Maid of honour to Queen Catherine of Braganza wife of Charles II. But left in disgrace in 1678:

As Frances Harris says in “Honorable Sisterhood Queen Anne’s Maids of Honour”

“There was always the risk, of course, that a maid of honour would find a seducer rather than a husband at court. Frances Stewart, Arabella Churchill, Louise de Keroualle, Betty Villiers and Catherine Sedley, to name only five of the most notorious, had all begun or ended their terms of office as mistresses to Charles II, his brother, or their nephew, William of Orange. In these cases, particularly if there were children of the liaison, a title, financial provision, status and infiuence might follow, but these were by no means guaranteed.

“In the space of four years between 1675 and 1678 three of the Duchess of York's maids had to retire in disgrace, one seduced by the Duke of York, another by the Duke of Monmouth and a third, Mary Trevor, by the wealthy Thomas Thynne of Longleat, who had persuaded her mother that he would only commit himself to marriage when he knew that she could bear him a child, but then (egged on by Monmouth) abandoned her once she became pregnant. The Duchess of Marlborough never forgot the sight of Mary Trevor leaving the maids' lodgings 'with infamy', wringing her hands and wailing that her mother had undone her by her advice”

In A Description of the Villa of Horace Walpole, Youngest Son of Sir Robert Walpole Earl of Orford, at Strawberry-Hill, Near Twickenham:With an Inventory of the Furniture, Pictures, Curiosities, &c.. printed by Thomas Kirkgate in 1784 it is said: “In the Yellow Chamber or Beauty Room (Appendix page 124-125) “Nineteen small heads in oil of the court of Charles 2d (except Sachariffa) copied by Jarvis for himself, and bought with his house at Hampton bny Mr Lovibonde, at whose sale these and the three foregoing were purchased.


Mrs Trevor, maid of honour:having seen the Duke of Monmouth in bed with another lady, and having divulged it, the duke engaged Mr Thynne to debnauch her. Mr Thynne being killed before he bedded lady Ogle, this epigram was made on him

Here lies Tom Thynne of Longleat-hall
Who would never have miscarried
Had he married the woman he lay withal
Or lain with the woman he married”

For more on this and how the marriage to Lady Ogle (nee Percy) came about see: The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England By Antonia Fraser,Hachette 2011

Mary’s Portrait by Sir Peter Lely is at Glynde Place.

This is included in the list in Charles Beale’s Pocket book, 1676, with commentary by Richard Jeffree, circa 1975, National Portrait Gallery Heinz Archive, Richard Jeffree papers, drawer 2 folder 22; the pocket book transcript from George Vertue, 'Notebook A.x', circa 1740, British Library Add Ms 23072

Jeffree comments: "The list presumably represents the main portraits by Lely copied up to the end of 1676 as one or two of the pictures appear in earlier extracts." Jeffree's notes on the sitters follow:

'Mrs.Trevor.' Perhaps one of the three daughters of Sir John Trevor; the eldest, Mary (d.1738) was Maid of Honour to Queen Catherine of Braganza.

Her father John Trevor III’s portrait is also by Lely

The portrait formerly at Trevalyn , attached, has great similarities to that by Lely of Catherine of Braganza herself (the curl!) so could also be by Lely. See however John Steegman A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses: Vol. I. North Wales 63who says “School of Mignard c 1670”

Thomas Thynne was the Ancestor of the Marquesses of Bath. He was was murdered on 12 February 1682 and has a momument in Westminster Abbey which depicts the manner of his death.

See picture of the momument and the relief and the following text from The Worthies of England, By George Lewis Smyth, 1850.

“Against the back of the choir, in the south side of Westminster Abbey, is an altar-monument, on which appears a statue, in a recumbent posture, of Thomas Thynne, Esq., of Longleat, in Wiltshire, and underneath a representation in relievo of the circumstances under which he was shot by hired assassins in Pall Mall, on the evening of Sunday, Feb. 12, 1682. A long Latin inscription was prepared for this monument, but forbidden to be put up from party or political motives, according to some authorities, but rather, as we suppose, because it positively ascribed the murder to Count Koningsmark, who had been tried for, and acquitted of that crime.

The circumstances of the case, which in more respects than one was extraordinary, appear to be these:-

Mr. Thynne was a gentleman of large landed property in Wiltshire, where his rental is said to have amounted to 10,000l a-year. He had for many years been a member of the House of Commons, and distinguished himself for bold and active conduct, and opinions by no means favourable to the court. Elizabeth, sole heiress of the noble house of Percy, was left an orphan when a child, and immediately became an object of solicitous attention to many persons on account of her large fortune. While still of tender years she was betrothed to the Earl of Ogle, eldest son of Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, but was left a widow before the marriage had been consummated. She was next wedded to Mr. Thynne, but being still extremely young, her mother prevailed upon her husband to allow her to go abroad and travel for a time before she lived with him. This being agreed to, the lady took up her residence at Hanover, where she met and inspired Count Koningsmark with a violent passion. The count, as the story goes, assumed, that if the husband was dead, the widow would bestow her hand and fortune upon him. With this impression upon his mind he came over to England, and sent Mr. Thynne two challenges to single combat. Of these missives no notice was taken.

Koningsmark then hired three foreign ruffians, Fratz, a German, Stern, a Swede, and Boroskia, a Pole. These men watched Mr. Thynne, and as he was driving from the Countess of Northumberland’s down Pall Mall, rode up to his carriage and discharged into it a musquetoon, which killed him. Koningsmark fled as soon as the murder was effected, but a reward of 200l. being offered for his apprehension, he was seized at Gravesend, and being brought before the King in Council, was committed to Newgate, and in due course put upon his trial at the Old Bailey sessions as an accessory to the murder. Koningsmark was acquitted – it is said by a packed jury, but the other three were found guilty, and executed. Public opinion, however, implicated the Count so decidedly in this daring outrage, that William, Marquis, and afterwards Duke of Newcastle, and intimate friend and near connexion of Mr. Thynne, resolved to seek the only revenge in his power, and fight the great criminal. But the latter fled as soon as he was discharged from prison, and no further steps were taken to punish him.”

See also Blood, Bodies and Families in Early Modern England By Patricia M. Crawford P128.