Person:Dorothy Sidney (1)

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Dorothy Sidney
b.5 Oct 1617
d.5 Feb 1684
Parents and Siblings
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  1. Dorothy Sidney1617 - 1684
  2. Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester1619 - 1698
  3. Algernon Sidney1623 - 1683
  4. Lady Lucy Sydney1630 - Est 1685
  5. Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney1641 - 1704
  6. Isabella Sidney - 1663
Spouse and Children
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  1. Dorothy Spencer1640 - 1670
  2. Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland1641 - 1702
Add another spouse & children
Facts and Events
Name[1] Dorothy Sidney
Gender Female
Birth[1] 5 Oct 1617
Marriage to Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland
Death[1] 5 Feb 1684
Reference Number? Q3714387?


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Dorothy Spencer (née Sidney; later Smythe), Countess of Sunderland (5 October 1617 (baptised) – 5 February 1684), was the wife of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, and the daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and Lady Dorothy Percy.

Lady Dorothy Sidney (or Sydney) was celebrated not only for her beauty but for wit, charm and intelligence. In about 1635, she rejected a marriage proposal from the poet Edmund Waller, who addressed verses to her under the nickname "Sacharissa" (which he based on the Latin word sacharum, meaning "sugar").

On 20 July 1639 at Penhurst, she married Henry Spencer. It seems to have been a love marriage and had her family's wholehearted approval. In 1643, Spencer was created 1st Earl of Sunderland in recognition of his service to King Charles I in the English Civil War. Spencer was killed at the First Battle of Newbury, leaving Dorothy with two children, and pregnant with a third, who died young. Their children were:

The widowed countess lived at Brington, Northamptonshire, but eventually returned to Penshurst Place in Kent to live with her parents. In 1652 she remarried to Sir Robert Smythe of Bidborough, Kent, and had a second son, also named Robert.

Her letters show both her intelligence and her clear-sightedness, even about those closest to her. While her son and daughter-in-law could see no fault in their eldest son, Robert, Lord Spencer, Dorothy wrote dryly of her grandson: "He has no good nature or humour, is scornful and pretending… comes to me seldom, seems weary in a minute, talks of my company [guests] as though I picked them up in the streets…".

Her death has been attributed to grief caused by her brother Algernon's trial and execution for treason in December 1683. Her grave is in Everdon, Northamptonshire.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
References
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
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