Edward Darcy (brother-in-law)

At the age of 22, Edward Darcy (1618-1659) married Elizabeth Evelyn (18 years old at the time) at St. Anne’s, Blackfriars, on 25 October 1632, to become the brother in law of John Evelyn. Evelyn wrote in his diary : “My eldest sister was married to Edward Darcy, Esq., who little deserved such an excellent person, a woman of so rare virtue. I was not present at the nuptials.” There is an explanation for the tone of bitterness: a child, also called Elizabeth, arrived on 2 June 1634 but her mother died 15 December 1634 and “was followed to the grave” by the infant. In relation to these events, John Evelyn observed that Darcy “was the worst of men” and wrote a note to John Aubrey, suggesting that “…he ruined both himself and Estate by his dissolute life…”