Mary Edwards (1705–1743)

Mary Edwards of Kensington (1704 – 23 August 1743) was an English heiress and art patron who was said to be the richest woman in England. She reportedly married but later tried to remove any evidence of the ceremony. She lived with Lord Anne Hamilton for several years and they had a child, but he married again, without a divorce.

Mary Edwards
Born1704
Died23 August 1743
NationalityBritish
Occupationbusiness woman
Known for"the richest woman in England"
Net worthc. £55,000

Life

Edwards was probably born in London in about 1704 or 1705. Her mother came from the Dutch family who had drained the fens and her father, Francis Edwards (d. 1729), a member of the landed gentry, owned lands in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, London & Middlesex, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent and he had shares in the New River Company in Islington. Her father died in 1729 and as there was no will then his riches would be left to his widow and her mother Anna Margaretta Vernatti. However her mother renounced her claim and passed on the estate to Mary. The value was estimated to be between £50,000 and £60,000 and this amount made Mary the richest woman in Britain.[1]

"Edwards Hamilton family on a Terrace", 1734 by William Hogarth

She fell in love and Lord Anne Hamilton reputedly married her in or before 1731, in a clandestine marriage said to have been in the chapel of the Fleet Prison. It was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine but the chapel records do not (now) include details and Mary Edwards recanted the marriage and never used his surname.[1] Lord Anne assumed Mary Edwards’ name and arms as Lord Anne Edwards Hamilton. Their portraits were painted by Hogarth with their son Gerard Anne Edwards.[2] Sometime after 1734, because Lord Anne was becoming spendthrift with his “wife’s” fortune, they separated and Mary Edwards took the extraordinary step of repudiating her marriage, declared herself a single woman and took steps to create evidence that no marriage had taken place.[3] Their child, Gerard Anne Edwards, became illegitimate, but this appears to have been planned as his 1733 baptism records his surname as Edwards and his mother as single.[4]

In 1742 she was again painted by William Hogarth. She was said to be one of his main patrons and she was breaking with conformity by taking an interest in art.[4] That painting is now in the Frick collection.[5] Mary Edwards commissioned William Hogarth to paint Taste in High Life in 1742. This painting lampoons the extravagant fashion of the day and overspending. In the same year, in October, her "husband" married Anna Powell, and there was no charge of bigamy. The ODNB cites this as evidence that although she lived with Lord Anne Hamilton and had a child they were never legally married.[1]

Death and legacy

Edwards died in Kensington in 1743 and she was buried simply but beside her father in St Andrews Church in Welham. She had taken great care with her son's education and she transferred all her wealth to him.[1] Her son Gerard Anne Edwardes (1734–1773), married in 1754, Lady Jane Noel, daughter of Baptist Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough of the first creation. They were the parents of Sir Gerard Noel, 2nd Baronet, ancestor of the Earls of Gainsborough of the second creation.

References

  1. "Edwards, Mary (1705?–1743), art patron | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66538. Retrieved 2020-03-21. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Centre, Paul Mellon. "Focus on New Photography: The Edwards Hamilton Family on a Terrace by William Hogarth". www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  3. Sir James Balfour Paul, (1907) The Scots Peerage, Edinburgh: David Douglas, Vol IX “Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton” p 387
  4. Centre, Paul Mellon. "Focus on New Photography: The Edwards Hamilton Family on a Terrace by William Hogarth". www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  5. "Miss Mary Edwards". collections.frick.org. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
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