Hester Cholmondeley

Hester Lisle née Cholmondeley (1755–1828) was an English noblewoman and courtier. She is noted for her role as lady in waiting to Caroline of Brunswick, and the evidence she gave in 1806 on the affairs with men involving the Princess, married to George, Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent). Background She was the daughter of George Cholmondeley, Viscount Malpas, born at Burhill, near Hersham, Surrey; her father's viscountcy was a courtesy title, and she was often given the derived courtesy title the Honourable, after her marriage being styled the Hon. Mrs Lisle. Her mother Hester Edwardes was the daughter of Sir Francis Edwardes, 4th Baronet, and his wife Hester Lacon, daughter of John Lacon of West Coppice, Buildwas. Hester Lisle, presumed by that time a widow (see below), was presented at court on 20 March 1794, with her daughter Marcia. She became a bedchamber woman to Caroline of Brunswick on the latter's arrival in England. Household of the Princess of Wales According to Alice Greenwood, in the early days of her marriage Princess Caroline replaced Mrs. Pelham among her bedchamber women, for "sufficiently good reasons", by Hester Lisle, known in service as Mrs. Lisle. Account books show Mrs. Lisle listed in the household as a bedchamber woman, from 1795 to 1809. In 1797 her brother George Cholmondeley, 4th Earl of Cholmondeley was Chamberlain of the household, and his wife the Countess of Cholmondeley was a Lady of the Bedchamber. From her 1806 deposition, Lisle attended (by 1802) the Princess three months a year. It appears from the diary of Lord Glenbervie that there was later (independent of formal job titles) a rota, in which the Lady of the Bedchamber role of Elizabeth Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon was nominal, and Lisle took monthly turns with Lady Glenbervie, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, and Lady Charlotte Campbell.