Elizabeth was born about 1590 in England,[a] probably in Cornworthy, Devon, the only child of Sir Thomas Southwell and his wife, Anne Harris.
However, the person knighted in July 1603 as part of the coronation honours of James I seems to have been her maternal grandfather, Thomas Harris (Serjeant-at-Law),[4] not her father as has been said.
[5] Elizabeth's maternal uncle Edward Harris (Irish judge) was sent to Ireland in 1608 and made chief justice of Munster.
Elizabeth married Sir John Dowdall, a wealthy settler in County Limerick, Ireland (alive in 1623).
[1] Her mother remarried Captain Henry Sibthorpe and after two years the new couple moved back to England.