{{short description|Colonial American socialite}} {{Infobox person | name = Elizabeth Wragg Manigault | image = Mrs. Peter Manigault (Elizabeth Wragg).jpg | caption = Manigault by Jeremiah Theus, 1757 | birth_date = 9 August 1736 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1773|2|19|1736|8|9|df=y}} | death_place = | resting_place = French Huguenot Church, Charleston | parents = Joseph Wragg<br>Judith DuBose | spouse = {{marriage|Peter Manigault|1755}} | children = Gabriel, 2 daughters and 1 other son }}

'''Elizabeth Wragg Manigault''' (9 August 1736 - 19 February 1773) was an American socialite who was prominent figure in Colonial South Carolinian society. She was the wife of Peter Manigault, who served as Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives and was one of the wealthiest people in British North America.

== Biography == Manigault was born on 9 August 1736 to Joseph Wragg and Judith DuBose. Her father, an Englishman of Welsh descent, had immigrated to Charles Town where he pioneered the city's involvement in the Atlantic slave trade.<ref>Henry A. M. Smith: "Wragg of South Carolina". ''The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine'', Vol. 19, No. 3 (Jul., 1918), pp. 121-123</ref><ref>Jon Butler, ''Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776'', p. 38, 2000</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Saul S. |date=1999 |title=Jews and the American Slave Trade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zcs3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT165 |location=Milton Park, UK |publisher=Routledge (Taylor & Francis) |page=165 |isbn=978-1-3515-1075-2}}</ref> One of the predominant slave traders in British North America, he and his brother were responsible for the importation of around 10,000 enslaved Africans to the Southern Colonies. Manigault's mother was the daughter of Huguenot immigrants.<ref name= harriette>Harriette Kershaw Leiding, ''Historic Houses of South Carolina'', p. 54</ref> Her maternal grandfather, Jacques DuBose, owned a large plantation near Charles Town.<ref name= harriette/> Her sister, Mary, was the wife of the slave trader and statesman Benjamin Smith.

In 1757, she was painted by Jeremiah Theus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_SC100001?destination=portraits/search?edan_q=%252A%253A%252A&edan_fq%255B0%255D=r.museum%253A%2522NPGCAP%2522&edan_fq%255B1%255D=culture%253A%2522British%2522&edan_fq%255B2%255D=object_type%253A%2522Exterior%2520views%2522&edan_local=1|title=Elizabeth Wragg Manigault|website=npg.si.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a8g3CwAAQBAJ&q=Elizabeth+Wragg+Manigault&pg=PA310|title=The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston|first=Maurie D.|last=McInnis|date=December 1, 2015|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=9781469625997|via=Google Books}}</ref> The portrait is now on display at the Charleston Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.charlestonmuseum.org/research/collection/mrs-peter-manigault/1B771C45-A6A4-4DC6-BD7E-762569790990|title=Mrs. Peter Manigault &#124; Charleston Museum|website=charlestonmuseum.org}}</ref>

In 1755, she married Peter Manigault, an attorney, planter, and member of the South Carolina House of Commons.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hain |first=Pamela Chase |date=2005 |title=A Confederate Chronicle: The Life of a Civil War Survivor |url=https://archive.org/details/confederatechron00hain_0 |url-access=registration |location=Columbia, MO |publisher=University of Missouri Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/confederatechron00hain_0/page/2 2] |isbn=978-0-8262-1599-4}}</ref> Their children included:<ref name="NCHR">{{cite book |date=1970 |title=The North Carolina Historical Review |volume=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LuM7AAAAIAAJ&q=%22izard+family%22 |location=Raleigh, NC |publisher=North Carolina Historical Commission |page=17}}</ref>

* Gabriel Manigault (1758–1809),<ref name="NCHR"/> who married Margaret Izard (1768–1824), a daughter of Continental Congressman and U.S. Senator Ralph Izard.<ref name="unc">{{cite web|title=Manigault, Morris, and Grimball Family Papers, 1795-1832|url=https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00976/|website=finding-aids.lib.unc.edu|publisher=Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|accessdate=14 December 2017}}</ref> * Anne Manigault Middleton (1762–1811), who married Thomas Middleton (1753–1797)<ref name="NCHR"/> *Joseph Manigault (1763–1843), who married Charlotte Drayton (1781–1855)<ref name="NCHR"/> * Henrietta Manigault Heyward (1769–1827), who married Nathaniel Heyward (1766–1851).<ref name="NCHR"/>

Her husband was later elected as Speaker of the House of Commons.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGo6fkaAdGEC&q=Elizabeth+Wragg&pg=PA269|title=A Confederate Chronicle: The Life of a Civil War Survivor|first=Pamela Chase|last=Hain|date=July 6, 2005|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=9780826264947|via=Google Books}}</ref>

== Death and legacy == She died on February 19, 1773. She is buried at the French Huguenot Church. Elizabeth Street in Wraggborough is named after her.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Manigault, Elizabeth Wragg}} Category:1736 births Category:1773 deaths Category:American people of French descent Category:American socialites Category:18th-century American women Category:People from colonial South Carolina Category:Spouses of South Carolina politicians Elizabeth Elizabeth Category:American people of English descent