Descriptive Summary
Administration Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Henrietta Hobart Howard, Countess of Suffolk papers
Dates: 1715-1824
Collection Number: mssHM 6659-6698
Creator OR Collector:
Suffolk, Henrietta Hobart Howard, Countess of, 1688?-1767
Extent:
40 items
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: Collection of letters to and from Henrietta Hobart Howard, Countess of Suffolk.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Administration Information
Access
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the
Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following
web
site
.
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Henrietta Hobart Howard, Countess of Suffolk papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Acquisition Information
Purchased from George D. Smith, 1920s.
Biographical Note
Henrietta Hobart, daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, 4th Bart., married in 1706 Charles Howard, afterward 9th Earl of Suffolk (1675-1733).
She was the acknowledged mistress of the Prince of Wales (afterward George II), and a Lady of the Bedchamber to his wife,
Princess (later Queen) Caroline. As such, the countess was much courted for favor and patronage, and was also well known in
literary circles of the time. She retired from Court in 1734, and the following year, married, for a second husband, the Hon.
George Berkeley (d. 1746). She died in 1767 at the age of 86. A selection of her letters, edited by John Wilson Croker, was
published in 1824.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of letters which shed light on the activities and social life of the Countess of Suffolk and her circle.
Included are an anonymous but purportedly first-hand account of the alleged murder of Samuel Molyneux by the physician Nathaniel
St. Andre, and Sir Walter Scott's autograph review of the 1824 edition of the publication of the Countess's letters. There
is little in the collection concerning George II or Court politics.
Indexing Terms
Personal Names
Berkeley, George, 1693?-1746
Molyneux, Samuel, 1689-1728
Scott, Walter, 1771-1832
St. André, Nathanael, 1680-1776
Suffolk, Henrietta Hobart Howard, Countess of, 1688?-1767
Subjects
Countesses -- Great Britain -- Correspondence
Women -- England -- Social life and customs -- 18th century
Genre
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 19th century