Emma Margaret Ann Pigott was born in 1801 or 1802, the daughter of William Pigott of Doddershall, Buckinghamshire. The Pigott’s were close friends of the Buckingham family, especially George Grenville, father of Richard Temple, the first Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Temple described Emma’s father and brother as his father’s “dearest & oldest friends.” Emma married a clergyman, Robert Wilson of Ashwell Thorpe in the County of Norfolk.

By 1827, Richard was desperate to escape the growing crisis in his finances, politics and marriage. He resolved to go into exile aboard the Anna Eliza, a yacht named after his wife, for a few years. The trip took him to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, settling for a while in Naples and ending his voyage with an extended stay in Rome.

During the voyage, Robert Wilson ministered to Richard, providing him and the crew with Divine service. This alone was sufficient reason for inviting the couple on the journey, but there is no doubt from his diaries that Richard admired Emma’s beauty and enjoyed her company.

But for Emma, the journey was not a happy one. It appears that she was long prone to sickness. The year before the voyage, she apologised to Temple for a delay in correspondence “occasioned by my having been Bled in my Right Arm, which has prevented my using it until yesterday. I had a severe Inflammatory Attack this last week which has required rather strong measures to subdue but I am now (thank God) much better.” And as preparations for the voyage began, Richard doubted that she might fit enough for the journey: “Emma Wilson [has] her leave from her Doctor to go with me. This will make a very pleasant excursion for me, if she retains her health.”

The general view was that the sea air would be good for her, but Richard had doubts about her health, as well as her marriage to Robert:

The Wilsons are convinced the Sea air &c will set up Emma. I think so too. But she is far from well. There is still much local inflammation and she and Wilson are obliged to live together on terms I believe very harassing and distressing to both of them. The fact is she never ought to have married.

The voyagers departed for their Mediterranean adventure on 5 August, 1827. Unsurprisingly, Emma was initially seasick and Richard noted in his diary that she “has not appeared today—and appears to bear the Sea very ill, and not have the strength to bear it better.”

Gaining her sea legs and her beauty was restored, on arrival in Gibraltar “Emma Mrs Wilson drew great attention. A fresh pretty English face was a God’s send.” “But what most excited the attention of all parties was Emma Miss Wilson riding on a Spanish Saddle which she rode as an English Lady rides instead of en Cavalier to their great amazement.” “The sight of Emma Mrs Wilson perfectly enchanted them. “But I thought the young gentleman looked as if preferred shewing Emma the View!”

Emma’s continued sickness may not have been entirely due to the swell of the sea—she was two months pregnant. Nevertheless, she was determined to continue the voyage:

Poor Emma Mrs Wilson is unwell. She rode through the excavations mounted on a man’s saddle, & the next day went to see the firing. Her exertions have been too much for her, and for the first time she acknowledges to the being 2 months gone with child. During the firing she felt the effect within her & Moore told me at night that he expected something, but still the symptoms passed away, & she is better, but still not safe. She is upon her Sofa. I have offered to put her on Shore in France, but they will not hear of it. I wish it may end well. But I dread the debility & at the same time the Inflammatory habit of her Constitution.

Emma lost this baby, but whether by miscarriage or stillbirth is not known.

In January 1828, Temple arrived in Naples for a few months. Emma was ill and received medical attention onshore until on 21 April, she rejoined the Anna Eliza. This was an unwise move, as within two days Emma was ill again:

She is so weak that I apprehend she cannot be removed with safety from the Yacht. She must therefore abide it aboard. I am not apprehensive of the result. But still her excessive weakness is a subject of anxiety—especially if any internal inflammation takes place. But we must hope for the best.

