Pauline Duvernay

Pauline Duvernay was born at Versailles and became a student of Hippolyte Barrez at the Paris Opera Ballet, where she also worked with Auguste Vestris, Jean-Francois Coulon and Filippo Taglioni.

That same year she made her debut in London at the Drury Lane Theatre in Jean-Pierre Aumer's La Belle au bois dormant ("Sleeping Beauty").

She retired in 1837, at the height of her career, marrying an English banker and Member of Parliament, Stephens Lyne-Stephens, thought to be the richest commoner in England at that time.

Stephens bought Lynford Hall near Thetford in 1856, intending to develop its 8,000 acres (32 km2) with mansion house, parkland and lake as a hunting retreat, and commissioned the architect William Burn to refurbish it.

She lived at Lynford Hall, using her personal fortune to build the Catholic Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge[1] and financially assisting local schools.