Berwick, Anna (Vernon), Baroness
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- Berwick, Anna (Vernon), Baroness
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(d. 1797), 2nd dau. of Henry Vernon of Hilton, Salop; m. 1768 Noel Hill (1745 - 89) who was cr. B. Berwick 1784; d. Manfredonia.
1792 - 3 Venice ( - 13 Oct. 1792), Rome (Nov.), Naples (Dec. 1792 - Mar. 1793), Florence (by 20 May)
1794 - 7 Turin (by 13 Nov. 1794), Rome ( - early Dec.), Naples (Dec. 1794 - Apr. 1795) [Ratisbon, Jul. - Nov. 1795] Venice (2 Dec. 1795 - 11 Jan. 1796), Milan (Jan. - Mar.), Naples (by Jul. 1796 - Mar. 1797), Manfredonia (d. Mar.)
Lady Berwick, a widow, set out from England with her three daughters, Henrietta Maria, Anne and Emily Hill. In October 1792 they were in Venice, leaving on the 13th1 to spend the winter in Naples. There they stayed at the Hotel Corcelli, where Robert Parker saw them,2 and where they were joined in December by her eldest son, Thomas, 2nd Baron Berwick. Henrietta became engaged to Lord Bruce, whom she married at La Quercia, just outside Florence, on 21 May 1793, attended by her mother and sisters, see Charles, Lord Bruce.
Lady Berwick and her two remaining daughters may then have left Italy, but by 13 November 1794 they were back in Turin, intending to go to Rome.3 They did not stay long in Rome, and by early December they were on their way to Naples to visit Henrietta, Lady Bruce.4 From July to November 1795 they were at Ratisbon, where they attracted the attention of Betsey Wynne. Lady Berwick was 'very amiable and gay', although 'some says she is a devil it may be but certainly has affects quite the contrary and is very kind to everybody', but her daughters did not pass muster. 'I dont care for them a pin, they never talk and looks so stupid as can be'; Anne was 'ugly and very plain', although Emily had 'a beautiful figure [and] seems much more aimiable than her sister'. On 11 November 1795 Betsey said Lady Berwick and her two daughters were about to return to Italy.5
Lady Berwick described their subsequent movements in a series of letters to Lady Bruce (Attingham MSS; dates cited in brackets). With her daughters she returned to Venice on 2 December 1795, and stayed over Christmas. She complained of the cold and a lack of company: 'there [is] not one English person here except Ly Herries' (23 Dec.), but at least Lady Knight was favourably impressed with Anne and Emily, calling them 'two beautiful and excellent daughters'.6 Lady Berwick sought a suitable son-in-law: Sir Richard Worsley was divorced, otherwise 'I was thinking he wd just do for A[nne] as she loves Venice so much & he is rather old than young' (11 Dec. 1795). But a few weeks later, Anne's only topic in a letter was music in Venice (1 Jan. 1796). Subsequent letters reflect the uncertainty felt by all English travellers at that time as the French advanced. From Milan Lady Berwick wrote (10 Mar. 1796): 'I am really like ye Iresolu in ye Play, I shall at last take a sudden resolution & be off for I have no soul to consult, there is no talking with Anne about England as you know, this place however I detest, & will leave as soon as I can without dying of ye cold on ye road'. By July 1796 they had settled in Naples, where other English travellers were gathering. Emily acquired a drawing master as Lady Berwick described (6 Jul. 1796): 'the moonlight man is much improved. I have got a little view of a well known spot for you if I can get it safe to England. Emily is learning of him, has done two pretty things'.
The following March, on her way back to England, Lady Berwick died and was buried at Manfredonia on the Adriatic coast (see Leveson Vernon). Lady Knight told Thomas Brand that 'Naples had disagreed with her. She amended at Rome, but mistaking kindness filld her breast with terrors and drove her back to Naples from thence she set out to get her children home, alass - the young Ladys were sent back to Naples and Sir W. Hamilton took them under his protection.'7 Emily and Anne remained in Hamilton's care at Naples until the arrival of their brother Lord Berwick. They were then escorted northwards, experiencing 'great imposition and impertinence in Piedmont', but arriving safely in Lausanne at the end of 1797.8 Emily and Anne were both to die unmarried in England.
1. ASV IS 765, 766. 2. Parker list MSS. 3. Knight Letters, 203. 4. Attingham MSS (Ldy. Knight, 5 Dec. 1794). 5. Wynne Diaries, 2:36 - 7, 51. Attingham MSS (Ldy. Berwick, 8 Nov. 1795). 6. Knight Letters, 211. 7. Attingham MSS (13 May 1797). See Wynne Diaries, 2:175 (7 Apr. 1797). 8. Attingham MSS (C. Knight, 16 Dec. 1797).