captain in the Royal Navy. Catherine Tollemache married James Stewart, Lord Doune and secondly John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland. Elizabeth did not want a quiet domestic life and often based herself at her family home, Ham House near Richmond by the Thames after her mother's death in 1649. She became acquainted with the Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell, likely when his army headquarters were located in nearby Kingston-upon-Thames in the summer of 1647, and the connection provided a cover for her own Royalist tendencies. She also used that friendship to successfully plead for the life of John Maitland, the royalist Earl of Lauderdale after his capture at the Battle of Worcester. In 1653 she joined the secret Royalist organisation, the Sealed Knot. She was in correspondence with exiled supporters of Charles II and even visited Europe on multiple occasions to convey letters to the king. Her dedication to the cause also led her to develop a type of invisible ink to be used for secret correspondence. Upon her father's death in 1655 she inherited his titles, becoming suo jure Countess of Dysart and Lady Huntingtower. In September 1658 one of her neighbours, Judith Isham, joked about her new title, writing that people "call her my Lady Dessert, she is soe takeing, expressing extraordinary sivility to every person". A few years later, she wrote to her kinsman Sir Robert Moray to help her trace her family lineage in order to complete the settlement of her family coat of arms. The result was a pedigree which allowed her to trace her ancestry back to King James II of Scotland. Her title as Countess of Dysart was secured by the grant of new Letters Patent on 5 December 1670, which also granted the ability for female heirs to inherit the title where no male heir existed. In 1660, when Charles II resumed the throne, he rewarded Elizabeth with an annual pension of £800 (). She and her husband were also granted the freehold of 75 acres surrounding Ham House in recognition of "the service done by the late Earl of Dysart and his daughter." Her enemies accused her of witchcraft because of her political influence and was subject to unfounded accusations of having had a liaison with Cromwell. Second marriage In 1669 her husband Lionel died in France and Elizabeth became the sole owner of Ham House, along with other properties including Framsden Hall