Henrietta Berkeley

Lady Henrietta Berkeley (–1706) was an English aristocrat notorious for having an affair with her elder sister's husband, Lord Grey of Warke. The affair began in 1681 when Berkeley was not yet an adult and was discovered by her mother the following year. Berkeley was removed to the family seat at Epsom. She escaped and went into hiding in lodging houses in London, under the protection of Grey. Her father, George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, sued her lover in a trial which became a sensation in 1682. At the court of the King's Bench, Berkeley claimed to have left home with Grey of her own free will and also to have married William Turner, who was Grey's servant. After a scuffle with her father outside court, she was briefly imprisoned with Turner for her own safety. When Grey was implicated in the Rye House Plot the following year, the couple fled to Cleves, with Turner in their entourage. At the time, Berkeley was pregnant and it is not known if she returned to England with Grey for the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685. She died in London in 1706. Scandal Lady Henrietta Berkeley was born to Lady Elizabeth and George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley, in 1664 or later. She was one of six daughters and there were also two sons. At some point in 1681, Berkeley began an affair with Ford Grey, Lord Grey of Warke, who was married to her elder sister Lady Mary. The affair was discovered by her suspicious mother, Lady Elizabeth, in 1682, when she sent another sister (Lady Arabella) to check for evidence in Berkeley's room at Berkeley House (later Devonshire House) in London. A letter was discovered in which Berkeley had written "My sister Bell did not suspect our being together last night; for she did not hear the noise. Pray come again Sunday or Monday; if the last, I shall be very impatient". Lady Elizabeth banned the lovers from seeing each other and took Berkeley to the family seat at Durdans in Epsom, outside London. Lady Mary was also there and she invited her husband to visit, not knowing about his adultery. Lady Elizabeth had been too mortified to tell either Lady Mary or the Earl of Berkeley about the scandal and therefore was forced to host Grey for several days. When he left, Berkeley escaped from the house the same night and followed him back to London.