Dorothy Vernon - Family Background and Legend

Family Background and Legend

Sir George Vernon was a prosperous and hospitable landowner in Derbyshire, and his family seat was at Haddon Hall, England's best preserved medieval manor house and a major tourist attraction. His second daughter, Dorothy, fell in love with John Manners (c. 1534 – June 4, 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 in 1563 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). Dorothy Vernon died in 1584 and was interred in the Vernon Chapel at All Saints Church, Bakewell. Sir John died in 1611 and was also interred in the chapel. George, the eldest son, inherited Haddon Hall upon the death of his father. He seems to have previously lived at Aylestone Hall as several of his children were baptised in the village church. Haddon Hall remains in the Manners family to the present day.