Geraldine Roberts recounts the tragic tale of the ‘Wiltshire heiress’, who at 15 became England’s richest woman, and the wastrel who destroyed her
At the age of 15, Catherine Tylney, known as the “Wiltshire heiress”, became England’s richest woman. Beautiful, clever and accomplished, she was courted by noblemen eager to get their hands on her vast fortune. She inherited 23,000 acres of land, several stately homes and an annual income of £40,000. One of her estates was a magnificent Palladian mansion in Essex, Wanstead House, where she was determined to set up home and begin a family. But first she needed to find a husband.
The most famous of her suitors was the Duke of Clarence. In order to pursue her, he abandoned his long-term mistress, the talented comic actress Dora Jordan, who had borne him 10 illegitimate children. As Geraldine Roberts writes, had Catherine consented to the match “she would have become queen of England and her children would have ascended the throne”. Instead, she fell for the charms of William Wellesley-Pole, an Anglo-Irish nobleman, and the nephew of the Duke of Wellington. It was a decision she would regret for the rest of her short life.
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