Lady E. Compton
(1820-1877)

Volume 1, page 106. sitting number 628.

[Identified as 'Lady E. Compton' in the Silvy daybooks, this is probably Lady William Compton, wife of Lieutenant (later Admiral) the Honourable William Compton.] 

Born in or about 1820, Eliza Harriett Elliot was the daughter of Admiral the Honourable Sir George Elliot, second son of the 1st Earl of Minto. On 24 August 1844 she married William Compton, eldest son of the 2nd Marquess of Northampton. Her husband succeeeded as the 4th Marquess of Northampton on 3 March 1877.

The Marchioness of Northampton, 'late of Castle Ashby in the County of Northumberland,' died on 4 December 1877 at Florence in Italy. According to the Leicester Journal (14 December 1877) 'The Marquis [sic] and Marchioness left London for Italy a fortnight last Saturday, so that she must have died after a very short illness. The deceased lady was the daughter of Admiral the Hon. Sir George Elliott [sic], K.C.B., and was married in 1844. She leaves issue, Lord Compton and three other sons, and Lady Cowper and two unmarried daughters.'

At the time the photograph was taken in 1860, she was correctly styled 'The Honourable Eliza Harriett Compton' but the abstract of her will specifically states that prior to her husband's succession to his titles, she was commonly called Lady William Compton.