Lady Cecily Jane Georgiana Fane (1801-1874) was an English heiress, daughter of

John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, (1 June 175915 December 1841), styled Lord Burghersh between 1771 and 1774, was a British Tory (political faction), Tory politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who served in most of the cabine ...

and his second wife the former

Jane Huck-Saunders Jane Fane, Countess of Westmorland (1783 – ), formerly Jane Saunders (or Huck-Saunders), was the second wife of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland. Life Jane was one of the two daughters of Dr Richard Huck-Saunders (born Richard Huck) an ...

. Her mother bore four other children before separating from her father, after ten years of marriage. Lady Georgiana is known for two things, a much commented upon portrait of her, when she was five or six years old, dressed as a peasant girl, and for her apparent stalking of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

. She met Wellington in 1815, shortly after his final victory over

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, at

the Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh C ...

, when she was fourteen years old, and he was 47.

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

, who was carrying on an affair with her married half-sister,

Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey Sarah Sophia Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey (4 March 1785 – 26 January 1867), born Lady Sarah Fane, was an English noblewoman and banker, and through her marriage a member of the Villiers family. Early life She was the eldest daughter of ...

, proposed to Lady Georgiana, twice, in 1823, but she turned him down. The existence of suggestive letters, from Wellington, seems to confirm they did have a sexual relationship in the 1820s. After his wife, the former

Kitty Pakenham Catherine Sarah Dorothea Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington (; 14 January 1773 – 24 April 1831), known before her marriage as Kitty Pakenham, was the wife of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Early life Catherine Pakenham was born on 14 ...

, died in 1830, Lady Georgiana, and several other women intensified their interest in Wellington, hoping to become his second wife. She could not accept his rejection of her, and harassed him for the rest of his life. In 1846 she was sculpted by

John Edward Carew John Edward Carew (c. 1782 – 1 December 1868) was a notable Irish sculptor during the 19th century. His most prominent work is ''The Death of Nelson'', one of the four bronze panels on the pedestal of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square. Life ...

.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fane, Lady Georgiana 1801 births 1874 deaths 19th-century British women Daughters of British earls

Georgiana Georgiana is a Catalan, English, Greek and Romanian name. It is the feminine form of the male name George and a variation of the female names Georgina and Georgia. It comes from the Greek word Γεώργιος, meaning farmer. A variant spellin ...