Cromwell, Elizabeth, Baroness Cromwell (1674 -1709)

Elizabeth Baroness Cromwell, of Wimbleton in Surrey, was the only daughter and heir of Vere Essex Cromwell, 4th Earl of Ardglass, Viscount Lecale, and Baron Cromwell of Oakham, and Catherine, daughter of James Hamilton Esq, of Newcastle, County Down. She assumed the style of Baroness Cromwell on the death of her father 26 November 1687, in the erroneous belief that the Barony was one in fee, created by a supposed writ of 28 April 1539, instead of one in tail male, created by a patent of 18 December 1540. She married, 29 October 1704, Edward Southwell, one of the Clerks of the Privy Council and Secretary of State for Ireland, and died of tuberculosis 31 March 1709. Her son and grandson never assumed the title, but the abeyance of the Barony of De Clifford was terminated in favour of the latter in 1775. The Library of Edward Southwell, 21st Baron De Clifford was sold by Christie & Manson 2 December 1833. The Dryden work appears in the catalogue, but not John Foxe’s.