Elizabeth Warleggan

Template:Characters Elizabeth Warleggan (formerly Poldark, née Chynoweth) was the Mistress of Trenwith and the wife of the late Francis Poldark, with whom she had one child, Geoffrey Charles Poldark. She was widowed and later became the wife of George Warleggan. She had her second child, Valentine Warleggan, but his true paternity was unknown, since he may be the child of Ross Poldark, to whom Elizabeth was once engaged.

Biography

Early Life

At some point, she met and became engaged to Ross Poldark. In 1780, Ross was arrested for brawling and joined the British Army. By 1783, he was presumed to have died. She fell in love with Francis Poldark and they became engaged.

Marriage

A couple of weeks before her wedding to Francis, she attended a meal in Trenwith. She was shocked when Ross Poldark returned home and felt awkward when they had to tell him about their engagement.

Elizabeth thought about leaving to speak with Ross, but her mother persuaded her to stay. She eventually decided to stay engaged to Francis, and they were married. They had a child, Geoffrey Charles Poldark, the following year.

Family Life

Elizabeth loved her son very much, and cared for him. They were very close. They survived a sickness when they were cared for by Demelza Poldark. Demelza had married Ross, something which Elizabeth was shocked about because he married below his status.

Francis remained insecure about his marriage, because he knew of her former love for Ross. He gambled and their marriage suffered. Elizabeth was delighted when Francis started to improve, and invested in a new mine, Wheal Leisure, with Ross. She was devastated when Francis died.

Widowhood

Elizabeth and her remaining family struggled when her husband died, because they no longer had the wealth they once had. Her mother had a stroke, and Elizabeth struggled to provide proper care for her. The home was freezing and they were struggling to buy food. Ross Poldark sold his shares in Wheal Leisure and gave her the money, but it was not enough. When George Warleggan, the wealthy banker, found out about her situation, he agreed to help her pay for her mother's care and to keep Trenwith.

However, he had hoped Elizabeth would agree to marry him in return. Elizabeth thought she had no choice but to agree to the proposal, in the hope of improving the future of her son. She accepted his proposal, but when Ross found out, he was unhappy. Elizabeth had tried to spend more time with Ross since her husband died, and their unresolved feelings reached breaking point. They spent the night together, but Ross regretted his choice and departed early the next day. Elizabeth had thought there was a chance that Ross would leave Demelza and marry her. However, he later made his choice to stay with Demelza.

Second Marriage

Elizabeth later married George less than a month later, and she found out she was expecting her second child. She already knew the paternity of her child was in doubt, and she and Agatha thought it likely that the father was Ross. However, Elizabeth knew she had to stay with George, and told him she was pregnant with his child, to his joy.

By the time her child was born, things had changed for her family. Ross and Demelza no longer visited them and kept their distance, to the disappointment of her son and Agatha. George was strict and cold toward her son, and was open with his lack of care for Agatha. He and Elizabeth preferred to keep their distance from Ross and she often felt like she had to agree with what George wanted.

Elizabeth was unhappy when George brought her cousin, Morwenna Chynoweth, to Trenwith to teach and care for Geoffrey Charles, without asking her. George told her that she needed to distance herself from her elder son, because he thought they should send him to boarding school the next year. Elizabeth had wanted to keep him with her, but George had the final word, telling her that she would have their child to care for soon.

Elizabeth had given her support for the idea of changing Geoffrey Charles surname from Poldark to Warleggan, but she was very quiet when he let them know he would only let them change it to include the name Francis, being Geoffrey Charles Francis Poldark. At the time, Elizabeth's pregnancy was at least in her eight month. However, she knew there was a chance she was nine months pregnant, and that her child would be born early in the eyes of George.

Elizabeth began to find ways to claim her labour had started early, and took to undertaking tasks that could induce labour. Elizabeth staged a fall when he went out for the day. It's unknown whether she truly did fall, or whether she said she had when she went into labour, but she gave birth to her second son, Valentine Warleggan, following a long and worrying labour.

She managed to convince everyone that Valentine was simply born early, and George was delighted to have a son. However, Elizabeth struggled in light of her child's birth. She was quite cold toward him, and knew that he looked like Ross, even though George thought Valentine looked like him. She was upset when Geoffrey Charles said he and his brother looked very unalike, and that he also looked nothing like George.

Tensions between the Warleggans and Poldarks became very high, and contact between them was cut. Forbidden from spending time with Ross, Geoffrey Charles was later found sneaking out to meet him, which made Elizabeth and George very unhappy. Elizabeth later became very unhappy, and was sad at the news that Ross and Demelza had another child, a daughter. She and her son later moved with George to Warleggan House.

Unfortunately, Agatha and George later argue on the night of Agatha's passing, and she let George know Valentine's was not a Warleggan. George was angry but would not even speak to Elizabeth, who attempted to persuade him Valentine belonged to him. She eventually persuaded him, but doubt continued to be at the back of both their minds.

Many years later, Elizabeth was now content with her life with George. She found out she was expecting another child, knowing it was George's child, but she took the pregnancy to be an opportunity to persuade George that she only carries until she's eight months and that Valentine was definitely George's child. She originally wanted to keep the pregnancy secret, and claim at two months pregnant, she was only one month. However, George called for a doctor because of morning sickness, and she had to admit the truth.