Diarist and Author. Betsey Wynne was the second of five daughters born to a wealthy Catholic family. Her father, Richard Wynne, inherited a large estate at Folkingham, married the French-born Agathe Camille de Royer, and preferred to travel on the continent, where he was closely associated with Casanova and the ill-fated French King Louis XVI. Raised primarily in Italy, Betsey was an accomplished musician and linguist who began her lifelong diary when she was eleven years old. Moving between German, Italian, and Swiss courts, she described her experiences in revolutionary Europe as her family encountered the surge of anti-aristocratic sentiment, fueled partly by the taxes necessitated from Louis XVI's support for the American Revolution. When Napoleon Bonaparte advanced through Italy, the Wynne family was evacuated from Livorno by the dashing Captain Fremantle in his Royal Navy ship, Inconstant. Betsey married Captain Fremantle at the home of Lord William and Lady Emma Hamilton, the latter known as Horatio Nelson's lover. The Fremantles made their home in Swanbourne, England, raised nine children, and socialized with the Duke of Buckingham. Betsey managed the family estate during the lengthy absences of her husband at sea. Her diaries were published in 1935, and offer a remarkable account of an aristocratic family living through some of history's most noteworthy times. Betsey's descendants run the Fremantle Trust, and in 2006, they opened a pub in Swanbourne, England called "The Betsey Wynne." © 2016, D. Anna Campbell
Diarist and Author. Betsey Wynne was the second of five daughters born to a wealthy Catholic family. Her father, Richard Wynne, inherited a large estate at Folkingham, married the French-born Agathe Camille de Royer, and preferred to travel on the continent, where he was closely associated with Casanova and the ill-fated French King Louis XVI. Raised primarily in Italy, Betsey was an accomplished musician and linguist who began her lifelong diary when she was eleven years old. Moving between German, Italian, and Swiss courts, she described her experiences in revolutionary Europe as her family encountered the surge of anti-aristocratic sentiment, fueled partly by the taxes necessitated from Louis XVI's support for the American Revolution. When Napoleon Bonaparte advanced through Italy, the Wynne family was evacuated from Livorno by the dashing Captain Fremantle in his Royal Navy ship, Inconstant. Betsey married Captain Fremantle at the home of Lord William and Lady Emma Hamilton, the latter known as Horatio Nelson's lover. The Fremantles made their home in Swanbourne, England, raised nine children, and socialized with the Duke of Buckingham. Betsey managed the family estate during the lengthy absences of her husband at sea. Her diaries were published in 1935, and offer a remarkable account of an aristocratic family living through some of history's most noteworthy times. Betsey's descendants run the Fremantle Trust, and in 2006, they opened a pub in Swanbourne, England called "The Betsey Wynne." © 2016, D. Anna Campbell
Family Members
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Records on Ancestry
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