Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/30

 14 DACRE SUSSEX. He was Gent, of the Bedchamber 1680 to i685.(=) He m., 16 May 1674, at Hampton Court (she aged 12, and with a dower of ^20,000 from the King, which dower is still unpaid), Anne Palmer, otherwise Fitzroy,('') ist da. of the notorious Barbara, suo jure Duchess of Cleveland, her paternity being claimed by Charles 11 and acknowledged by Roger (Palmer), Earl of Castlemaine [I.], who was not at the time of her birth separated from her said mother. He was a strong Protestant, and actively promoted the Revolution in i688.('') In Dec. of that year his wife finally separated from him and joined the Court of her uncle, the exiled King at St. Germain. ('') W&d. s.p.m.s., at Chevening, 30 Oct., and was bur. there 1 1 Nov. 1715, aged 61, when the Earldom of Sussex became f^c/iw/, and the Barony ofDacre fell into aZ-i^yawt^ between his two daughters. Admon. 14N0V. 1715. His widow, who was b. 1^ Feb. 1661/2, and who by royal warrant, 28 Feb. 1 672/3, under the name of " the Lady Anne Fitzroy " had a grant of Arms, d. 16 May 1722, and was bur. at Linsted, Kent, aged 60. Will pr. I722.(*) (*) Through litigation, reckless extravagance, and losses by gambling, he had to sell, in 1708, Hurstmonceaux and other estates. The castle had been built in 1460 by Roger Fiennes. Acting on the unfortunate advice of the architect Wyatt, in 1775, the Rev. Robert Hare, the then owner, gutted this magnificent edifice and used the materials to build the house now (1914) known as Hurstmonceaux Place. His son sold the property in 1807 for ^60,000 to Mr. Kemp, M.P. for Lewes. V.G. C") The following extraordinary extract is given in Lysons' Environs, 1790, from the registers of Hampton, Midx.: "the Rt. Hon. Thomas Dakers, Earl of Sessex and the Lady Anne Marito, married Aug. 11, 167 1." In that year this Earldom did not exist, while the Lady Anne Fitzroy was certainly unm. in Feb. 1672/3. (<=) He afterwards voted with the Tories, and signed the protests against Fenwick's attainder, Sacheverell's impeachment, and the address condemning the Peace of Utrecht. V.G. {^) Early in 1677, being dissatisfied with his wife's conduct, and especially with her intimacy with the vicious Duchess of Mazarin, he removed her, going very un- willingly, from the Court to Hurstmonceaux. After amusing herself for a time with hunting, hawking, " nyne pinns," " crekitt matches," iffc, she became quite tired both of the country and of her husband, and before the end of the year definitely left him to go and live with her mother in Paris. During that lady's temporary absence she sup- planted her in the affections of Ralph Montagu (afterwards Duke of Montagu), then ambassador there, who lived with her " in open scandal, to the wonder of the French Court, and the high displeasure of this." (Letter of Henry Savile, 2 July 1678, Hist. MSS. Com., Lord Bath's MSS., vol. ii, p. 166). About 1681 she returned to England, and resumed cohabitation with her husband, and about this time Rochester joins her name with Cleveland, Portsmouth, Nell Gwynne, and others in his poem as " Strangers to good but bosom friends to ill. As boundless in their lusts as in their will." Judging from her portrait at Belhus, by the Swedish painter, M. Dahl, she must have been very handsome. She was as profligate as might have been expected from her birth and surroundings. V.G. (*) Her property consisted of ^^4,050 nominal of South Sea Stock, which at the date of her death must have been almost valueless. V.G.