(1753 - 1842), e. dau. of 4th E. of Bristol; m. 1776 John Creighton [Crichton], c.1738 - 1828, 2nd B. Erne (Vct. Erne 1781, 1st E. Erne [I] 1789) of Crom Castle, Fermanagh, as his 2nd wife.
1785 - 90 Genoa, Leghorn (28 Dec. 1785), Florence (Jan. 1786), Rome (by 17 Jan. - 8 Feb. - ), Leghorn (by Jun.), Genoa [Switzerland (Aug. - Sep.)] Rome (winter 1786 - 90) with visits to Naples (Jan. 1787), Florence (1788) and Bologna (14 Oct. 1789) [Venice (21 May 1790)]
Described as 'quiet, sensible, not handsome, but genteel and unaffected',1 she had made an unsuccessful marriage. In 1778 her father commented to Lady Elizabeth Foster that her poor sister was 'exhausted, worn out, and can no more. He [Lord Erne] tries her to atoms by his silly difficulties and his endless irresolutions. Great God, how ill she is matched'.2 Rather than seeking a divorce, Lady Erne took to travelling with her only daughter, Lady Caroline (b. 1779).
She accompanied her father, the 4th Earl of Bristol, to Italy late in 1785. Henry Quin saw them all together in Rome on 17 January 1786.3 When her father returned home, Lady Erne and her young daughter travelled northwards, going from Leghorn to Genoa with her sister-in-law Lady Hervey (see John, Lord Hervey). They went on to Evian-les-Bains. In a large miniature by Ludwig Guttenbrunn dated 1786 (priv. coll.), dateable late August/early September, she is seen taking tea with the Prince and Princess of Piedmont, with Lady Hervey, Lady Caroline and her niece the Hon. Elizabeth Hervey.4
Lady Erne and her daughter returned to Rome for the winter of 1786 - 7 and they apparently made Rome their home for about four years. They visited Naples in January 1787 when they were again with John, Lord Hervey, and Lady Hervey.5 In December 1787 Lady Erne and Lady Hervey were noticed in Rome.6 In 1788 Lady Erne and Lady Caroline were in Florence with her brother John, Lord Hervey; here Lady Caroline again met her aunt, Lady Hervey, and her cousin, the Hon. Elizabeth Hervey. They returned to Rome for the winter of 1788 - 9.7 The bust of Lady Caroline by Hewetson (priv. coll.),8 was presumably done in this period, and Lady Caroline also sat to Carlo Labruzzi (the portrait untraced), whose death she lamented when she was back in Rome (as Lady Wharncliffe) for her last visit in 1818.9 A drawing of a female figure surrounded by putti, with the aquatint from it signed and dated the Hon. Caroline Creighton, Roma, 1789, was formerly in Paul Opp?'s collection. On 14 October 1789 Lady Erne, her daughter and Mr Hervey (presumably Frederick William) stayed at the Hotel S.Marco at Bologna.(10) In December 1789 the 4th Earl of Bristol was back in Rome and it was presumably he who then commissioned H.D. Hamilton to paint the two charming whole-length portraits of Lady Erne and her daughter (priv. coll.). A third portrait by Hamilton shows the 4th Earl with his grand-daughter (NGI).
'Il Cavaliere Erle, con sua moglie' in Venice on 21 May 1790 were conceivably the Ernes.(11)
1. Riviere 1964, 361 (A. Aufrere, 7 Jan. 1786). 2. Childe-Pemberton, 2:218. 3. Quin jnl.MSS. 4. M. Wynne, Irish Arts Review, 1iii[1984]:44 - 6. Storia Patria, 9 - 4:100, 102. 5. World Fashionable Advertiser, 5 Feb. 1787. 6. Lloyd jnl.MSS (6 Dec. 1787). 7. Danby jnl.MSS (8 Dec. 1788, 6 Mar. 1789). 8. Hewetson 1986, 64, no.5. 9. F.J.B. Watson, Antique Collector, Jun. 1960, 222. 10. Young, Travels, 289. 11. ASV IS 759.
M. W.