Mervyn Touchet (or Audley, Lord Audley in his father's lifetime), 2nd Earl of Castlehaven (1593 – 14 May 1631), convicted rapist and sodomite, was the son of George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven(11th Baron Audley) and his wife, née Lucy Mervyn. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Castlehaven and 12th Baron Audley on 20 February 1616/7. He left seven children upon his death.[1]
Sometime before 1612 (The historical record is unclear), Lord Audley married Elizabeth Barnham, with whom he had six children. By all accounts the marriage was a loving and successful one until it ended in 1622 with Barnham’s death.[2] His second marriage, on 22 July 1624, at Harefield, Middlesex, was to Lady Anne Stanley (1580–1647), elder daughter and co-heiress of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby and widow of Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos. They had a daughter, Anne Touchet, who died young. [1] Lady Anne was significantly older than Castlehaven.[3] Their marriage was not a success but in 1628 his heir was married to her 13 year-old daughter.[3]
At his trial it was claimed that in 1621 Henry Skipwith arrived at Fonthill Gifford and within a few years was so close to the Earl that he sat at the family table and was to be addressed as “Mister” by the servants. Several years later Giles Broadway arrived at the mansion and received a similar treatment. It was not long before the Earl was providing Skipwith with an annual pension to spend and attempting to have Skipwith inseminate his daughter-in-law so as to have an heir from Skipwith instead of his son. In fact the countess and Skipwith had an adulterous relationship.
His son, James, claimed that the extent of Castlehaven's uxoriousness toward his male favorites lead to his initial registration of complaint in October of 1630.[4] Castlehaven's trial aroused continuing public debate, witnesses were almost certainly suborned, he maintained his innocence to the last, the jury was split on both charges, almost evenly on the sodomy charge, and the case remains of interest to some as an early trial concerning male homosexuality. In the long run the trial's greatest influence proved to have been as a precedent in spousal rights, the leading case behind an injured wife's right to testify against her husband.[3]
The charges were brought against Castlehaven on the complaint of his heir, who feared disinheritance, and were heard by the Privy Council, under the direction of Thomas Coventry, Lord High Steward. The Countess described a household she said was infested with debauchery. The Attorney-General explained to the court the Earl had become ill because he believed not God and this impiety made Castlehaven unsafe. The Earl insisted he was not guilty but that his wife and son had conspired in this attempt to commit judicial murder.
All witnesses against him would gain materially by his death. "News writers throughout England and as far away as Massachusetts Bay speculated about the outcome."[3]
Castlehaven was convicted attainted and three weeks later executed, beheaded, on Tower Hill for his sexual crimes:
an "unnatural crime", i.e. sodomy, committed with his page, Laurence [or Florence] FitzPatrick, who confessed to the crime and was executed and
for assisting Giles Browning (or Giles Broadway), also executed, in the rape of his, the Earl's, wife, Anne the Countess of Castlehaven, in which Lord Castlehaven himself participated by restraining her.
The page who was executed, Laurence FitzPatrick, testified that Anne, Countess of Castlehaven, "was the wickedest woman in the world, and had more to answer for than any woman that lived."
Cokayne, in the Complete Peerage adds that the death of the Earl was certainly brought about by the Countess's manipulations, and her unquestionable adultery with one Ampthill and with Henry Skipwith, renders her motive suspicious.
According to Cynthia B. Herrup,[5] Anne was the equal of Lord Castlehaven in immorality.
Under the attainder Castlehaven forfeited his English Barony of Audley, created for heirs general, but retained his Irish Earldom and Barony since it was an entailed honour protected by the statute De Donis. When he was beheaded on Tower Hill on 14 May 1631, those Irish titles passed to his son, James.
Mervyn Touchet's first marriage (c.1611) was with Elizabeth Barnham (1592 – c.1622/24), daughter of London alderman Benedict Barnham and his wife, née Dorothea Smith, and they had six surviving children:
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Tuchet |
Earl of Castlehaven 1593–1631 |
Succeeded by James Tuchet |
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by George Tuchet |
Baron Audley 1593–1631 |
Succeeded by Forfeit |