Dorothy Nevill

Lady Dorothy Fanny Nevill (née Walpole; 1 April 1826 in London – 24 March 1913 in London) was an English writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector. She was a founding member of the Conservative Primrose League, collected art, and cultivated a social network of talented friends including writers, artists, and politicians. Family and education Nevill was one of five children of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (1783–1858) and Mary Fawkener, daughter of William Augustus Fawkener, sometime envoy extraordinary at St Petersburg and close friend of Catherine II of Russia. Nevill was tutored by a governess in French, Greek, Italian and Latin. Scandal and marriage In 1847, Nevill was embroiled in a scandal when she was linked with George Smythe, MP, heir to a peerage. Smythe refused to marry her and this destroyed her reputation. Later in 1847, Nevill married a cousin twenty years her senior. Her husband was Reginald Henry Nevill (d. 1878), a grandson of the 1st Earl of Abergavenny. Their marriage produced six children, only four of whom survived beyond childhood including Meresia Nevill.