Catherine Barton (1679–1739) was an English woman who oversaw the running of the household of her uncle, scientist

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

. She was reputed to be the source of the story of the apple inspiring Newton's work on gravity, and his papers came to her on his death. She was rumoured to have been the mistress of the poet and statesman Charles Montagu and later married politician John Conduitt.

Early life

Barton was the second daughter of Robert Barton (1630–1693) and his second wife, Hannah Smith (1652–1695), half-sister of

. She was baptized at

Brigstock Brigstock is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northamptonshire. Administratively it is part of North Northamptonshire. From 2001 to 2011, the parish population increased from 1,329 to 1,357. Toponymy The village's name orig ...

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

on 25 November 1679.

Barton's social circle

Barton was remarked upon by several men to be beautiful, witty and clever. She was known as a brilliant conversationalist, and attracted the admiration of such famous figures as

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

and

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

. Her uncle was also fond of her; an excerpt of an uncharacteristically warm letter from Newton survives, regarding her contraction of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

: "Pray let me know by your next how your face is and if your fevour be going. Perhaps warm milk from ye Cow may help to abate it. I am Your loving Unkle, Is. Newton." Sometime after her uncle Newton moved to London to become Warden of the Mint in April 1696 she moved there to live with him. Barton was said to have been the source of the story about Newton and the apple, as she told the story to Voltaire who later wrote about it in his ''Essay on Epic Poetry'' of 1727. Voltaire also insinuated that Newton's preferment to the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly ow ...

was the result of Barton's alleged affair with Charles Montagu. However, although it is true that Isaac was appointed under the patronage of Charles Montagu, the claim that this was due to Barton's influence is dubious: Catherine Barton came up to London and met Montagu after the appointment, not before.

Relationship to Charles Montagu

Barton became the housekeeper to Charles Montagu following the death of his wife in 1698. There was much contemporary gossip about their relationship being sexual, and thinly disguised accusations appeared in print. Delariviere Manley's ''

Memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

'' of 1710 featured a character called Bartica who was widely taken to represent Barton. Montagu, by then

Earl of Halifax Earl of Halifax is a title that has been created four times in British history—once in the Peerage of England, twice in the Peerage of Great Britain, and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The name of the peerage refers to the town of ...

, died of an inflammation of the lungs in May 1715. His will contained two codicils: the first dated 12 April 1706, left the sum of £3000 and all his jewels to Barton; a second dated 1 February 1713 left her an additional £5000 plus his interest in the rangership of Bushey Park and his manor of Apscourt in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

to pay for the repairs to Bushey Lodge. On 30 August, however, he revoked the first codicil and begged his executor, his nephew George Montagu, not to make a dispute over her legacies. Montagu wrote that these bequests were "as a token of the sincere love, affection and esteem, I have long had for her person, and as a small recompense for the pleasure and happiness I have had in her conversation". Halifax's official life defended Barton against accusations that she might have been sexually involved with him, stating:

as this Lady was young, beautiful and gay, so those that were given to censure, pass'd a Judgment upon her which she no Ways merited, since she was a Woman of strict Honour and Virtue; and tho' she might be agreeable to his Lordship in every Particular, that noble Peer's Complaisance to her, proceeded wholly from the great Esteem he had for her Wit and most exquisite Understanding.

Based on the generosity of the bequest, astronomer

John Flamsteed John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, ''Catalogus Britannicus'', and a star atlas called '' Atlas ...

wrote, apparently sarcastically and spitefully, that Barton must have "''excellent conversation''".

Marriage

Barton then returned to live with her uncle at his home in St Martin's Street. On 9 July 1717 she became engaged to marry John Conduitt who had arrived in England a few weeks earlier in May of that year. On 23 August they were issued a licence to marry at St Paul's Covent Garden, but actually married three days later at St Martin in the Fields. Barton had one daughter with Conduitt, Catherine, who was born in 1721.

Later life

Barton lived with Conduitt at

Cranbury Park Cranbury Park is a stately home and country estate situated in the parish of Hursley, Winchester, England. It was formerly the home to Sir Isaac Newton and later to the Chamberlayne family, whose descendants continue to own and occupy the hous ...

, near

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

. She took in Newton towards the end of his life, and he resided with her until his death in 1727. After Newton's death, his papers were in Barton's care and then passed down through her family until 1936 when they were auctioned at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

. Conduitt died on 23 May 1737; Catherine died in 1739 and was buried with her uncle and husband in Westminster Abbey. Their only daughter and heir, Catherine, married John Wallop, Viscount Lymington, the eldest son of the first Earl of Portsmouth, and their son, John Wallop, succeeded as second Earl of Portsmouth.The current Earl possesses the famou
''Isaac Newton'' portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller
1689.

In fiction

A fictional Barton has a small role in

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...

's novel '' The System of the World'', the final installment in Stephenson's '' Baroque Cycle''. She also has a role in

Philip Kerr Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author, best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers. Early life Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an enginee ...

's novel ''Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton''.