Dorothy Vernon

Dorothy Vernon (1544 – 24 June 1584), the younger daughter of Sir George Vernon, was the heiress of Haddon Hall, an English country house in Derbyshire with its origins in the 12th century. She married John Manners in 1563. The couple's descendants, the Dukes of Rutland, continue to own Haddon Hall. A legend grew up in the 19th century that Vernon and Manners eloped, and a number of novels, dramatisations and other works of fiction have been based on the legend.

Sir George Vernon was a prosperous and hospitable landowner in Derbyshire, and his family seat was at Haddon Hall, which is England's best preserved medieval manor house and a major tourist attraction. His second daughter, Dorothy, fell in love with John Manners (c. 1534 – 4 June 1611), the second son of Thomas Manners, the first Earl of Rutland. According to historian Paul Dare's 1924 book, Ayleston Manor and Church, Dorothy and John were second cousins.

According to legend (none of which can be verified), Sir George disapproved of the union, possibly because the Manners were Protestants, and the Vernons were Catholics, or possibly because the second son of an earl had uncertain financial prospects. According to the legend, Sir George forbade Manners from courting the famously beautiful and amiable Dorothy and forbade his daughter from seeing Manners. Torn by her love for her father and her love for John Manners, Dorothy fled Haddon Hall to elope with Manners. Shielded by the crowd during a ball given by Sir George, Dorothy slipped away and fled through the gardens, down stone steps and over a footbridge where Manners was waiting for her, and they rode away to be married. The supposed elopement became the subject of several novels and other works of fiction and drama. The marriage could have been held at Sir George's manor at Aylestone, Leicestershire, the Bakewell church or the chapel in Haddon Hall, although no written record survives. If indeed the elopement happened, the couple were soon reconciled with Sir George, as they inherited the estate on his death two years later. The couple had at least two children, George and Roger (baptised 1610).

...
Wikipedia