Anne Maynard

Anne, Viscountess Maynard (also known as Anne Parsons, Nancy Parsons, Nancy Maynard, and Mrs Horton (c. 1735 – 1814/1815) was a British courtesan and political mistress. She was de facto first lady, entertaining guests for her lover the Duke of Grafton, the First Minister (Prime Minister). Life Her birth is estimated to be 1735 and one account says that her father was a tailor in Bond Street in London. She is thought to have first been a prostitute. She is said to have gone to Jamaica with a man called Horton or Houghton, and according to some accounts they married and he may have died. When she returned she used a married name of "Mrs. Horton". In 1760 she was a high-class prostitute to members of the aristocracy including the Earl of Shelburne, a contractor Arnold Nesbitt, and Richard Rigby, a Privy Councilor. In 1764, she had a scandalous affair with Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, whilst his wife, Anne FitzPatrick, was pregnant. FitzRoy kept Parsons at his townhouse and took her to the opera. This brazen defiance of convention offended society's standards. Parsons lived openly on the duke's estates, and meanwhile, the Duke became Secretary of State in 1765.