Sophia, Lady Burdett (1775–1844) was an English heiress and political hostess. The third daughter of the wealthy banker Thomas Coutts, she and her sisters were known as the Three Graces.[1]
In 1793 she married the politician Francis Burdett who inherited a baronetcy in 1798. Her father married a second wife the Irish actress Harriet Mellon, significantly reducing her inheritance. Her husband was a leading Radical throughout most of his career, notably during the Regency era. His imprisonment in 1810 led to the Burdett Riots in London.[2] She was painted by Thomas Lawrence around the time of her marriage. A rising artist he later became Britain's leading portrait painter and President of the Royal Academy.[3]
She died in 1844, the same year as her husband. Their daughter Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts was a phenomenally wealthy heiress, inheriting much of the Coutts fortune.
References
edit- ^ Ashby p.165
- ^ Bear p.9
- ^ https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw00913/Sophia-Lady-Burdett
Bibliography
edit- Ashby, John Frederick. The Story of the Banks. Hutchinson & Company, Limited, 1934.
- Bear, Mary. The Rise and Fall of Radical Westminster, 1780-1890. Springer, 2012.
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