Esther Acklom

She went on to meet John, Viscount Althorp towards the start of 1814, and despite his initial unwillingness she persuaded him to marry her, probably so that he could remove his debts with her dowry and she could receive a title.

[8] Soon after her flirtation with Charles Calvert, Acklom began to receive more marriage proposals, turning down James, Lord Lindsay among others.

[9] By November Acklom had moved on to attract the attention of another of Frances' relatives, this time her nephew Edmund Knox, a Royal Navy officer.

[13] Opinions on Acklom were not all negative however; she was occasionally chaperoned by John Spencer Stanhope's mother, and was close with the Spencer-Stanhope family.

Their biographer, A. M. W. Stirling, takes a more positive approach to Acklom, saying that "she was invariably agreeable, despite the fact that her speech was apt to be too frank and her determination too unswerving to render her universally popular".

The pair became quickly engaged and the marriage was to take place, but Acklom reneged on the agreement just beforehand; Tilson returned to serve in the Peninsular War soon afterwards.

[20] Now worth more than £10,000 a year, Acklom used her newfound wealth to pay Madocks back all the money he had spent on her during their engagement, and he, like Tilson, chose to escape the situation by going off to war.

[22] Being lauded for her "intelligence and wit" as well as her wealth, Acklom married Althorp at Upper Brook Street, London, on 13 April 1814, in front of an audience of over 2,000 people.

[24][33] Despite later becoming the third Earl Spencer, he never married again, leaving his brother Frederick to inherit the title upon his death, at which point he was still wearing a locket containing a strand of Acklom's hair.