Person:Catherine Shorter (1)

Catherine Shorter
d.20 Aug 1737
  1. Catherine Shorter1682 - 1737
  1. Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford1701 - 1751
  2. Lady Mary Walpole1705 - 1732
  3. Edward Walpole1706 - 1784
  4. Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford1717 - 1797
Facts and Events
Name Catherine Shorter
Gender Female
Birth[1] 1682
Death[1] 20 Aug 1737

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Catherine, Lady Walpole, (née Shorter) (1682 – 20 August 1737) was the first wife of British politician and Prime Minister Robert Walpole from 30 July 1700 until her death in Chelsea in 1737. She was buried on the Walpole estate at Houghton in Norfolk, England.

She was the daughter of Sir John Shorter (born 1660), a wealthy merchant from Kent, and Elizabeth Philipps (born c. 1664). She was the granddaughter of Sir John Shorter (1625–1688), Lord Mayor of London in 1687. On her marriage to Walpole in 1700 she paid a dowry of £20,000.

She was renowned for her extravagant lifestyle, frequently attending the opera and buying expensive clothes and jewellery, but the couple became estranged during his Prime Ministership, and he had a succession of mistresses. He lived with Maria Skerrett in both Richmond and Houghton Hall in Norfolk while Lady Walpole was still alive. She herself courted controversy when it was noted that the Walpoles' youngest son Horace, born 10 years after his siblings when the marriage was cool, did not share looks or character with any siblings or his father. Lady Walpole's lover at that time was reported to be Lord Hervey.

Catherine and Robert Walpole had six children.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Catherine, Lady Walpole. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
  1. 1.0 1.1 Catherine, Lady Walpole, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
  2.   Catherine Shorter, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.