Harriet Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans (alternate spelling: Harriot; née Mellon; 11 November 1777 – 6 August 1837) was a British banker and actress who eventually starred at

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

. She was successively the wife of banker

Thomas Coutts Thomas Coutts (7 September 1735 – 24 February 1822) was a British banker. He was a founder of the banking house Coutts & Co. Early life Coutts was the fourth son of Jean (née Steuart) Coutts and John Coutts (1699–1751), whose business in ...

and then of

William Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St Albans William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St Albans (24 March 1801 – 27 May 1849) was an English aristocrat and cricketer. Early life William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk was born on 24 March 1801. He was the son of William Beauclerk, 8th Duk ...

. She was widely celebrated for her beauty, and she was painted by George Romney and

Sir Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...

Early life and first marriage

Mellon, the daughter of Lt. Matthew Mellon, was a strolling player (member of a travelling theatre company) and became an actress.Perkin, Joan
From Strolling Player to Banker-Duchess
''

History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...

'' Volume 50 Issue 10 (October 2000). When she was young, she appeared at the Duke Street Theatre, where she attracted the attention of an elderly wealthy banker,

, founder of

Coutts & Co Coutts & Co. is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of ...

, the royal bank. Following his wife's death in 1815, she married him. From his previous marriage, he had three daughters – Susan (wife of the 3rd Earl of Guilford), Frances (wife of the 1st Marquess of Bute), and Sophia (wife of

Sir Francis Burdett Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770 – 23 January 1844) was a British politician and Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent (in advance of the Chartists) of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vo ...

). In 1822, after her husband's death, she became very wealthy, having been bequeathed his entire fortune, including his interest in the family bank. She purchased the lease on a country property four miles away at the Holly Lodge in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

, holding parties there and at her

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

at 78 Stratton Street

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

. She also spent time at her house in Brighton, St Alban's House, 131 Kings Road, on the corner of Regency Square.

Second marriage

In 1827, she married

, who was 23 years her junior.

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

wrote to her to congratulate her. Her reply is quoted in full in his journal for 30 June 1827. They were "old and true friends" and she wrote to him: On her death in 1837, her property and fortune went to her stepgranddaughter, selected as heir after careful scrutiny of the possible recipients, who as a condition of the inheritance adapted her name to

Angela Burdett-Coutts Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts (21 April 1814 – 30 December 1906), born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a British philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and Sophia, formerly Coutts, daughte ...

Early life and first marriage

Second marriage

See also

References

Further reading