Eliza Giffard, the eldest of two daughters, was born in 1766 in Flintshire, North Wales, to Elizabeth (nee Hyde) and John Giffard of Nerquis (Nercwys) Hall. The Hall was built in 1637-38 by John Wynn, and descended from his death almost exclusively through the female line until Eliza’s own death in 1842. Her family background, while financially and socially secure in many respects, was complicated by the religious differences between her father’s family and that of her mother, and particularly her powerful grandmother, Elizabeth Hyde, through whom she inherited the estate.
Elizabeth Hyde the elder was a proud Protestant. She allowed the marriage of her daughter to the Catholic John Giffard, of Plas Ucha, to go ahead only after he promised that any children of the union would be raised Protestant, or would forfeit inheritance of the estate. If this was not fully adhered through, via baptism, upbringing and education, the inheritance would default to the next in line who met this religious criteria.
By 1774, nine years after the marriage, John Giffard was seemingly regretting the agreement to such an obvious extent that his mother-in-law again extracted a signed promise that he would not abscond with the then 8-year old Eliza. The birth of a second daughter, Maria Eleanora, forced Giffard to action – he fled to France with the young child, ending up in Paris, where she was brought up and educated in a convent under her father’s faith.
This sudden family rupture was only resolved upon the death of Elizabeth Hyde the elder in 1789. After this date, Giffard and Eleanora returned to Nerquis Hall and the reunited family lived together, with Eliza eventually inheriting the estate. John Giffard died in 1797 and Eleanora in 1808, but Eliza continued her grandmother’s legacy, ensuring through complicated means that the estate would continue in Protestant hands.
The estate was sold out of the family in the 1960s and although the Hall and its gardens apparently remain intact, parts of the estate holdings – and in particular the books – were dispersed before the house sale. Seemingly handled by a local book dealer, many of the titles ended up with the larger London-based antiquarian book sellers, and some continue to reach the market, via both larger established firms and smaller local dealers.
For further information on the history of the Giffard family, please see the ‘Bibliography’ section of this site.