Elizabeth Freke

Elizabeth Freke (1641–1714) was an English memoirist and poet, known for her diaries and remembrances, but also for a collection of recipes covering medicine and cooking. Her poetry includes a dramatic dialogue between Eve and the Serpent of Eden. Family and life Elizabeth Freke was born in 1641 in Hannington, Wiltshire into the wealthy Royalist household of Ralph Freke and Cicely Culpeper. Her mother, one of the eight daughters of Sir Thomas Colepeper of Hollingbourne, died when she was just seven years old, leaving her the eldest woman in the house of her four sisters (including Frances, later Lady Norton). She was brought up mainly by an aunt in Kent. Her father was a lawyer in London, England who had an estate in both Kent and Wiltshire in later years. The estate also belonged to Elizabeth's maternal aunt. In 1672, Freke married at the age of 30 her second cousin, Percy Freke of Rathbury Castle, County Cork, Ireland, after seven years of courtship. The wedding took place "withoutt my deer Fathers Consentt or knowledg. In A most dreadfull Raynie day." At the time, this was considered to be a relatively late age for a woman to marry and start a family. They were believed to have married for love in Covent Garden. On 2 June 1675 she gave birth to their only son Ralph Freke. The marriage between Elizabeth and Percy was not very happy and often the topic of diary entries. In fact, they did not live in the same household for much of their marriage. She was estranged from her son due to their living apart for months at a time. Elizabeth spent most of her time in a Norfolk estate given to her by her father. At one point later in the marriage, Percy returned to Ireland and left Elizabeth with her son and scarcely any money. She then left to visit her sister until 1685, and her son shortly after fell ill with smallpox, but recovered. In 1704, Percy came to live with Elizabeth in Norfolk, but due to illness, he died in her arms two years later.