Cassandra Willoughby (1670-1635)was the daughter of Francis Willoughby (1635-1672) and his wife Emma Barnard (1644-1725) and was born at Middleton Hall. Her father was only 36 when he died and her mother then married Sir Josiah Child (d.1699), and the family moved to Wanstead House, Essex. In 1681, her elder brother Francis (1668-1688) went to live with his aunt, Lettice Wendy, at Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire, his younger brother Thomas (1672-1729) following soon after.
Around 1686, Cassandra joined Francis at Wollaton Hall, where he had taken up residence. Francis died in 1688, and she then lived for a time in London with her younger brother Thomas, before returning with him to Wollaton.
In 1713, Cassandra married James Brydges (1674-1744), MP for Hereford, and Post Master General. Brydges had resigned as PMG in 1713 after acquiring a fortune of £600 000. They moved, along with the children from his first marriage to Canons, a house in Middlesex, that came to Brydges from his first wife, Mary Lake (c.1666-1712).
The composer Handel was composer-in-residence at Canons between 1717 and 1720. He wrote both The Chandos Anthems and Concerti Grossi at Canons, and his opera Acis and Galatea had its first performance in the gardens there.
In 1714, Brydges was made Earl of Caernarvon, and in 1719 he became the first Duke of Chandos. The family lived at Canons, and at other residences in Albemarle Street, London and in Bath. Brydges suffered major losses in the failure of the South Sea Company in 1720. Cassandra died following an apoplectic fit on 14 Jul 1735.
Much of what we know about the Willoughby family is from two books compiled by Cassandra from the correspondence in her brother's library at Wollaton. She is credited with the refurbishment of Wollaton, which had been damaged by fire when her great-grandfather Percival lived there. Her principle accomplishment was as a house manager and organiser and it was probably on this account that her cousin James Brydges married her after the death of Mary Lake. He had two young children to look after and a picture in the Canadian National Gallery at Ottowa, which the gallery says shows Mary Lake, is probably the wedding picture of James and Cassandra, since it was painted after Mary Lake's death and shows a woman - far from pretty - who resembles the picture of the young Cassandra shown above.
It is often said that there is a family link with Jane Austen. This is very tenuous and depends on the simple fact that Jane's mother was called Cassandra and may have been given this name because of the affection for Cassandra Willoughby. Cassandra Austen was related at some distance to the Brydges.
