John Wilmot (1647 - 1680)

Born 10 Apr 1647 in Ditchley House, Oxfordshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 26 Jul 1680 at age 33 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England

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Biography

John Wilmot is Notable.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester was the son of Royalist Henry Wilmot and his wife, Anne St John. He was born on the 10th of April 1647 probably at Ditchley House in Gloucestershire ^[1] at a time when it appears his father was in Paris with the exiled court of Queen Henrietta Maria. ^[2] His mother took him to Paris to join her husband and there they were joined by her sons from her first marriage, Henry and Francis Lee. John's father was created Earl of Rochester in 1652 for his services to Charles II after the Battle of Worcester. His mother tired of Paris and by April 1655 she and John were back at Ditchley.^[1] With his father's death in 1658 John became Earl of Rochester. He began his formal education at Wadham College, Oxford on the 18th of January 1660.^[1]

With the 1660 restoration a grateful King granted him a pension of £500 and in 1661 sent him on the grand tour. The 17 year old made his debut at the restoration court on Christmas day 1664 and was soon in trouble. He attempted to abduct the wealthy Elizabeth Malet, daughter of John Malet and his wife, Untia Hawley, as recorded by Samuel Pepys. ^[3] John was soon forgiven by the king and volunteered to serve at sea under the Earl of Sandwich during the second Anglo-Dutch War.

He resumed his courtship of Elizabeth and they eloped, being married on the 29th of January 1666/7. ^[4] Together they had a son, Charles, and three daughters, Anne, Elizabeth and Malet.

Wilmot was a notorious rake and libertine poet, said to have been the lover of actresses Nell Gwyn and Elizabeth Barry. According to the ODNB he was father of Elizabeth's daughter, Betty, born in 1677. ^[5]

John died on July the 26th 1680 ^[6] at the age of 33 at High Lodge, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. ^[7] He was buried in the churchyard of All Saints at Spelsbury in Oxfordshire. ^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Wilmot, John, second earl of Rochester (1647–1680) Frank H. Ellis
2. ↑ Wikipedia: Henry Wilmot 1st Earl of Rochester
3. ↑ 28 May 1665 "Thence to my Lady Sandwich's, where, to my shame, I had not been a great while before. Here, upon my telling her a story of my Lord Rochester's running away on Friday night last with Mrs Mallet, the great beauty and fortune of the North, who had supped at Whitehall with Mrs Stewart, and was going home to her lodging with her grandfather, my Lord Haly, by coach; and was at Charing Cross seized on by both horse and foot men, and forcibly taken from him, and put into a coach with six horses, and two women provided to receive her, and carried away. Upon immediate pursuit, my Lord of Rochester (for whom the King had spoken to the lady often, but with no success) was taken to Uxbridge; but the lady is not yet heard of, and the King mighty angry, and the Lord sent to the Tower. Hereupon my lady did confess to me, as a great secret, her being concerned in this story. For if this match breaks between my Lord Rochester and her, then, by consent of all her friends my Lord Hinchingbrooke stands fair, and is invited for her. She is worth, and will be at her mother's death (who keeps but little from her) £2500 per annum." "The Diary of Samuel Pepys MA FRS" Bohn's Standard Library. Edited by Henry B Wheatley. George Bell and Sons, London 1913. Transcribed by Rev Mynors Bright, MA. Originally published 1893-1899. 8 volumes.
4. ↑ Marriage bond [1]
5. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Barry, Elizabeth (1656x8–1713) Paula R. Backscheider
6. ↑ Chalmers General Biographical Dictionary [2]
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/wilmot.htm

See also

• A Martyr to Sin By WALTER CLEMONS

• Thepeerage.com: John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester Cites: 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 XI, page 47

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 62 Wilmot, John (1647-1680) by Sidney Lee