Isabella Molyneux, Countess of Sefton

Isabella Molyneux, Countess of Sefton, formerly Viscountess Molyneux, (née Lady Isabella Stanhope; c. 1748 – 29 January 1819) was a British peeress and society figure.

Isabella Molyneux
Countess of Sefton
painting of Lady Isabella Stanhope by Thomas Gainsborough
BornIsabella Stanhope
c. 1748
Died29 January 1819
Noble familyStanhope (by birth)
Molyneux (by marriage)
Spouse(s)Charles Molyneux, 1st Earl of Sefton
IssueWilliam Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton
FatherWilliam Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington
MotherLady Caroline FitzRoy

Biography

Lady Isabella Stanhope was the second child of William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington and Lady Caroline FitzRoy, a daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton.[1][2] She was an older sister of Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington.

According to the memoirs of Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven, Lady Isabella refused the hand of the Duke of Fitz-James.[3]

On 27 November 1768 she married Charles Molyneux, 8th Viscount Molyneux, the future 1st Earl of Sefton in the Peerage of Ireland.[4] On 18 September 1772 Lady Sefton gave birth to a son, the future 2nd Earl of Sefton.[5][6]

Isabella Stanhope, later Countess of Sefton (1748-1819) (Catherine Read,circa 1768)

She was painted by notable painters including Catherine Read and Thomas Gainsborough, and engraved by the artist James Watson.[7][8] A portrait of her by Gainsborough was unveiled at the inaugural exhibit of the Royal Academy of Art. A poem written in 1768 by Temple Luttrell, son of Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton, titled Ode to Lady Isabella Stanshope on Her Birthday, was dedicated to her.[9]

References
  1. "Lady Isabella Stanhope, daughter of the second Earl of Harrington and wife of the 1st Earl of Sefton by ? | Grand Ladies | gogm". www.gogmsite.net.
  2. "The Annual Peerage of the British Empire". Saunders and Otley. 30 December 1829 – via Google Books.
  3. Craven, Baroness Elizabeth Craven (30 December 1914). "The Beautiful Lady Craven: The Original Memoirs of Elizabeth, Baroness Craven, Afterwards Margravine of Anspach and Bayreuth and Princess Berkeley of the Holy Roman Empire (1750-1828)". John Lane – via Google Books.
  4. Courthope, William, ed. (1838). Debrett's Complete Peerage of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (22nd ed.). London. p. 555.
  5. "Sir William Philip Molyneux 2nd Earl of Sefton (1772 - 1838)". www.historyhome.co.uk.
  6. Molyneux, Nellie Zada Rice (30 December 1904). "History, genealogical and biographical, of the Molyneux families". Syracuse, N.Y., C. W. Bardeen – via Internet Archive.
  7. "Isabella (1748–1819), Viscountess Molyneux, 1st Countess of Sefton | Art UK". artuk.org.
  8. "Isabella, Viscountess Molyneux, later Countess of Sefton, 18th century". www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.
  9. Stephanson, Raymond; Wagner, Darren (26 November 2015). The Secrets of Generation: Reproduction in the Long Eighteenth Century. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442666931 – via Google Books.
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