Rachel (Russell) Lyttelton, Duchess of Bridgwater

British, 1705 - 1777

BiographyGeorge Lyttelton was born in London on January 17, 1709, the son of Christian (Temple) and Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Bart. At Eton, he was a schoolmate of Henry Fielding (1707-54), who not only used Lyttelton as the model for Squire Allworthy in Tom Jones (1749), but also dedicated the book to his longtime friend and patron. A Whig, Lyttelton served as Member of Parliament for Okehampton (1735-56), principal secretary to the Prince of Wales (1737-44), and Lord of the Treasury (1744-54). He was also a poet, and a friend and patron to many writers, including Alexander Pope and James Thomson. On June 1, 1742 he married a great beauty, Lucy Fortescue, daughter of Hugh Fortescue of Filleigh, County Devon, and his second wife Lucy Aylmer. They had three children, Thomas (1744-79), Lucy (1745-83), and Mary (1747-61), but Lucy Lyttelton caught fever two weeks after the birth of her youngest daughter and died on January 19, 1747. George Lyttelton's mourning was intense and public, and it surprised many when he remarried on August 10, 1749. His second wife was Elizabeth Rich (1716-95), daughter of Elizabeth (Griffith) and Field Marshall Sir Robert Rich, 4th Bart., of Roos Hall, Suffolk. She brought with her a fortune of £20,000 but it was an unhappy marriage, and they separated formally in 1756. On the death of his father on September 14, 1751, Lyttelton acceded to the baronetcy. He served as a trustee of the British Museum (1753-73) and as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Commissioner of the Treasury (1755-56). On November 18, 1756 he was created Baron Lyttelton of Frankley, County Worcester. He died at Hagley on August 22, 1773.
Lord Lyttelton's younger brother Richard was born in 1718. He was also a Whig and served as Member of Parliament for Brackley (1747-54) and Poole (1754-61). In December 14, 1745, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Rachel (Russell), Duchess of Bridgwater, whose first husband, Scrope Egerton, Duke of Bridgwater, had died that January. She was born in 1705, and at the time of her second marriage was "forty, plain, very rich, and with five children," according to Horace Walpole. The disparity in the couple's ages raised eyebrows, but they were apparently very happy together. Richard Lyttelton pursued a military career, serving as colonel in the 3rd Foot Guards from 1747, and as lieutenant-general from 1759. He was made a Knight of the Bath in 1753, was appointed Master of the Jewels (1756), and later served as Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Island of Minorca (1763-66). Both he and his wife suffered from gout and became congenial fixtures of various English spa towns. He died in 1770, and she in 1777.

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