Louisa Thynne, Viscountess Weymouth

Louisa Thynne, Viscountess Weymouth (c.1712 – 25 December 1736), formerly Lady Louisa Carteret (or De Carteret),[1] was the second wife of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth. She was the daughter of John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, and his first wife, the former Frances Worsley.

Louisa Thynne, Viscountess Weymouth
Bornc. 1712 (1712)
Died25 December 1736 (aged 23–24)
London, England
Spouse
(m. 1733)
Children2, Thomas and Henry
FatherJohn Carteret
RelativesRobert Carteret (brother)
Georgiana Clavering-Cowper (sister)
John Spencer (nephew)
George Carteret (grandfather)

Biography

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She married the viscount on 3 July 1733, four years after the death of his first wife.[2]

They had two children:

Louisa's portrait was painted by John Vanderbank; in the picture, she wears "a fancy dress of pink and black".[4]

A myth has grown up that the family home of Longleat House is haunted by Louisa's ghost, grieving over the death of her lover, who was discovered and killed by her husband. There is no historical evidence for the existence of the lover.[5] Her friend, Mrs Delany, wrote in her memoirs: "I know some who had higher virtues than she had, but none with fewer faults. Her husband's ... loss is irreparable."[6]

The viscountess died in childbirth[6] at her home in Grosvenor Square, London, and was buried in the traditional Thynne family resting-place of Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire.[7][8] The 3rd viscount succeeded to the Carteret estates on the death of Louisa's brother, Robert Carteret, 3rd Earl Granville, in 1776.

References

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  1. ^ "De Carteret Family - Person Sheet". database.decarteret.org.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  2. ^ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XII/2, page 589.
  3. ^ John Burke (1846). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance ... England. Henry Colburn. p. 115.
  4. ^ Mary Louisa Boyle (1881). Biographical Catalogue of the Portraits at Longleat in the County of Wilts the Seat of the Marquis of Bath. Elliot Stock.
  5. ^ Time Inc (28 December 1953). LIFE. Time Inc. p. 62. ISSN 0024-3019.
  6. ^ a b Augusta Hall (baroness Llanover) (1861). The autobiography and correspondence of Mary Granville, mrs. Delany, ed. by lady Llanover. p. 583.
  7. ^ "Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Longbridge Deverill". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  8. ^ Beriah Botfield (1858). Stemmata Botevilliana. Memorials of the Families of de Boteville, Thynne and Botfield, in the Counties of Salop and Wilts. J. B. Nichols and Sons. pp. 146–.