Isabella Seymour-Conway, Countess of Hertford

Isabella Seymour-Conway (née Fitzroy; 1726 – 10 November 1782),^[1] was the wife of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford.

She was the daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, and thus descended in the illegitimate line from King Charles II. Her mother was Henrietta FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton, formerly Lady Henrietta Somerset.

She married Seymour-Conway on 29 May 1741, when he was still

Baron Conway

. Their children were:

Francis Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford
(1743-1822)
Lady Anne Seymour-Conway (1744-1784), who married Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda, and had children
Lord Henry Seymour-Conway
(1746-1830)
Lady Sarah Frances Seymour-Conway (27 September 1747 – 20 July 1770), who married Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry, and had children
Lord Robert Seymour-Conway
(1748-1831), who was married twice and had children
Lady Gertrude Seymour-Conway (1750-1782), who married George Mason-Villiers, 2nd Earl Grandison, and had children
Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln
, and had children
Rev. Hon. Edward Seymour-Conway (1752–1785), canon of Christ Church, Oxford, who died unmarried
Lady Elizabeth Seymour-Conway (1754–1825), who died unmarried
Lady Isabella Rachel Seymour-Conway (1755-1825), who married George Hatton, MP, and had children
Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour (29 April 1759 – 11 September 1801), who married Lady Anne Horatia Waldegrave, a daughter of James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, and had children
Lord William Seymour-Conway (1759-1837), who married Martha Clitherow and had children
Lord George Seymour-Conway (1763-1848), who married Isabella Hamilton, granddaughter of James Hamilton, 7th Earl of Abercorn
, and had children

She became a countess when her husband was created an earl in 1750. In the 1760s the earl was appointed Ambassador to France and was accompanied by his wife, whose portrait was painted in Paris by

George III of the United Kingdom.^[2]

The earl and countess were the subject of at least two caricatures created by the political cartoonist James Gillray. One of these, "Dame rat, and her poor little ones", published in 1782, shows Isabella and her husband in the company of Charles James Fox. The other, "The Jubilee", shows the couple dancing around a gallows from which hangs a fox.^[3]

She died, aged 56, after a visit to their grandson at

Forde's Farm, Thames Ditton, where she was taken ill. Horace Walpole, who was related to the earl and a correspondent of the countess, said, "Lord Hertford's loss is beyond measure. She was not only the most affectionate wife, but the most useful one, and almost the only person I ever saw that never neglected or put off or forgot anything that was to be done. She was always proper, either in the highest life or in the most domestic." It was after the countess's death that the earl was given the title Marquess of Hertford

.

References

^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
^ "Household of Queen Charlotte 1761-1818". Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
^ "Isabella Seymour-Conway (née Fitzroy), Marchioness of Hertford (1726-1782), Wife of 1st Marquess of Hertford". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

[1] Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.

[2] "Household of Queen Charlotte 1761-1818". Institute of Historical Research. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

[3] "Isabella Seymour-Conway (née Fitzroy), Marchioness of Hertford (1726-1782), Wife of 1st Marquess of Hertford". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

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