She was a daughter of Sir John Shorter (born 1660), of Bybrook, in Kent, a wealthy merchant (the son of Sir John Shorter (1625–1688), Lord Mayor of London),[1] by his wife Elizabeth Philipps (born c. 1664), a daughter of Sir Erasmus Philipps, 3rd Baronet.

[2] In 1700, she married Sir Robert Walpole of Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the first British prime minister, to whom she brought a dowry of £20,000.

[1] She was renowned for her extravagant lifestyle, frequently attending the opera and buying expensive clothes and jewellery.

He lived with Maria Skerrett at both Richmond, Surrey, and at Houghton while Lady Walpole was still alive.

She is buried at the Church of St Martin on the Walpole estate at Houghton in Norfolk, England.