Lot 52
Annandale, Charlotte Johnstone, née van Lore van den Bempde, Dowager Marchioness of (1700-1762)
Collection of her correspondence
Auction: 02 October 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
12 letters addressed to her as the Marchioness of Annandale, with 7 letters addressed solely to 'Madam' and 'Your Ladyship' but presumed addressed to her (2 of these docketed 'anserd', with the date, in her hand), correspondents include Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (2 autograph letters signed, from Powis House, 1755-8), Lady Hardwicke, Margaret Dalzell (probably the fourth wife of Robert Dalzell, former Earl of Carnwath, attainted for his role in the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion, the letter dated Kirkmichael, 1748), Charlotte's son Richard, one Catherine Treadway of Tewksebury, and others, the letters written to her at Comlongon Castle, Turnham Green, and elsewhere, on social engagements, illness, etc., one letter (from one L Johnston, Twickenham, 7th Apri 1741 concerning important political and military developments, e.g. a report of Admiral Haddock taking two ships 'worth £20,000 each', various aristocratic weddings). Together with: an autograph letter signed from the Dowager Marchioness of Annandale (Comlongon, 1741); approx. 50 further letters mainly to or from members of the Johnstone family, mainly 18th and 19th century (e.g. from R. Johnstone at Poonah, India, 1847), a few items early 20th century (e.g. from 'Fred', newly appointed assistant agent, Silchar, India); a few documents relating to the family; and several 18th-century covers addressed to the Marchioness of Annandale (a folder)
Footnote
Charlotte van Lore van den Bempde was the daughter of wealthy London merchant John van den Bempde. (Her compound maiden name is recorded in various formulations.) In 1718 and without her father's permission she became the second wife of William Johnstone, 1st Marquess of Annandale, a repented Jacobite almost 40 years her senior who had escaped punishment for his involvement in the Montgomery plot by turning informant. After William's death in 1721, Charlotte married Colonel John Johnstone of Westerhall, who died at Carthagena in 1741 during the War of Jenkins' Ear.