Person    | Female  Born 2/1/1828  Died 28/3/1896

Elizabeth Rundle Charles

Categories: Literature, Poetry

Born Tavistock, Devon. Née Rundle, married Andrew Charles. Wrote and translated hymns. Author of "Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family". Died Hampstead.

In addition to her Wikipedia page and our Picture Source our research has found that she was born as Elizabeth Rundle on 2 January 1828 in Tavistock, Devon, the daughter of John Rundle MP (1792-1864) and Barbara Rundle née Gill (1804-1889).

In March 1851 she married Andrew Paton Charles (1820-1868) in Tavistock, Devon. The 1861 census shows her living in Hampstead Heath with her husband, her parents, her brother-in-law Arthur Charles (1839-1921), together with a cook and three female house servants. Her husband was described as a soap manufacturer.

Probate records show that her husband died, aged 48 years, on 4 June 1868 at Lower Heath, Hampstead, and that his will was proved by his widow on 26 June 1868 with his effects recorded as being under £35,000. It was subsequently resworn in February 1869 when the effects were listed as under £40,000.

In the 1871 census she is shown as a widow living off the 'interest of money', in Victoria Street, Westminster, with her widowed mother and three female domestic servants. The 1881 census shows her still living off the interest of money at Combe Edge, Branch Hill Park, Hampstead, with her mother, together with a cook, a parlour-maid, a housemaid, a gardener and his wife.

On 27 December 1887 she changed her name by deed from Elizabeth Charles by 'assuming the name of Rundle as a surname in addition to my said surname of Charles and shall at all time hereafter in all deeds, writings, dealings and transactions be known as Elizabeth Rundle Charles'. 

She died, aged 68 years, on 28 March 1896 and was buried in Plot 35A in the St John-at-Hampstead Churchyard. Probate records read: Elizabeth Charles otherwise Elisabeth (sic) Rundle of Combe Edge, Hampstead Heath, Middlesex, widow, died 28 March 1896. Probate granted 8 June 1896 to Robert Fletcher Charles schoolmaster, Mary Lang Hadow (wife of the reverend William Hadow clerk) and the reverend Robert Charles Lewin Reade clerk. Her effects totalled £22,134-11s-9d. Subsequently resworn in November 1896 as £21,943-7s-2d. 

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Elizabeth Rundle Charles

Commemorated ati

Elizabeth Rundle Charles

Author of "Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family" Elizabeth Rundle Charle...

Read More

Other Subjects

After the Battle Publications

After the Battle Publications

Publishers of books and magazines about military history.

Media, Literature

1 memorial
Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett

Dramatist and author. Born Dublin as Samuel Barclay Beckett. Lived in Paris most of his life. His plays include: Waiting for Godot (1953) and Krapp's Last Tape (1958). Awarded the Nobel Prize in Li...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous, Theatre, France

1 memorial
Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë

Novelist and poet.  Born Yorkshire, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters.  Novels include: Jane Eyre, Shirley.  To avoid gender prejudice she and her sisters, Emily and Anne published first under...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous

1 memorial
Poets' Corner

Poets' Corner

The popular name for the south transept of Westminster Abbey. Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to be interred here, although it was for his position as Clerk of Works to the Palace of Westmins...

Place, Literature

1 memorial
Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Poet and story writer. Born: Bombay, India. Died: London. See Waterloo Free Buffet. 2021: The Guardian reported some updates to English Heritage's information on Kipling: "While his children’s sto...

Person, Literature, Poetry, Race Issues, Seriously Famous, India

2 memorials