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Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland (1716–1776)

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For other people named Elizabeth Percy (disambiguation), see Elizabeth Percy (disambiguation) (disambiguation).
Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, portrait by Joshua Reynolds.

Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland (née Seymour; 26 November 1716 – 5 December 1776), also suo jure 2nd Baroness Percy, was a British peer.

Life

Percy was the only daughter of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset and his wife, Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (1699-1754), daughter of Henry Thynne.

On 16 July 1740, she married Sir Hugh Smithson, Bt and they had two sons, Hugh (1742–1817) and Algernon (1750–1830). On her father's death in 1750, she inherited his barony of Percy and her husband acquired from her father his earldom of Northumberland by special remainder and changed his family name from Smithson to Percy that year. Sir Hugh's illegitimate son James Smithson, otherwise Jacques Louis Macie, born in about 1764 to one of Elizabeth's cousins, bequeathed the fortune which established the Smithsonian Institution.[1]

In 1761, Percy became a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte, a post she held until 1770. She became a duchess in 1766 when her husband was created Duke of Northumberland, and on her death in 1776 her barony and the earldom of Northumberland passed to her eldest son, Hugh, who inherited his father's dukedom ten years later. He built Brizlee Tower as one of a number of monuments to commemorate her.

Elizabeth Percy is buried in the Northumberland Vault, within Westminster Abbey.[2]

Ancestry

Family of Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland (1716–1776)
16. Francis Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Trowbridge
8. Charles Seymour, 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge
17. Frances Prinne
4. Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset
18. William Alington, 1st Baron Alington
9. Elizabeth Alington
19. Elizabeth Tollemache, daughter of Sir Lionel Tollemache, 2nd Baronet
2. 7th Duke of Somerset
20. Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland
10. Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland
21. Elizabeth Howard
5. Elizabeth Percy
22. Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton
11. Elizabeth Wriothesley
23. Elizabeth Leigh
1. Elizabeth Seymore
24. Sir Henry Frederick Thynne
12. Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth
25. Mary Coventry
6. Hon. Henry Thynne (1675–1708)
26. Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea
13. Lady Frances Finch
27. Mary Seymour
3. Frances Thynne
28. Sir John Strode,[4] possibly the MP for Dorset
14. Sir George Strode,[3] brother of John Strode (died 1679)
29. Anne Wyndham,[5] dau of Sir John Wyndham and Joan Portman.
7. Grace Strode (d 3 Sept 1725)
30. Sir John Fitzjames (MP),[6] of Leweston, Dorset, MP for Dorset, then Poole.
15. Grace FitzJames, one of five daughters and co-heirs
31. Margaret Stephens, the daughter of Nathaniel Stephens of Eastington, Gloucestershire

References

  1. ^ "James Smithson". Smithsonian History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  2. ^ Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland buried at Westminster Abbey, westminster-abbey.org; accessed 24 March 2014.
  3. ^ Sir George Strode
  4. ^ Sir John Strode
  5. ^ Anne Wyndham
  6. ^ Sir John Wyndham
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Baroness Percy
1750–1776 		Succeeded by

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