Caroline Scott-Kenway

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"Do you think I want to hide myself so deeply beneath an obsession with manners and bury myself so completely beneath the petty concerns of etiquette that I can no longer find myself? At the moment I live between two worlds, Edward, able to see them both. And the world I see on my visits to the harbour is the world that is most real to me, Edward. The one that is most alive."

―Caroline to Edward, 1711.^[src]

Caroline Scott-Kenway (1691 – 1720) was born to Emmett Scott and his wife Elizabeth in Bristol, England. To the dismay of her father, Caroline gave up her life of comfort when she married Edward Kenway, a Welshman of modest means, in 1712.

However, her pregnancy, coupled with her husband's penchant for drink and delusions of grandeur of becoming a rich privateer, eventually led to their estrangement in 1713, with Caroline moving back in with her parents. She spent her next years in relative happiness with her daughter Jennifer, but fell prey to a disease in early 1720 and died that same year.

Biography

Early life

As the daughter of prosperous tea merchants, Caroline was raised in a privileged environment. She received a modest education, which she furthered by additional reading during her free time, and aided her mother in managing her father's affairs. As a result, she grew into a confident and level-headed young woman with more skill and intelligence than her situation allowed her to exercise.^[1]

Romance with Edward

In the summer of 1711, Caroline met Edward when she rode up to the scene of a fight between him and three men who had attempted to take advantage of a young woman named Rose, one of the Scott family's servants that had absconded from work. Due to her influence, the three men left bashfully, following which Caroline helped Edward up and thanked him for his assistance.^[1] However, she rejected Edward's offer to meet again, as she had already been promised to Matthew Hague.^[2]

Later, while visiting the docks of Bristol, Caroline was robbed by a young thief named Albert, though Wilson, a man in Hague's employ, quickly apprehended him and began to beat him up. At that point, Edward intervened, dealing with Wilson before forcing Albert to apologize to Caroline. Charmed by his gallant behavior, she sought Edward out one night, throwing rocks at his window to get his attention.^[2]

Aware of each other's feelings, the pair set out for a walk, during which Caroline explained that the thought of becoming Hague's wife, and all that that entailed, disgusted her. However, she knew that an affair with Edward would not only incur the wrath of Hague, but also that of her father. Still, the pair's love for each other drove them to enter into a relationship that they managed to keep secret for several months.^[2]

When Caroline learned that Hague was to propose the next morning, she told Edward, who promptly asked her to marry him instead.^[2]

Marital troubles

Two years Edward's senior, Caroline worried about her husband's privateering aspirations and soon grew tired of his inability to find steady work or take his responsibilities as a husband seriously.

His lofty ideas about sailing in the West Indies were the last straw that led to their estrangement; she left their home to live with her parents, much to the dismay of Edward's father and mother, who loved her as the daughter they never had.

Unbeknownst to Edward, Caroline was pregnant with their child, Jennifer, at the time of his departure. The two maintained correspondence, but it was far and fleeting, averaging once a year. Eventually, Caroline fell ill from smallpox and died in 1720, caused by her father's prior infection and his neglect towards medical treatment for her. Edward did not learn of her fate until two years after the fact; in the same letter he learned of his daughter's existence.

Trivia

The dress Caroline wears in her concept art can be seen being worn by her daughter Jennifer, both as a child and a young adult, albeit in different colors.