Carlisle, Lucy Hay, Countess of, 1599-1660

Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle was born Lady Lucy Percy. In 1617, she became the second wife of James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle. Her greatest achievement was the timely disclosure to her cousin Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, of the king's intended arrest of the five members of the Long Parliament in 1642, which enabled Essex and the others to escape. However, she appears to have served both parties simultaneously, betraying communications on both sides, and doing considerable mischief by inflaming political animosities.

In 1647, she attached herself to the interests of the moderate Presbyterian party, which assembled at her house, and in the Second Civil War showed great zeal and activity in the royal cause, pawning her pearl necklace for £1500 to raise money for Lord Holland's troops, establishing communications with Prince Charles during his blockade of the Thames, and making herself the intermediary between the scattered bands of royalists and the queen. As a result, her arrest was ordered on 21 March 1649, and she was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she maintained a correspondence in code with the king through her brother, Lord Percy, until Charles went to Scotland. According to a royalist newsletter, while in the Tower, she was threatened with torture on the rack to gain information. She was released on bail on 25 September 1650, but appears never to have regained her former influence in the royalist counsels, and died soon after the Restoration.