John Wilmot, later second Earl of Rochester, was born at Manor House, Ditchley, on April 1 1647. His father was Henry Wilmot, the Cavalier general who fled with Charles II into exile from the Battle of Worcester in 1651; his mother Anne was the second child of Sir John St. John of Wiltshire. John Wilmot spent his childhood at Ditchley; with his father perennially absent and the countess frequently occupied with preserving the Lee and Wilmot estates from the Commonwealth regime, Wilmot’s own care was largely entrusted to tutors and schoolmasters. His first teacher was Francis Giffard, a pious Cambridge M.A. who “drilled into little John’s head” notions of the “terrible wrath of a vengeful God the Father, the burning eternity of a Protestant Hell, the sinfulness of thoughts, [and]…
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Citation: Augustine, Matthew. "John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4744, accessed 21 November 2024.]
