Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elphinstone, Hester Maria
ELPHINSTONE, HESTER MARIA, Viscountess Keith (1762–1857), the eldest daughter of Henry Thrale by his wife Hester, afterwards Mrs. Piozzi, was born in 1762. From 1765, when Dr. Johnson first became intimate with her parents, she figured constantly as 'Queenie,' Johnson wrote childish rhymes for her, played horses with her, wrote to her, and directed her education. The death of her only brother in 1776 made her a rich heiress. In 1778, her sixteenth year, Miss Burney describes her as 'a very fine girl, about fourteen years of age, but cold and reserved, though full of knowledge and intelligence.' In 1781 her father died. She remained with her mother, and in company with her young sisters at Bath continued her education under her by reading history and the poets. When her mother agreed to marry Piozzi, Hester retired to her father's Brighton house, where she saw no company, and studied Hebrew and mathematics. In 1784, when her mother and Piozzi were in Italy, she took a house in London for herself and her sisters. On 10 Jan. 1808, at Ramsgate, she married Admiral Lord Keith [q. v.], who had then been a widower some years, her new homes being Tulliallan, on the Firth of Forth, and Purbrook Park, Edinburgh; and on 12 Dec. 1809, in Harley Street, London, she gave birth to her only child, a daughter.
Lady Keith was one of the original patronesses of Almack's. She became viscountess in 1814, on the elevation of the admiral to the English peerage, and, together with her stepdaughter, the Hon. Margaret Mercer Elphinstone [q. v.], she was prominent in society during the regency and the next two or three decades in London and Edinburgh. In 1823 she was left a widow. Towards 1850 she retired from company and devoted herself to works of charity. She died on 31 March 1857 at her house. 110 Piccadilly. The viscountess's daughter (Georgiana Augusta Henrietta) married the Hon. Augustus Villiers, second son of the Earl of Jersey.
[Gent. Mag. lxxviii. i. 85. lxxix, ii. 1173; 3rd ser. ii. 615-16; Annual Register, xcix. 299; Allardyce's Memoirs of G.K.Elphinstone, p.349; Boswell's Johnson (1823 ed.). iii. 9, iv. 310; Mme. d'Arblay's Diary (1854 ed.), i. 49. 58, 88. 102, &c., ii. 256, 274, vii. 244-5, &c.; Russell's Moore, v. 8-13, 183, vii. 292, &c]