Maria, Lady Walpole ( Skerret, Skerritt, or Skerrett; 1702 – 4 June 1738) was the second wife of British politician and
Prime Minister Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...
from before 3 March 1738 until her death in childbirth (miscarriage) three months later. She was buried in the
Church of St Martin on the Walpole estate at
Houghton Hall in
Norfolk, England.
Biography
Lady Walpole was the only known daughter of Thomas Skerret, a wealthy London merchant. On her marriage to Walpole in 1738 she paid a
dowry of £30,000.
Walpole had become estranged from his first wife,
Catherine, and took a series of mistresses. Maria Skerret was a long term companion (1723–1738) as they lived together in both
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
and
Houghton Hall in Norfolk while Walpole's first wife was still alive. Miss Skerret was received everywhere, and moved in fashionable society. She was even alluded to as Polly in ''
The Beggar's Opera'' written in 1728 by
John Gay
John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...
, in which 'Macheath' was Walpole.
Lady Walpole was also often mentioned in the letters of
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu as 'Molly'. ''"I see every body but converse with nobody but 'des amies choisses'; in the first rank of these are Lady Stafford and dear Molly Skerritt, both of whom have now the additional merit of being old acquaintances, and never having given me any reason to complain of either of 'em."''
Walpole was created
Earl of Orford
Earl of Orford is a title that has been created three times.
The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 when the naval commander Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell was made Earl of Orford, in the County of Suffolk. He was cr ...
after he retired from the premiership in 1742, and he used his influence with King
George II to have his illegitimate daughter by Lady Walpole, Maria, granted the rank and precedence of an earl's daughter, so she became "Lady Maria Walpole". Daughter Maria was born between 1723 and 1734, and later married Colonel
Charles Churchill of
Chalfont, with whom she had two daughters.
Styles
*Miss Maria Skerritt (1702–1738)
*Lady Walpole (1738–1738)
See also
*
Spouses of the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
To date, there have been forty-six women and three men who have been married to the British prime minister in office. There have also been four bachelor and nine widower prime ministers; the last bachelor was Edward Heath (1970–1974) and the ...
Sources
The genealogy of 750,000 people connected to European Royalty Ee-familytree.net. Accessed 23 September 2017.
Citations
* Charles Mosley, editor, ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 3, page 4059.
1702 births
1738 deaths
Deaths in childbirth
People from Houghton, Norfolk
Spouses of prime ministers of the United Kingdom
Wives of knights
Robert Walpole
Maria
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