Henry Pierrepont, Grace Pierrepont, and the Dorchester Library
Title page of the Dorchester Library Catalogue (MS2000-81).
There has been a library at the Royal College of Physicians since its foundation in 1518. Today the collection includes titles that cover a diverse range of subjects, such as botany, travel, warfare, music, astrology, as well as disciplines related to medicine. The books have accumulated over time, and reflect the changing interests and priorities of members and fellows. The collection has also been shaped by external events; the library was almost completely destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. The core of the current library collection are books that once belonged to Henry Pierrepont (1607-1680), first Marquis of Dorchester. These books were given to the RCP by his daughter, Lady Grace Pierrepont (c.1635–1703) in 1688.
![Oval portrait of a man in dark clothing with a white lace collar, gold lettering in latin reads "Illustissimus [sic] .D.D./Henricus Marchio, (and below) Durnovariae".](/sites/default/files/paragraph-images/X184_Pierrepont_Henry%20%28Marquis%20of%20Dorchester%29.jpg "Oval portrait of a man in dark clothing with a white lace collar, gold lettering in latin reads \"Illustissimus [sic] .D.D./Henricus Marchio, (and below) Durnovariae\".")
Portrait of Henry Pierrepont.
Henry Pierrepont was born in Mansfield Woodhouse 1607, the first child of Robert Pierrepont, first Earl of Kingston upon Hull (1584–1643) and Gertrude Talbot (1587/8–1649). He was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1624 and married Cecilia Bayning (1613–1639) in 1630. A vocal and demonstrative supporter of Charles I, Henry Pierrepont was created Marquess of Dorchester in 1645. After the civil war he began to study medicine and the law; he was admitted to Gray’s Inn in 1651 and was called to the Bar in 1652. These activities led to him becoming the subject of widespread bemusement and some ridicule, although he enjoyed a long association with the Royal College of Physicians, and became the first Honorary Fellow in 1658.
Lord Dorchester’s library reflected his broad education and was described by Charles Goodall (1642–1712) as one of the finest private collections of books in the country. It is evident from Goodall’s notes that there was some discussion between Lord Dorchester and other fellows about the possibility of his giving the books to the RCP, with Goodall observing that this would only happen if the college “had then a fit place for the orderly disposing of them”. Lord Dorchester died in December 1680. Whatever intentions Lord Dorchester communicated to Goodall, his 1679 will makes no reference to his books, and states only that “all goods and chattels” are left to his daughter, Lady Grace Pierrepont.1 Grace Pierrepont subsequently gave the Marquess of Dorchester’s books to the RCP in December 1686. This gift was acknowledged by Samuel Garth (1661-1719) in his 1697 Harveian Oration, which refers to “some Benefactors yet living, [such] as Madam Grace Pierrepont[,] a most noble heiresse of a noble paternal dowry.”2
Dorchester House, 1770, courtesy of Catherine James.
Little is known of Grace Pierrepont’s early life. She was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne and lived in Carlisle House Soho Square until 1697, dying in Isleworth in 1703. The records that do exist point to a confident and direct personality. Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660–1744) described an exchange between Grace Pierrepont and Queen Mary (1662–1694/5) in which Queen Mary declared that those who visited Princess Anne (later Queen Anne, 1665–1714) would not be received at court. Grace Pierrepont replied that “she owed a certain degree of respect to the princess, and if her majesty declined receiving her for paying it, she must submit to her pleasure, and stay away from court.”3 Although there is no evidence Grace Pierrepont engaged with the content of the books she inherited in any way, she managed the conveyancing of Dorchester House in Highgate, the location of the library, and she maintained possession of the books until the new library was completed.
Grace Pierrpont, by unknown artist, lent by Holme Pierrpont.
A portrait of Grace Pierrepont is currently being displayed in the Dorchester library as part of the exhibition A Body of Knowledge. The exhibition tells the story of the RCP’s book collection, including the contribution of Grace Pierrepont. This is the first time that the portrait has been exhibited outside of the Pierrepont family home in Nottingham, and its position in the centre of the library, in the place usually occupied by a portrait of William Harvey, acknowledges the Pierreponts’ significant place in the library’s history.
A Body of Knowledge is open from 10th September 2025 until 23rd July 2026.
Catherine James
Artist and doctoral researcher.
1. Henry Pierrepont, ‘Will of Sir Henry Marquess of Dorchester and Earl of Kingston’ (1681), PROB 11/365/145, The National Archive.
2. Manuscript draft (in English) of Garth’s oraSon transcribed in Frank H. Ellis, ‘Garth’s Harveian Oration’, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XVIII, no. 1 (1963): 8–19.
3. Agnes Strickland, Lives Of the Queens Of England, From the Norman Conquest: With Anecdotes Of Their Courts, Now First Published From Official Records and Other Authentic Documents Private as Well as Public, vol. XI, XI vols (Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1857), 158.