was an English madrigal composer. Early life and education The son of a tanner, he was born at Brome, Suffolk, England. (Brome is near Diss, Norfolk.) Career Wilbye received the patronage of th ...

. In addition they created collections of instruments and sheet music. Wilbye would publish 64 pieces of music which are extant whilst she was his patron. She played the lute. Philip Gawdy wrote that she was ill in 1593 and when she recovered danced all night in token of thanksgiving. In October 1605 she told Gawdy that his nephew had made the acquaintance of an unsuitable woman, Mistress Havers. She established two charitable gifts and these charities are still running as of 2020. The first in 1625 was for £30 each year to create houses for the poor and the following year she gave another £4 per year to provide clothing for the poor.

Death and legacy

On the death of Elizabeth Kitson in 1628 the music collections and the house were inherited by her daughter Mary Kitson, who married

Thomas Darcy, 1st Earl Rivers Thomas Darcy, 1st Earl Rivers ( – 25 February 1640) was an England, English peer and courtier in the reigns of Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth I, James VI and I, James I and Charles I of England, Charles I. Early life He was the son of John ...

. Elizabeth had requested that her funeral should be free of pomp and should be either very early or late in the day. She was buried at Hengrave church and her statue was added to that of her husband and his first wife in a large memorial that she had commissioned in 1608. The tradition of music at Hengrave Hall continued. In 2020 a sponsored concert was scheduled for Hengrave, particularly as it was the workplace of John Wilbye.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitson, Elizabeth 1540s births 1628 deaths English patrons of music People from the Borough of St Edmundsbury 16th-century English nobility 16th-century English women