Sir Edward Walpole and Dorothy Clement Family Papers

Edward Walpole was the fourth child and second son born to Robert Walpole (1676-1745), chancellor of the Exchequer and first prime minister of Great Britain, and his wife Catherine Shorter (1782-1737). His younger brother was the author and antiquarian collector Horace Walpole (1717-1797). Edward Walpole graduated from Eton (1718) and King’s College, Cambridge (1725) before becoming master of pleas in the Office of the Exchequer in 1727 and clerk of the pells, a lifetime appointment, when his older brother Robert resigned from that position in 1739. Walpole also served in Parliament from 1730 until 1768 representing in succession Lostwithiel and Great Yarmouth and became a Knight of the Bath in 1753. Sir Edward Walpole died on January 12, 1784; he was buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, as were his daughters Laura Keppel and Maria, Duchess of Gloucester.

Edward Walpole was not able to marry his common-law wife Dorothy Clement (1715?-1739), who had been a milliner’s assistant in London and was the daughter of a postmaster in County Durham, due to his father’s threat of disinheritance. However, with her he had a son, Edward Jr. (1737-1771), and three daughters who grew into educated, cultured, and sophisticated women and survived their stigma of illegitimacy to marry well: Laura (1734-1813) became the wife of Frederick Keppel, Bishop of Exeter; Maria (1736-1807) married first James Waldegrave, Earl Waldegrave, and after his death, William Hanover, Duke of Gloucester; and Charlotte (1738-1789) wed Lionel Tollemache, Earl of Dysart. Edward and Charlotte died without issue; Laura and Maria had eleven children between them, and multiple grandchildren.

After Dorothy Clement’s death at age 24, her sister Jane (1721-1798) helped raise the Walpole children, who remained close with their Aunt Jane until her death. Her brother Hammond Clement (1725?-1781), who received an appointment as clerk to the Exchequer in 1759, was also part of the Walpole family circle, as was his daughter Anne Clement Edmeston (1747-1813). Both Jane Clement and her niece Anne, as well as Anne’s mother Margaret Clement (1720-1806), were supported by Sir Edward Walpole during his lifetime, and after his death through annuities detailed in his extensive will. Margaret and Anne also retained life use of one of his London homes.

Edward Walpole Jr. was the son of Sir Edward Walpole and Dorothy Clement. Born September 22, 1737, and baptized at St. James, Piccadilly, he was a student of Rev. Thomas Newcomb (1682?-1765) in Homerton, near Hackney, before entering an apprenticeship in May 1753 at the insurance office of John Peter Blaquière (1732-1801) in Austin Friars, City of London. By 1755 Sir Edward Walpole was actively seeking a military commission for him with the Dragoon Guards. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Walpole was traveling to the south of France for his health when he died in Calais on March 31, 1771. He was buried at St. John the Baptist Church in Windsor, Berkshire.

Jane Clement was born in London on November 20, 1721, the daughter of Hammond Clement (1692-1733) and his wife Priscilla (-1739). Her sister Dorothy Clement was Sir Edward Walpole's common-law wife who bore him four children before her death at age 24 in January 1739. Jane Clement stepped in to help raise the Walpole children and remained close with her nieces Laura, Maria, and Charlotte, and their children, throughout her life. Jane Clement lived in Edward Walpole's home in Pall Mall, London, at various times until she secured a grace-and-favour apartment in Winchester Tower, Windsor Castle. She died there on March 22, 1798, and was interred in the Clement Vault in the crypt beneath St. Mary's Church in Hanwell, Middlesex, a town midway between Windsor and London.

Anne (or Ann) Clement Edmeston was the daughter of Hammond Clement 2nd (1725?-1781) and Margaret Dobson Clement (1720-1806). Hammond Clement was the brother of Dorothy Clement (1715?-1739), the common-law wife of Sir Edward Walpole, and Jane Clement (1721-1798).

Little is known of Anne’s life outside of clues given in the letters she received from family and friends in this collection: she was supported by annuities granted by her uncle Sir Edward Walpole and his daughter Maria, Duchess of Gloucester; she lived with her mother in a house on Ryder Street, near Cavendish Square in London, owned by Edward Walpole; by his will retained use of the house after the death of her mother; and she regularly spent time with her aunt Jane Clement at her home in Winchester Tower at Windsor Castle. On July 31, 1800, at the age of 53, Anne Clement married General William Edmeston (or Edmestone, 1728-1804), a retired British Army officer who had served in North America during the French and Indian War. The Edmestons resided at the general's London home at 12 Charles Street, Marylebone, where Anne died on May 14, 1813. The Edmestons were interred in the Clement Vault beneath St. Mary’s Church in Hanwell, Middlesex, a town midway between Windsor and London.