The decision was made to move Emma onshore but this proved far from straightforward, with Naples Customs officers suspicious of Temple’s motives:

As I thought it possible that some difficulty might arise, I sent Radcliffe to the Customs House to say that a sick lady must be landed today in a Cot from my Vessel, and that I desired no interruption might take place. The Custom House as I expected made difficulties and said that they must see the Lady, as it was very possible that altho’ I did not mean to land smuggled goods, I might land—a dead body!! and therefore they must see that the Lady was alive! They were told that the attempt would be dangerous, as they would certainly have to swim on shore and that we were all ready to give our words of honour that—the Lady was alive—that she would be landed and I would force her landing and if they resisted, on them the shame & consequences would fall. They at length acquiesced and promised that an Officer should be sent to the landing place to see that no interruption took place. Accordingly at eleven oClock our poor little Emma was moved by Wilson from her bed into a Cot as she was too weak to move otherwise, was hoisted upon deck & from there into my Barge. She was carried with a flag. At the Vittoria Stairs we landed her & two Custom House Officers appeared. The Cot was hoisted on a Spar on the Shoulders of my Boats crew & thus carried up to her lodging. Then the Custom House Officers endeavoured to enter. But the door was shut in their faces & the Boats crew were told to knock them down if the attempted to interfere. So they thought the wisest way was to be quiet and they departed. The effect on the health of Emma was instantaneous & when I called there hours afterwards I had the satisfaction of knowing that the change of air had already produced an improvement & that she was better.

Over the next few months Emma’s health swung through improvement and deterioration. In July, she was once again boarded the Anna Eliza to travel to Rome:

All my preparations complete. My Barge set off at one oClock to fetch Emma Wilson on Board. The Chaise à porteau goes to bring her down from the house on the side of Vesuvius, to Resina & a Sofa is made with Cushions at the bottom of the Boat… On my return on board I found that Emma has arrived but had been kept late on the water owing to the wind failing. She […] was gone to bed very tired.

During the five weeks on board, Emma improved but retained an incessant cough. Once onshore in Rome, her health again seesawed and, in December 1828, Richard, feeling the burden of responsibility of caring for a dying woman, wrote to this son Chandos “to desire him to acquaint Grenville Pigott of it, that he or his Brother may come over, as I cannot take upon myself the impracticability of such a charge.”

By mid-January 1829, Emma was “rapidly declining” and in the early days of February, she died:

During this melancholy interval my poor friend, and almost daughter, Emma Wilson, is taken away from us. She died with scarcely a struggle. I saw her before I was confined by gout to the house. She was stronger on that day. The day before she died she was stronger still, and sat up in her chair. In the night, poor Wilson, who was lying by her, thought he heard some movement. She threw herself up in bed, raised her arms over her head, flung them round his neck, and expired. He would not believe that she was dead, sent for Peebles, and kept rubbing the body and trying to recover her until Peebles came. Thus died in her youth this sweet, amiable, pure-hearted girl —my dear & loving friend! God’s will be done! She is probably gone not long before me (may she prepare the way for me). God’s will be done! We now find that Wilson understood and knew from the first her danger, communicated it to her, and prepared her regularly for death. His conduct has raised him very high in my estimation. His grief is excessive. He was at first stunned; and, when Peebles came in, he only said, “What makes her stare so?” The eyes of the corpse were still open. He then cried bitterly, and has done so ever since. Her poor brother came to me the day after. They determined on burying her at Leghorn, where the English burying-ground is quieter ,than here, and, being the property of the Consulate, is less likely to be violated or disturbed. The body set out, enclosed in lead, by land on the night of the 9th; on the 11th poor Wilson and Grenville set out to follow her. I got them couriers’ passports. They proceed from thence home by way of Padua and the Tyrol, in hopes of meeting old Pigot and Mrs. Pigot at Manheim, where John Pigot is, and where we hope, in consequence of letters which Grenville wrote, old Pigot will have been stopped. I saw poor Wilson before he set out: it was a heart-breaking scene. I am now alone. Wilson gave me a lock of her hair, and a little snuff-box thermometer and compass, which the poor thing desired me to keep for her sake. This has weighed me down very much, and affected me severely. My sister came to me directly, and sits with me most evenings.

Emma was twenty-seven years old.

Sources

HEH ST 98 Vol 1–4; HEH STG Correspondence Box 88 (29); Private Diaries