Bristol, Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of, 1720-1788

Elizabeth Chudleigh (c.1720-1788), courtier and bigamist, was the younger daughter and youngest child of Colonel Thomas Chudleigh (c.1688-1726), lieutenant-governor of Chelsea Hospital, and Henrietta Chudleigh (d. 1756) of Chalmington, Dorset. Her grandmother had been the author Mary Chudleigh. On August 4, 1744, Elizabeth secretly married Lieutenant the Hon. Augustus John Hervey RN (1724-1779). In 1768 Hervey, eager to marry another, pressed Elizabeth for a divorce and the case was brought to the consistory court, which ruled that the marriage had not taken place. On 8 March Elizabeth married the Evelyn Pierrepont, second duke of Kingston upon Hull (1712-1773). When the duke died in 1773, leaving her the income from his real estate for life as long as she remained a widow, his nephew and heir, Evelyn Medows, immediately disputed the will and had her indicted for bigamy. In April 1776, she was tried before her fellow peers in Westminster Hall. Though pronounced guilty, she escaped to Calais and never returned to Britain.

From the description of Account of her trial for bigamy, ca. 1776. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702184259