Harriot Eliot Neale (1731 - 1776)
Harriot was the third child and second daughter of Richard Eliot and Harriot Craggs, known to family and friends as "Hally".
According to her mother's entry in the family Bible, Hally was born at Molenick, on 15 Dec 1731, at half past two o'clock in the morning and baptised two days later at St. German's. Very little is known about Harriot's childhood. Like her sisters, she played whist, danced the minuet and was inoculated for small pox*.
An amusing incident occurred in early 1748, when the British Foreign Minister in Switzerland approached Richard Eliot (through his son, Edward, who was studying in Bern at the time) about paying his addresses to one of the older Eliot girls. Edward forwarded John Burnaby's request to his father, saying that Burnaby was willing to come to England for a few months in order to meet Anne and Harriot in person. Edward warned Burnaby that he did not think his parents would care to have either daughter living in Europe but went on to forward the request to Port Eliot, with his own letter stating that he felt Burnaby was too old for his sisters (being about forty-five years of age). Edward even admitted that Harriot would probably have suited Burnaby – had the gentleman been twenty years younger! Richard immediately answered Burnaby's letter and sent a missive to his son, stating that he was "at as great a loss how to answer it as you were in what manner to write it, whether in a grave or merry style. The subject is certainly very serious, but some circumstances that attend it are odd and drole enough. I laugh'd most heartily on reading them, but Mamma was not at all affected in the same manner . . . It is most certain that neither of your sisters will go abroad to be married to a man they never saw. Good husbands, I hope, are not so scarce in England as to force to such a step."
Unfortunately, Hally's father only lived another six months after this "odd and drole" incident, "a consumption" carrying him away in November 1748. Mr. Burnaby, undeterred by the deceased's answer, wrote again, shortly after Richard's death, to ask if Edward or his mother would mind if he paid addresses to one of the sisters. The 47-year-old Diplomat was refused again. Another proposal in the family had, however, met with favorable response. One year after the death of her husband, Hally's widowed mother married Captain John Hamilton, a very close friend of Richard's and someone Hally had known and loved all of her young life. Captain Hamilton was a loving stepfather who devoted his own short life to the Royal Navy and the happiness of his new family.
Harriot Eliot married Pendock Neale, on 3 Apr 1753, at St. George's Chapel in New Windsor, Berkshire. While "Mrs. Neale" was mentioned many times in various family letters after that, Mr. Neale was only mentioned once – as "that wretch Neale". In her Will dated 1769, Harriot's grandmother, Hester Booth, showed her opinion of the Harriot's marriage by leaving a quarter of her sizeable estate to her granddaughter, "for her own sole and separate use and benefit, notwithstanding her Coverture".
Just months after the death of her mother in 1769, Harriot visited St. Petersburg, Russia, for an extended stay of nearly a year. While there, she engaged her time in painting watercolours, which she gave to her older sister, Anne Bonfoy. These paintings were later willed by Mrs. Bonfoy to their older brother, Edward, Lord Eliot, and must be hiding in some portfolio or attic at Port Eliot – undiscovered treasures by this long-forgotten and much-loved sister.
Throughout her married life, Harriot visited her mother and siblings quite often. Pendock Neale owned Ince Castle in Cornwall, situated just a few miles from Port Eliot, so it would not have been a long trip home. In their turn, Harriot's sisters often recorded visits to her. In fact, Harriot's younger sister, Elizabeth, gave birth to her first child at Ince Castle.
Pendock Neale died in November 1772 at Ince Castle. Since he and Harriot never had any children, the property passed to a nephew. Indeed, the bequests in Neale's Will bespeak the "wretchedness" of this man. To his wife of nearly twenty years, this man (possessed of an estate encompassing properties and holdings in four counties) left a single payment of £500 (with £1,000 to a niece). No house, no belongings, just paltry sum of £500. (The rest of his instructions were equally odious, but the neglect of his wife seems noteworthy.) Harriot rented a house on Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, in London, where she spent the remainder of her days.
Over the next two years, Harriot's health steadily declined. On 04 Jul 1775, she wrote her last Will & Testament, closing it with "And now, not knowing how or how soon my present illness may end, most heartily thankful if forever, yet most willing to resign my spirit unto God who gave it." Not four months later, she penned this opening to a Codicil: "Having given up the expectation of recovering my health, and entertaining a strong hope in the mercies of my God that my sufferings shall not be of much longer duration, I take up pen to write the little codicil mentioned in my will. I have delayed finishing this too long and believe I have not time." Just 15 weeks later, her merciful God ended her sufferings, and she passed away, on 22 Jan 1776, at her home on Henrietta Street.
In her Will, Harriot left burial instructions, wanting her body to be wrapped in a "blue woolen" shroud, her coffin to be covered in the same – and not wanting more than £40 spent on the entire funeral. She was buried (by request) five days later in the Chancel at St. Mary's Church in North Mymms, beside her sister, Elizabeth. Years later, someone erected a large memorial tablet inside the Church, above which are three small urns, each bearing an individual inscription:
Near to each other within this Chancel lie buried the remains of Mrs Elizabeth COCKS, Mrs Harriet NEAL and the Honorable Mary Judith COCKS. The two former were daughters of Richard ELIOT Esq., sisters of Edward Lord ELIOT. They both experienced sufferings which they bore with fortitude and resignation and through the whole of their lives their conduct was such as rendered them deservedly loved by their relations and friends and respected by the world. Mary Judith COCKS was the eldest daughter of Charles, Lord SOMMERS, by his first wife Elizabeth above mentioned. She had lively parts, a good understanding and the best of dispositions and died of a violent and sudden disorder in the bloom of youth. Universally esteemed and lamented.
E.C. obit. Jan. 1 1771 aet. 31
M.J.C. obit Sept. 6 1785 aet. 23
H.N. obit Jan. 22 1776 aet. 45
*April of 1748 found Edward, the eldest Eliot son, away on his continental tour and the rest of the family in their London home on Jermyn Street. In a letter to Edward, Richard conveys the news that four of the children had recently been inoculated with a live smallpox vaccine. "Your Momma received last night your kind epistles, just as she sat down to play a rubber at whist with Mr. Hamilton, Nancy, and Harriot, for the first time after their recovery of the smallpox." He went on to explain that Jack and Kitty had also been inoculated, in what a favorable manner they'd had the distemper, how it turned on the seventh day, and how their beauties remained.
