Lady Walpole | |
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| Born | Catherine Shorter 1682 |
| Died | 20 August 1737 (aged 54–55) Chelsea, London, England |
| Resting place | St Martin at Tours' Church, Houghton |
| Known for | Spouse of the prime minister of Great Britain (1721–1737) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6; including Robert, Edward and Horace |
| Relatives | Walpole family |
Catherine, Lady Walpole ( née Shorter; 1682 –20 August 1737) was the first wife of the first British prime minister Sir Robert Walpole.
She was a daughter of Sir John Shorter (born 1660), of Bybrook, in Kent, a wealthy merchant (the son of Sir John Shorter (1625–1688), Lord Mayor of London), [1] by his wife Elizabeth Philipps (born c. 1664), a daughter of Sir Erasmus Philipps, 3rd Baronet. Her sister Charlotte Shorter became the third wife of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Baron Conway, and was the mother of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford. [2]
In 1700, she married Sir Robert Walpole of Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the first British prime minister, to whom she brought a dowry of £20,000. [1] She was renowned for her extravagant lifestyle, frequently attending the opera and buying expensive clothes and jewellery. The couple became estranged during his premiership, and he had a succession of mistresses. He lived with Maria Skerrett at both Richmond, Surrey, and at Houghton while Lady Walpole was still alive. [3] She aroused controversy when it was noted that her youngest son Horace Walpole, born 10 years after his siblings, did not resemble in looks any of his siblings or his supposed father. [1] Lady Walpole's lover at that time was reported to be Carr Hervey, Lord Hervey (1691–1723), the son of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol. [4]
Catherine and Robert Walpole had six children.
She is buried at the Church of St Martin on the Walpole estate at Houghton in Norfolk, England. She has a memorial plaque at Westminster Abbey. [5]
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician.
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford,, known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whig politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1721-1742. He also served as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons, is generally regarded as the de facto first prime minister of Great Britain.
Baron Walpole of Walpole in the County of Norfolk is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain.
George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley, styled as Viscount Malpas from 1725 to 1733, was a British Whig politician and nobleman who sat in the House of Commons from 1724 to 1733.
Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, KG, PC, PC (Ire) of Ragley Hall, Arrow, in Warwickshire, was a British courtier and politician who, briefly, was Viceroy of Ireland where he had substantial estates.
Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh was a member of the British royal family. She was the Countess Waldegrave from 1759 to 1766, as a result of her first marriage to James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave. Her second husband was Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, whom she married in 1766.
James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, was an English politician and peer who is sometimes regarded as one of the shortest-serving prime ministers in British history. His brief tenure as First Lord of the Treasury is lent a more lasting significance by his memoirs, which are regarded as significant in the development of Whig history.
Charles (Medows) Pierrepont, 1st Earl Manvers was a British naval officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1778 to 1796 when he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Newark.
George Horatio Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley, PC, styled Viscount Malpas until 1815 and Earl of Rocksavage between 1815 and 1827, was a British peer and Lord Great Chamberlain of England between 1830 and 1838. Before being called to the House of Lords, he was a Tory Member of Parliament from 1817 through 1821.
George Cholmondeley, Viscount Malpas was a British soldier and Member of Parliament.
Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford, KB, was a British peer and politician, styled Lord Walpole from 1723 to 1745.
Colonel Robert Walpole was an English Whig politician and militia officer who served as a member of parliament for the borough of Castle Rising from 1689 to 1700. He is best known for being the father of Robert Walpole, the first British Prime Minister. Walpole is the ancestor of all the Barons Walpole and Earls of Orford, of all creations, and of the present Marquess of Cholmondeley, owner of Houghton Hall. He is also the Guinness World Records holder for having the world's longest overdue public library book.
Sir Edward Walpole KB PC (Ire) was a British politician, and a younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742.
Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Ragley, 1st Baron Conway of Killultagh, MP, PC (Ire), was a British politician, born Francis Seymour.
Horatio Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford, styled The Honourable Horatio Walpole between 1757 and 1806 and Lord Walpole between 1806 and 1809, was a British peer and politician.
Heanton Satchville was a historic manor in the parish of Petrockstowe, North Devon, England. With origins in the Domesday manor of Hantone, it was first recorded as belonging to the Yeo family in the mid-14th century and was then owned successively by the Rolle, Walpole and Trefusis families. The mansion house was destroyed by fire in 1795. In 1812 Lord Clinton purchased the manor and mansion of nearby Huish, renamed it Heanton Satchville, and made it his seat. The nearly-forgotten house was featured in the 2005 edition of Rosemary Lauder's "Vanished Houses of North Devon". A farmhouse now occupies the former stable block with a large tractor shed where the house once stood. The political power-base of the Rolle family of Heanton Satchville was the pocket borough seat of Callington in Cornwall, acquired in 1601 when Robert Rolle purchased the manor of Callington.
Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clintonsuo jure, was a wealthy British aristocrat, known both for eccentricity and her extramarital affairs.
Anne FitzPatrick, Countess of Upper Ossory was an English noblewoman and the first wife of Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton. Grafton divorced her while serving as prime minister. She was a noted correspondent of Horace Walpole.
Elizabeth Hervey, Countess of Bristol, was a British court official and noble, the second wife of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol. They had seventeen children.
St Martin at Tours' Church is an active Church of England parish church in the village of Houghton, Norfolk, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The church stands in the grounds of Houghton Hall, the 18th century house built by Robert Walpole, England's first Prime Minister and contains the graves of Sir Robert and his three successors as Earls of Orford of the second creation.
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