Lady Elizabeth Craven

Craven, Lady Elizabeth (baroness, afterwards margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Bayreuth) née Berkeley, 1750—1828

by Benjamin Colbert

Lady Elizabeth Berkeley, afterwards Lady Craven, was the youngest daughter of Augustus, fourth earl of Berkeley (1716–55) and Elizabeth, countess of Berkeley (1719/20–92). At the age of 17, she married William Craven, later sixth Baron Craven (d. 1791), which whom she had 7 children before they were separated in 1783 after infidelities on both sides. Lady Elizabeth relocated then to Versailles, France, where she met Christian Frederick Charles Alexander (d. 1806), margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Bayreuth, whom she married upon the deaths of the margravine and her husband, Lord Craven, in 1791. From 1783 to 1786 she travelled extensively in Europe and Turkey. Already an author since the 1770s, she appears to have acted on Walpole's suggestion in 1787 that she write an account of her travels, A Journey through the Crimea (1789) being the result and the chief foundation of her reputation as a writer. After her marriage to the margrave, she returned with him to England where they remained until his death in 1806. In 1807, she left England to take possession of her husband's property in Ansbach, which she used as a base for further travels to France and Italy, eventually settling in Italy from 1819 until her death.

Sources:

Turner, Katherine. 'Elizabeth [née Lady Elizabeth Berkeley], margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Bayreuth [other married name Elizabeth Craven, Lady Craven] (1750–1828), travel writer and society hostess'. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 27 May 2010. Oxford University Press. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/576

[see updates]