Background
Elizabeth Blake was born near Southampton in 1661 and brought up a Puritan by her parents Sir Richard and Elizabeth Blake.
Elizabeth Blake was born near Southampton in 1661 and brought up a Puritan by her parents Sir Richard and Elizabeth Blake.
Her first husband, Robert Berkeley, was the ward of her godfather John Fell, the Bishop of Oxford. This proved a wise move, as they returned in 1688 as part of the court of William of Orange. Blake became known to John Locke and other religious thinkers such as Bishop Stillingfleet.
lieutenant was she who told Locke of the Defense published by Catharine Trotter Cockburn.
She acted as a go-between and she gave money to the poor philosopher before Locke also assisted her financially. She disposed of this in charitable causes, including caring for the children of the poor of Worcester and Salisbury.
Burnet"s portrait, painted by Sir Gofrey Kneller in 1707, is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London. She returned to England, but the appalling cold winter of 1708-1709 caused the final decline of her health.
Burnet died in London in 1709 and she was buried at Spetchley, Worcestershire.