Lady Henrietta Berkeley (–1706) was an English aristocrat notorious for having an affair with her elder sister's husband, Lord Grey of Warke. The affair began in 1681 when Berkeley was not yet an adult and was discovered by her mother the following year. Berkeley was removed to the family seat at

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

. She escaped and went into hiding in lodging houses in London, under the protection of Grey. Her father,

George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, PC, FRS ( – 10 October 1698) was an English merchant, politician and peer who sat in the House of Commons of England from 1654 until 1658. Life Berkeley was the son of George Berkeley, 8th Baron Ber ...

, sued her lover in a trial which became a sensation in 1682. At the

court of the King's Bench The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the '' curia regis'', the King's Bench initia ...

, Berkeley claimed to have left home with Grey of her own free will and also to have married William Turner, who was Grey's servant. After a scuffle with her father outside court, she was briefly imprisoned with Turner for her own safety. When Grey was implicated in the

Rye House Plot The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York. The royal party went from Westminster to Newmarket to see horse races and were expected to make the r ...

the following year, the couple fled to

Cleves Kleve (; traditional ; ; ; ; ; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century onwards, Cleves was capital of a county and later a duchy ...

, with Turner in their entourage. At the time, Berkeley was pregnant and it is not known if she returned to England with Grey for the

Monmouth Rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II of England, James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II of England, Charles II as king of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and ...

in 1685. She died in London in 1706.

Scandal

Lady Henrietta Berkeley was born to Lady Elizabeth and

, in 1664 or later. She was one of six daughters and there were also two sons. At some point in 1681, Berkeley began an affair with Ford Grey, Lord Grey of Warke, who was married to her elder sister Lady Mary. The affair was discovered by her suspicious mother, Lady Elizabeth, in 1682, when she sent another sister (Lady Arabella) to check for evidence in Berkeley's room at Berkeley House (later Devonshire House) in London. A letter was discovered in which Berkeley had written "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". Lady Elizabeth banned the lovers from seeing each other and took Berkeley to the family seat at Durdans in

, outside London. Lady Mary was also there and she invited her husband to visit, not knowing about his adultery. Lady Elizabeth had been too mortified to tell either Lady Mary or the Earl of Berkeley about the scandal and therefore was forced to host Grey for several days. When he left, Berkeley escaped from the house the same night and followed him back to London. Berkeley then stayed at various lodging houses in London and her family set a reward of for anyone who could tell them her whereabouts. A note announcing the reward in the September 1682 ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'' described her as "a young lady of a fair complexion, fair haired, full breasted, and indifferent tall". Grey told her parents that he was still in contact with her but refused to tell them where she was.

Trial

The Earl of Berkeley sued Lord Grey and his accomplices for conspiring to debauch his daughter. The prosecution charged Grey with "inveigling the Lady Henrietta Berkeley away, and causing her to live an ungodly and profligate life, carrying her about from place to place, and obscuring her in secret places, to the displeasure of Almighty God, the utter ruin of the young lady, the evil example to others, offending against the king's peace, his crown and dignity". At the

, when the jury were about to retire to consider the case, Berkeley sensationally announced that she had left her home of her own free will and declared that she was now the wife of a William Turner, who happened to be a servant of Grey. The

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

Francis Pemberton Sir Francis Pemberton (18 July 1624 – 10 June 1697) was an English judge and briefly Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in the course of a turbulent career. He was imprisoned three times at various points in his career, and as a judge is ...

, told her "You have injured your own reputation, and prostituted both your body and your honour, and are not to be believed". When the court broke up, Berkeley's father endeavoured to take his daughter away, but she resisted. Swords were drawn and in order to break up the scuffle, the judge decided Berkeley and her alleged husband were to be detained in the prison below the King's Bench for their own safety. They were subsequently released. Grey was found guilty by the jury but received no punishment, as other events took precedence. After he was involved in the

of 1683 to assassinate both King

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

and his brother (and future king)

James, Duke of York James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...

, Grey was arrested, but managed to escape when his guard fell asleep. The reportedly pregnant Berkeley fled with him to the Netherlands in June, their entourage including William Turner. In July, Grey was indicted in his absence for high treason. They travelled to

(then part of Brandenburg-Prussia); afterwards, nothing can be said for certain about Berkeley's movements. It is unclear whether she returned to England soon afterwards or carried on living in Europe and only moved back much later. Grey returned to England as a leader of the unsuccessful

in 1685, then obtained a pardon from King James II, regaining his honours and later becoming 1st Earl of Tankerville.

Death and legacy

Berkeley died on 10 August 1706 in

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Although it is not clear if they were still lovers, Grey, who died in 1701, had left her a

life annuity A life annuity is an annuity, or series of payments at fixed intervals, paid while the purchaser (or annuitant) is alive. The majority of life annuities are insurance products sold or issued by life insurance companies. However, substantial cas ...

of . She left a sum of in her will, of which went to her niece Lady Elizabeth Germain. ''Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister'' was a contemporary novel which drew on the events of the scandal and was published anonymously in 1684. It is believed to have been written by

Aphra Behn Aphra Behn (; baptism, bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration (England), Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writ ...

. Later, in the 19th century, George William MacArthur Reynolds wrote that Berkeley "unfortunately sacrificed her good name and affections of doting parents at the instigations of a consummate scoundrel".

Notes

References

External links

Portraits of Lady Henrietta Berkeley
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, Lady Henrietta 1706 deaths 1660s births

Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Hen ...

17th century in London People from Epsom Scandals in England 17th-century English women Daughters of British earls