Robert Knight (1702–1772) was a wealthy, pompous young man who married Henrietta St John (1699–1756), half-sister of Lord Bolingbroke on June 10, 1727 in St George’s Hanover Square, when she was aged 28 and he was 25. His father was Robert Knight, cashier of the South Sea Company at the time the ‘Bubble’ burst, who was forced to flee from London early in 1721. Henrietta’s half-brother had also been involved with the scandal and he encouraged her marriage to the son of his friend, particularly as she was now aged 28 and seemed to view the young man with affection.
The newly weds were soon living with his parents in Paris, away from Henrietta’s friends. Her husband was often sent back to London on family business but her father-in-law was fond of Henrietta who was a social asset with her aristocratic connections. She returned to England for the birth of a son on Christmas Day 1728 and then a daughter Maddalena Henrietta (Harriot) who was born on November 21, 1729. The family insisted she return to Paris in May 1730 leaving the babies in the care of a dear friend Frances, Countess of Hertford.
However, her husband was not an affectionate man and they drifted apart. Henrietta was involved in scandal, and eventually her husband got a separation from her in 1736 and banished her to live at Barrells, a Knight property in Warwickshire. Harriot was taken away from her mother at the age of six and placed in the care of her grandfather, Viscount St.John.
In 1748 Harriot married Charles Wymondersold, the son of Matthew Wymondesold of The Grove, Wanstead, who had been the official broker to the South Sea Company. Although not an employee, he bought stock in the company to inflate the price, using money provided by the company’s bank. He did not purchase The Grove until after the ‘Bubble’ burst, but he may have rented the property before buying it. John Grigsby, accountant of the South Sea Co., and Robert Surman, deputy cashier of the South Sea Co., had both also lived in Wanstead in 1720.
Harriot was 19 when she married, and it seems likely it had been arranged by the two families to their mutual advantage. Charles was a sensible man aged 30, and maybe he seemed rather boring after her unconventional upbringing. Presumably they lived at The Grove in Wanstead, but within three years she had run off with Josiah Child, younger brother of John, 2nd Earl Tylney of Wanstead House.
Josiah and Harriot ran away together in 1751 but it was three years before her husband agreed to a divorce and they were able to marry. On January 28, 1754 Henrietta had a son, called Josiah, and she married his father on May 3, 1754. The couple wrote many letters back to England and some are preserved in the family archives. They seem to have been happy but found it difficult to live within their means, both being used to an extravagant lifestyle. The political situation in France seems to have made things difficult for them and in 1756 young Josiah was sent back to England to the care of his uncle, Lord Tylney.
But Sir John seems to have maintained a coolness with his brother and sister-in-law when it came to help with paying their debts. Josiah died of consumption at Lyons in 1760 and poor Harriot was devastated by the loss of her husband, leaving her unprotected in a foreign land. She was further distressed by the delay in arranging for the transportation of his body back to England where it was to be buried at Wanstead. Alone and very short of money, Henrietta married a third time before she herself died in 1763.
Georgina Green has been involved with local history in Redbridge, Waltham Forest and the Epping Forest area for 40 years and served as the honorary secretary of the Woodford Historical Society from 1987 to 2000. She is the author of several local history books and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2021.
https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/19919054.teenage-bride-ran-off-earl-wansteads-brother/
