Elizabeth (Wynne) Fremantle (1778 - 1857)

Born 19 Apr 1778 in Folkingham, Lincolnshire, England

Wife of Thomas Francis Fremantle MP RN — married 12 Jan 1797 (to 19 Dec 1819) in Naples, Italy

Descendants

Died 2 Nov 1857 at age 79 in Nice, France

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Biography

Elizabeth (Wynne) Fremantle is Notable.

Elizabeth Wynne, daughter of Richard Wynne and his wife, Camille de Royer was born at Folkingham in Lincolnshire on 19 April 1778. Financially embarrassed, her father sold his estates in 1786 and took his family abroad. They were at Livorno when the French invasion of Italy in 1796 led to them being rescued by the Royal Navy. At Naples in the home of the British envoy, Sir William Hamilton and his wife, Emma, she married her rescuer, Captain Thomas Fremantle, close friend of Horatio Nelson on 12 January 1797. ^[1]Prince Augustus was his best man.

Elizabeth soon learned about the life of a navy wife for later that year Fremantle and Nelson were both involved in the disastrous amphibious attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Both were wounded in the arm. Nelson's arm was amputated but, even though Fremantle's was saved, it was never restored to its full use. Both men were returned to England aboard HMS Seahorse, cared for by Betsey whose ministrations had returned them to health by the time they reached Spithead.

Back in England, Thomas bought the manor of Swanbourne in Buckinghamshire. Cosmopolitan, Catholic and multi-lingual (she wrote in English, French and German) it must have been a strange, if not difficult, way of life for Elizabeth at first especially as her husband was at sea so much. It wasn't until 1806 when he was elected Member of Parliament for Sandwich that Thomas was home for any considerable period. His election had come as a result of their friendship with a neighbour, the 1st Marquess of Buckingham.

Elizabeth is best known for the Wynne Diaries first published in the 1930s. The bulk of the material is Elizabeth's running from 1789 to 1857 but includes diaries of her sisters, Eugenia and Harriet.

Elizabeth died in Nice on 2 November 1857.

Sources

1. ↑ History of Parliament online: FREMANTLE, Thomas Francis (1765-1819), of Swanbourne, Bucks

• Wikipedia biography

• E. H. Chalus, ‘Fremantle , Elizabeth , Lady Fremantle (1778–1857)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oct 2007; online edn, May 2009 accessed 24 Aug 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes.

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 20 () Fremantle, Thomas Francis by John Knox Laughton

• Betsey Wynne 1778 – 1857 Swanbourne History

• The-Swanbourne-Fremantles By Ken Harris. [1]