Frances Anne Vane (1713–1788)

Frances Anne Hawes was born at Purley Hall, near Reading, England, a daughter of Francis Hawes, a wealthy stockbroker who was one of the directors of the infamous South Sea Company, which dissolved in 1721. Although she had little or no dowry, Frances had striking good looks and eloped, at age 19, with Lord William Hamilton. He died two years later and Frances remarried in 1735 to William Vane, 2nd Viscount Vane. Lady Vane was known as the finest minuet dancer in England, and was adored by her second husband, who never appeared to notice her misdeeds, such as her flagrant adultery and selling the furniture to pay her gambling debts. "Lady Fanny," as she was generally called, entertained lavishly at the family seat of Fairlawn in Kent, at Bath, and at Tunbridge Wells. In 1751, she caused a scandal when she persuaded Tobias Smollett to include as a chapter in his novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle her own reminiscences, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality. Lady Fanny's husband refused to sue for divorce, and she lived apart from him for more than 20 years. She was buried in the Vane family vault on her death.