Anne FitzPatrick, Countess of Upper Ossory

The Right Honourable
The Countess of Upper Ossory
The Right Honourable; The Countess of Upper Ossory
	Countess of Upper Ossory
	Duchess Anne Liddell engraved by David Lucas.
Born	Anne Liddell; c. 1737; Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England
Died	1804 (aged 66–67); London, England
Spouse(s)	Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (m. 1756; div. 1769); John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory (m. 1769)
	Issue Lady Georgiana Smyth; George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton; Lord Charles FitzRoy; Lady Anne FitzPatrick; Lady Gertrude FitzPatrick;
Parents	Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth; Anne Delme

Anne FitzPatrick, Countess of Upper Ossory (née Liddell, also known as Anne FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton; c. 1737 – 1804) was an English noblewoman and the first wife of Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton. Grafton divorced her while serving as Prime Minister. She was a noted correspondent of Horace Walpole.

Life

FitzPatrick was born in 1737 or 1738 in Derby to Ann and Henry Liddell who was the 4th baronet of Ravensworth.[1]

FitzPatrick married the Duke of Grafton on 29 January 1756, and they had three children. Lady Georgiana FitzRoy [2] was born in 1757 and George FitzRoy was born in 1760.

In 1761 she sent a silhouette that Jean Huber had created of her and her daughter to Horace Walpole. This letter was to be the start of a correspondence of 455 letters between herself and Walpole.[1]

In 1764, the Duke had a very public affair with the courtesan Nancy Parsons.[1] He kept her at his town house and took her to the opera. This flouting of convention offended society's standards. Her third child General Lord Charles FitzRoy was born in 1764.[3]

After the Duchess had become pregnant by her lover, John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory, she and the Duke were divorced by Act of Parliament, passed 23 March 1769.[4] Three months later, on 24 June 1769, the Duke married Elizabeth Wrottesley (1 November 1745 – 25 May 1822), daughter of the Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, Dean of Worcester.[5] Lady Anne married FitzPatrick in 1769.

FitzPatrick died at her house in Grosvenor Square in 1804.

References

"Anne Fitzpatrick". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/88658. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Romney, George, Portrait of Lady Georgina Smyth and her son 1780c., Philip Mould Historical Portraits Image Library, archived from the original on 3 March 2016
Chisholm 1911.
"Augustus FitzRoy". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9628. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Hellicar 1978, p. 28

Sources

One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Grafton, Dukes of s.v. Augustus Henry Fitzroy". Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 317.
Hellicar, Eileen (1978), Prime Ministers of Britain, David & Charles, ISBN 0-7153-7486-9

Unofficial roles
Preceded by The Baroness Chatham	Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1768–1769	Vacant Divorced Title next held by Elizabeth FitzRoy

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[odnbanne-1] "Anne Fitzpatrick". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/88658. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[2] Romney, George, Portrait of Lady Georgina Smyth and her son 1780c., Philip Mould Historical Portraits Image Library, archived from the original on 3 March 2016

[FOOTNOTEChisholm1911-3] Chisholm 1911.

[odnbaug-4] "Augustus FitzRoy". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9628. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[5] Hellicar 1978, p. 28