Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a British philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and Sophia, formerly Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts. In 1837 she became one of the wealthiest women in England when she inherited her grandfather's fortune of around £1.8 million following the death of her stepgrandmother, Harriot Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans. She joined the surnames of her father and grandfather, by royal licence, to become Burdett-Coutts. Edward VII is reported to have described her as "[a]fter my mother, the most remarkable woman in the kingdom".
Lady Burdett-Coutts, ca. 1840
Burdett-Coutts' carte de visite
Angela Burdett-Coutts in later life
Urania Cottage, Shepherd's Bush
Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet was a British politician and Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual parliaments. His commitment to reform resulted in legal proceedings and brief confinement to the Tower of London. In his later years he appeared reconciled to the very limited provisions of the 1832 Reform Act. He was the godfather of Francisco Burdett O'Connor, one of the famed Libertadores of the Spanish American wars of independence.
Portrait by Thomas Phillips
Burdett addressing the freeholders of the county of Middlesex from the Hustings, 1802
"The modern Circe or a sequel to the petticoat", caricature of Mary Anne Clarke, the mistress of the Duke of York, Prince Frederick, by Isaac Cruikshank, published 15 March 1809. Frederick would resign as Commander-in-Chief 10 days later.
Portrait by Sir Martin Archer Shee