Wanstead House, Its Heiress, & Her Unfortunate Choice in Men

Richard Westall, Wanstead House Loretta reports:

The clipping from the Annual Register sent me off in 2NHG search of more, as you’d expect, and boy, did I find a story, straight out of melodrama: Young Heiress Ruined By Fortune-Hunting Scoundrel.

A site devoted to Wanstead House tells the story here .

Annual Register May 1823 Further searching led me back to a beautifully illustrated site for Wicked William Pole-Tylney , which Isabella had very recently called to my attention for an altogether different nerdy historical reason (a lovely post on coaching inns ). And which included an advertisement for the auction of the house’s contents the previous year.

Geraldine Roberts, who’s written a book about Catherine Tylney Long, The Angel and the Cad,  outlines the heiress's story on her website, with many fine images, including the (rare) one of Catherine below.

William Pole-Tylney Catherine Tylney LongImage at top: Richard Westall, Wanstead House , undated (I’d guess about 1790s), courtesy Yale Center for British Art.

Clicking on the image will enlarge it.  Clicking on the caption will take you to the source, where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.