3 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Sir Henry Felton, 2nd Baronet (27 July 1619 - 20 October 1690) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1656 and 1679. In 1660, Felton was elected MP for Suffolk in the Convention Parliament. He was re-elected in 1661 for the Cavalier Parliament and sat until 1679. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_…

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Why was Sir Henry Felton, MP bringing news of the battle? According to Wikipedia, he was also Vice Admiral for Suffolk from 1660 - 1683.

Henry Felton took no part in the Civil War, and in 1656 was elected to Parliament for the Suffolk county office under the Protectorate.

By the summer of 1659 Henry Felton MP had become an active Royalist. Since his wife was Susanna Tollemache Felton, perhaps his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Murray Tollemache (who was closely affiliated with the Sealed Knot) had something to do with that? ... Elizabeth Murray Tollemache goes on to marry the Duke of Lauderdale (who you will remember digging for treasure with Pepys at the Tower of London a while back).

Henry Felton's daughter-in-law was the beauty, Betty Howard Felton, disinherited daughter of James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk and another Barbara Villiers (aunt of our Barbara Villiers Palmer), who eloped with his son Thomas when she was 15.

Mother Barbara Villiers was daughter of Edward Villiers, brother of George, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

The gorgeous Betty Felton goes to court and the men notice. In her short life she was the on-again-off-again mistress to the Duke of Monmouth, and another cousin, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester -- and some other nobles I have yet to investigate.

It's such a small gene pool when you look into the relationships. While Sir Henry Felton MP might appear to play a small bit part in history, his ability to reach people and influence events should not be underestimated.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I omitted to clarify that mother Barbara Villiers was one of the controversial ladies-in-waiting and Groom of the Stool to Queen Catherine of Braganza.

The man was connected.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1665

  • Jun