Jane Fleming, Countess of Harrington. Jane Stanhope, Countess of Harrington, was a society hostess and heiress who served as a lady of the Bedchamber to the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Jane Fleming was the eldest of five children of Sir John Fleming, 1st Baronet and his wife Jane, as well as the elder sister of the scandalous Seymour Dorothy Fleming. The death of her father in 1763 left her and her sisters co-heiresses to an enormous fortune of E100,000.
At the age of 23, Jane Fleming became engaged to the two years older Charles Stanhope, Viscount Petersham, a war hero who had recently returned from North America to England. His father, the 2nd Earl of Harrington, was deeply indebted, however, and the legal negotiations between the two families led to the postponement of the marriage.
By October 1778, rumours began circulating that the match would never actually take place. Lord Petersham became Earl of Harrington on his father's death the following April, and the marriage took place in at St Marylebone in London on 23 May.
The new Countess of Harrington was soon praised for generosity, as she immediately settled the debts her husband had inherited from her father-in-law and funded the re-purchase of Stable Yard House in St James's. The money she brought into the marriage also enabled Lord Harrington to raise an infantry regiment, with which the couple departed for Jamaica in 1780. When they r
Jane Fleming was the eldest of five children of Sir John Fleming, 1st Baronet and his wife Jane, as well as the elder sister of the scandalous Seymour Dorothy Fleming. The death of her father in 1763 left her and her sisters co-heiresses to an enormous fortune of E100,000.
At the age of 23, Jane Fleming became engaged to the two years older Charles Stanhope, Viscount Petersham, a war hero who had recently returned from North America to England. His father, the 2nd Earl of Harrington, was deeply indebted, however, and the legal negotiations between the two families led to the postponement of the marriage.
By October 1778, rumours began circulating that the match would never actually take place. Lord Petersham became Earl of Harrington on his father's death the following April, and the marriage took place in at St Marylebone in London on 23 May.
The new Countess of Harrington was soon praised for generosity, as she immediately settled the debts her husband had inherited from her father-in-law and funded the re-purchase of Stable Yard House in St James's. The money she brought into the marriage also enabled Lord Harrington to raise an infantry regiment, with which the couple departed for Jamaica in 1780. When they r
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