Catherine, Lady Walpole

Catherine, Lady Walpole (née Shorter; 1682 – 20 August 1737) was the first wife of the British prime minister Robert Walpole from 30 July 1700 until her death in Chelsea in 1737.

Lady Walpole
Mezzotint by John Simon
Spouse of the Prime Minister of Great Britain
Tenure 3 April 1721 – 20 August 1737
Succeeded by	Lady Walpole
Personal details
Born	1682 (1682)
Died	20 August 1737(1737-08-20) (aged 54–55) Chelsea, London, England
Spouse(s)	Robert Walpole ( m. 1700)
Children	Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford Katherine Walpole Horatio Walpole Mary Cholmondeley, Countess of Cholmondeley Sir Edward Walpole Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford

Biography

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), the 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 premiership, 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.

Children

Catherine and Robert Walpole had six children.

• Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford (1701 – 31 March 1751); married Margaret Rolle (17 January 1709 – 13 January 1781), later the 15th Baroness Clinton, on 26 March 1724 and had one son.
• Katherine Walpole (13 May 1703 – 22 October 1722); died unmarried at Bath, Somerset.
• Horatio Walpole (1704 – 24 July 1704)
• Mary Walpole (c. 1706 – 2 January 1732); married George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley, on 14 September 1723, and had two sons.
• Sir Edward Walpole (c. 1706 – 12 January 1784); died unmarried, but had four illegitimate children with Dorothy Clement, three of whom were daughters. Laura, the eldest, married Bishop Frederick Keppel. The second daughter, Maria Walpole (d. 1807), married, firstly, James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave; and, secondly, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, brother of King George III. Edward's son, also named Edward, was born in 1737 and died in 1771 without issue. The youngest daughter, Charlotte, was wife of Lionel Tollemache, 5th Earl of Dysart.
• Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (1717–1797)

She is buried on the Walpole estate at Houghton in Norfolk, England.

Sources

• Lundy, Darryl (23 November 2016). "Catherine Shorter". Thepeerage.com. Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
• British Prime Ministers: I at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 June 2003)
• Robert Walpole (1676–1745) at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 February 2006)

Bibliography

• Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. 3 (107th ed.). Wilmington, Delaware, US: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books). p. 4059.

Unofficial roles
First	Spouse of the Prime Minister of Great Britain 1721–1737	Vacant Title next held by The 2nd Lady Walpole