Maria, Lady Walpole

{{Short description|Second wife of Robert Walpole}} {{distinguish|text=Maria Walpole, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh as wife of Prince William Henry}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} [[File:Heraldic Ceiling, Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham.xcf|thumb| Heraldic ceiling at Strawberry Hill House: at the ten o'clock position is ''Or, a chief indented sable'', arms of the Skerrit family of Whitchurch, Devon. Maria was stepmother to the builder of the house, Horace Walpole.]] '''Maria, Lady Walpole''' ({{nee}} '''Skerret''', also spelled ''Skerritt'', ''Skerrett''; 1702 – 4 June 1738) was the second wife of British politician and Prime Minister Robert Walpole from before 3 March 1738 until her death in childbirth (miscarriage) three months later.<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG205004 British Museum website, ''Maria Skerrett, later Lady Walpole'']</ref> She was buried in Church of St Martin on the Walpole estate at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, England.

==Biography== Lady Walpole was the only known daughter of Thomas Skerret, a wealthy London merchant. Upon her marriage to Walpole in 1738, she paid a dowry of £30,000.<ref name=OX>[https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-28601 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography website, ''Walpole, Robert, first earl of Orford (1676–1745)'', article by Stephen Taylor dated January 3, 2008]</ref> Walpole had become estranged from his first wife, Catherine, and took a series of mistresses. Maria Skerret was a long-term companion (1723–1738); they lived together in both Richmond and Houghton Hall in Norfolk while Walpole's first wife was still alive.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Skerret was received everywhere and moved in fashionable society. She was even alluded to as Polly in ''The Beggar's Opera'' written in 1728 by John Gay, in which 'Macheath' was Walpole.

Lady Walpole was also often mentioned in the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu as 'Molly'. ''"I see every body but converse with nobody but 'des amies choisies'; in the first rank of these are Lady Stafford and dear Molly Skerritt, both of whom have now the additional merit of being old acquaintances, and never having given me any reason to complain of either of 'em."''

Walpole was created Earl of Orford after he retired from the premiership in 1742, and he used his influence with King George II to have his illegitimate daughter by Lady Walpole, Maria, granted the rank and precedence of an earl's daughter, so she became "Lady Maria Walpole".<ref name=OX /> Their daughter Maria was born in 1725.<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG209049 British Museum website, ''Lady Mary Churchill'']</ref> She later married Colonel Charles Churchill of Chalfont, with whom she had two daughters.<ref>[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/churchill-charles-1720-1812 History of Parliament Online website, ''Churchill, Charles (?1720-1812), of Farleigh, nr. Basingstoke, Hants'']</ref>

== Styles == *Miss Maria Skerritt (1702–1738) *Maria, Lady Walpole (1738–1738)

== References == {{reflist}}

==Sources== *[http://www.e-familytree.net The genealogy of 750,000 people connected to European Royalty], Ee-familytree.net. Accessed 23 September 2017.

===Citations=== * Charles Mosley, editor, ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 3, page 4059.

{{s-start}} {{s-other|Unofficial roles}} {{s-bef|before=The 1st Lady Walpole}} {{s-ttl|title=Spouse of the Prime Minister of Great Britain|years=3 March 1738 – 4 June 1738}} {{s-vac|next=Lady Catherine Pelham}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walpole, Maria}} Category:1702 births Category:1738 deaths Category:Deaths in childbirth Category:People from Houghton, Norfolk Category:Spouses of prime ministers of Great Britain Category:Wives of knights Category:Robert Walpole Maria Category:Mistresses and lovers of prime ministers of the United Kingdom