This letter reveals the importance of women in the marchioness’s social and political network during the crises of the mid-17th century.

In May 1660, Charles Stuart was about to be restored as king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In early May, the Convention Parliament proclaimed that Charles II had been the lawful monarch since the execution of his father on 30 January 1649. When writing this letter to her agent Stephen Smith, the marchioness clearly knew that the Restoration was imminent – yet she remained ever alert to the risk of interception.

Her letter contains instructions purporting to be for a cousin, whom she names Lady Turner: this was apparently a code name for the marquis, who was returning to London for the Restoration. In the letter Elizabeth provides a list of friends that her husband should visit on her behalf as a sign of appreciation for their help and support during the Interregnum. They are all female.

The list reveals an astounding network of elite women spanning the three kingdoms. Elizabeth names the dowager countess of Devonshire, Christian (Christiana) Cavendish, née Bruce (1595–1675); the dowager countess of Derby, Charlotte Stanley, née de La Trémoille (1599–1664), and her two daughters, the countess of Strafford, Henrietta Maria Wentworth, née Stanley (1630–85), and the marchioness of Dorchester, Katherine Pierrepont, née Stanley (b.1631); the dowager countess of Peterborough, Elizabeth Mordaunt, née Howard (1603–71); Viscountess Ranelagh, Katherine Jones, née Boyle (1615–91); the elder Lady Anne Savile, née Coventry (d.1662); and the countess of Dysart, Elizabeth Tollemache, née Murray (1626–98). All part of British high society, the named women included Royalist conspirators, intelligencers, and spies – Devonshire and Dysart falling into the latter category. Most of them were politically active during the civil wars, and Derby and Savile had even engaged in military activity in the king’s name. However, at least one, Ranelagh, was a Parliamentarian sympathiser, and Dysart had been close to Cromwell.

The women were important figures during the wars and Interregnum, either through their familial associations or in their own right, so they were well placed to offer political support during the marchioness’s time of need. The nature of their friendship is frustratingly unsubstantiated, both in this letter and elsewhere in her correspondence, with the exception of Ranelagh. She seems to be the only one of the group with any interest or influence in Ireland, and this perhaps explains why she is the one whose support is most fully documented in the letters.

This letter simply lists the women without any additional context, which implies that the marquis understood why he was being asked to visit them, but also that he may not have done it without his wife’s instruction. In other words, these women were important to her, but not necessarily to him: they were part of her social and political network.

Elizabeth is only known to have maintained friendships with Devonshire, Ranelagh and Strafford following the Restoration, but the naming of all these women as valued friends during the Interregnum in her letter to Smith provides a unique and important snapshot of her social and political network at a critical time in her life. It reveals how important her female friends were to her ability to survive, even thrive, during her husband’s long exile.