Elizabeth Caldwell, of Linley Wood, Talk, Staffordshire. 1755-1831

Elizabeth Caldwell (nee Stamford)
of Linley Wood
1755-1831

Born: 25 November 1755 (or 1753?) and died 9 April 1831.
Daughter of: Thomas Stamford (?-1787)and Hannah Stamford (nee Crompton, 1720-1788) of Derby.
Sister of: Hannah Stamford (1753-1832) who never married.
Elizabeth married: James Caldwell (1759-1838), 8 June 1784 in St Werburgh, Derby.
They had issue:
1. Hannah Eliza Roscoe (nee Caldwell, 1785-1854) who married Willam Stanley Roscoe (1782-1843).
2. James Stamford Caldwell (1786-1858).
3. Mary Caldwell, baptized 22 March 1789 and died 10 September 1813 aged 24.
4. Anne Marsh Caldwell (1791-1874) who married Arthur Cuthbert Marsh (1786-1849).
5. Margaret Emma Holland (nee Caldwell, 1792-1830) who married Sir Henry Holland (1788-1873).
6. Catherine Louisa Caldwell, born 6 June, baptized 15 June 1794 and died 20 August 1814 aged 20.
7. Frances Caldwell, died 14 February 1801 aged 5.

According to Bourke's, Elizabeth together with her sister Hannah inherited money from a cousin of their mother's. It is not entirely clear but it would appear that it was from Samuel Crompton of Derby and/or Henry Coape of Duffield. We know from the book "Thomas Bentley 1730-1780" that Elizabeth also inherited some of Thomas Bentley's estate and we know that Bentley's portrait was at Linley Wood when it was sold in 1949. Ann Marsh-Caldwell in her diary notes that Elizabeth and her sister Hannah benefited from a number of legacies and inheritances amounting in total to £20,000 which was at the time presumably quite a considerable sum.

In her diary Anne Marsh-Caldwell mentions her mother Elizabeth as follows: "She was of middle stature, and in her youth, I believe, had been very slender and of a beautiful figure, but I only recollect her very full in the figure. Her complexion was rather olive. She had no colour; her features, with the exception of the most beautifully formed nose that I ever beheld, could scarcely be called regular. She had high cheek-bones, brows a little too low and eyes placed rather too deep; her mouth not noticeable for its form, but with an expression of sweetness and affection such as surely no other mouth ever expressed. The whole countenance had a most charming effect taken together - so much sense, sweetness and humour surely never were expressed. Its predominant expression however was as sweetness, or rather a tenderness quite unrivalled. She must have been 39 when I was first old enough to remark her - so that I could never have an idea of what she had been in her bloom, when I believe from traditional accounts she must have been excessively admired."

Anne goes on to describe Elizabeth as follows; "My mother was the woman complete - strong in courage, intrepid in danger - firm to her own purposes, interested, lively, witty, humorous - but melting to love and glowing with tenderness for the husband of her heart and the children of her bosom."

Elizabeth moved from Nantwich (or Newcastle?) to Linley Wood, with her husband James Caldwell and their family, in about 1794 and she lived there up until her death in 1831.