Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet (1624–1669) of Helmingham Hall in Suffolk, was the head of a prominent East Anglian family.

[1] Sir Lionel and Lady Dysart had eleven children, five of whom survived to adulthood: He and his wife, who were both fervent royalists, moved to her seat at Ham House in Surrey, which in due course became a centre for the activities of the Sealed Knot.

Rather surprisingly, however, Elizabeth was also said to be on very good terms with the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, leading to claims that he was the real father of some of her children, since discounted.

Augustus Hare, in The Story of My Life (1900) suggested that this was as a result of his being slowly poisoned by his wife, who had used up his fortune turning Ham House into a grand palace and now needed new sources of income with which to pay off her creditors.

In 1670 Elizabeth obtained confirmation from King Charles that she could pass on the title of Earl of Dysart to any one of her children.