Eleanor Oglethorpe

Who was Eleanor Oglethorpe?

Eleanor Oglethorpe was an employee of the royal household during the reigns of Charles II and James II. She followed James II to France, where he was exiled after the Glorious Revolution. Eleanor and her husband Theophilus Oglethorpe returned to their estate outside London, but remained secretly and actively in the service of the House of Stuart. After Theophilus and William III died in 1702 she became an advisor to Queen Anne, even as she continued working for the Jacobite cause. Eleanor Oglethorpe was the mother of James Edward Oglethorpe, the philanthropist, social reformer, politician, and soldier who founded Georgia.