Sophia, Lady Burdett

Sophia, Lady Burdett (1775–1844) was an English heiress and political hostess. The third daughter of the wealthy banker Thomas Coutts, she and her sisters were known as the Three Graces.^[1]

In 1793 she married the politician Francis Burdett who inherited a baronetcy in 1798. Her father married a second wife the Irish actress Harriet Mellon, significantly reducing her inheritance. Her husband was a leading Radical throughout most of his career, notably during the Regency era. His imprisonment in 1810 led to the Burdett Riots in London.^[2] She was painted by Thomas Lawrence around the time of her marriage. A rising artist he later became Britain's leading portrait painter and President of the Royal Academy.^[3]

She died in 1844, the same year as her husband. Their daughter Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts was a phenomenally wealthy heiress, inheriting much of the Coutts fortune.

• Ashby, John Frederick. The Story of the Banks. Hutchinson & Company, Limited, 1934.
• Bear, Mary. The Rise and Fall of Radical Westminster, 1780-1890. Springer, 2012.

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