Mary Edwards (1705–1743)

Mary Edwards of Kensington (c. 1704 – 23 August 1743) was an English heiress and art patron who was said to be the richest woman in England.[1] She fell in love with Lord Anne Hamilton and reputedly married him in or before 1731, in a clandestine marriage said to have been in the chapel of the Fleet Prison.It was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine but the chapel records do not (now) include details and Mary Edwards recanted the marriage and never used his surname.She shows her wealth with many diamonds, is shown with a large hunting hound rather than a lady-like lapdog, and in the background are portraits of Alfred the Great and Queen Elizabeth I, important in English history.[2] Mary Edwards commissioned Hogarth's 1733 Southwark Fair,[5] and his 1742 painting Taste in High Life, which lampoons the extravagant fashion of the day and overspending.
"Edwards Hamilton family on a Terrace", 1734 by William Hogarth
William HogarthLondonLord Anne Hamiltonlanded gentryNew River CompanyFleet PrisonThe Gentleman's MagazineFrick collectionAlfred the GreatElizabeth IJoseph AddisonSouthwark FairTaste in High LifeKensingtonBaptist Noel, 4th Earl of GainsboroughSir Gerard Noel, 2nd BaronetEarls of Gainsborough