Elizabeth Eliot (1722 - 1723)

Elizabeth was the first daughter and second child of Edward Eliot and Elizabeth Craggs.

Individual Facts:
Father: Edward Eliot
Mother: Elizabeth Craggs

Birth: 09 Jul 1722 [1]
Baptism: 03 Aug 1722 at St. Germans, Cornwall, [1]
Death: 05 Feb 1722/23 [2]
Burial: Feb 1722/23 in Eliot Family Vault, St. German's Church, St. Germans, Cornwall [3]

In the church at St. Germans is a large marble monument by Rysbrack, erected by Elizabeth Eliot, in memory of her late husband, Edward. Their infant daughter, Elizabeth, was mentioned in the Latin inscription as follows:

Ex qua Jacobum, Filium et Haeredem, adleuc Superstitem;
Et Elizabetham fato perfunctam Vo. Feb. MDCCXXII.

Tranlated, this states that Elizabeth died on the 5th of February 1722/23 (highlighting error in the parish register). Elizabeth's parish register gives a burial date of 24 Jan 1722/23. This is the only baptismal entry in the register between the thirteenth of January and the nineteenth of March, suggesting that it was belatedly (and erroneously) entered after Elizabeth's actual burial. Since Elizabeth's mother commissioned this monument in 1723, it seems safe to assume that she knew her daughter's death date, and that the transcription of the register is wrong.

Elizabeth Eliot appears in two portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller and a smaller family group portrait by Charles Jervas, all of which are part of the Port Eliot collection. The Charles Jervas painting was engraved in 1726 by George Vertue. Since Elizabeth is shown in the same dress and position in all of the portraits, it is safe to presume that some of these pictures may have been finished posthumously. She was only two months old at the time of her father's death, so it is likely that the family portrait by Jervas and the large Kneller portrait showing Elizabeth with her mother and father were commissioned after the death of Edward and baby Elizabeth. Only the Kneller portrait of Edward and Elizabeth Eliot with their daughter was dated, but this was added years later and incorrectly marked as 1719 (wrongly dating the painting to shortly after the Eliots were married, and before the birth of either of their children). This same painting was also, at one time, mistakenly identified as being a portrait of Elizabeth's older brother, James. Of note is the small red coral teething toy shown in the hand of baby Elizabeth in both of the Kneller portraits. These teethers were common throughout the 17th and 18th centuries but are rarely seen in portraits.

Sources:
1 "GM of Eliot and Craggs" (Pedigree of the Noble Family of Eliot) Page 14
2 "A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall" Vol. 2, by Joseph Polsue, W. Lake; 1868, page 41-2 (Monumental Inscriptions in the Church at St. Germans).
3 Memorial Plaque in the Church at St. Germans