How to find an Heiress

Imagine that you are a young man of no insignificant personal charm and intelligence, but hindered in your personal ambitions by a certain lack of funds – perhaps due to a pesky older brother laying his hands on the family fortune or simply because a certain lack of foresight in your ancestors. Then what do you do?

The obvious answer is to find an heiress, naturally. But – the inevitable question appears – where? How does one find a selection of unwed ladies of considerable fortune? One would need… Well, a catalogue of wealthy and available ladies!

And guess what, the crafty Georgians really had them! An example can be found here in the shape of A master-key to the rich ladies treasury;  Or, The widower and batchelor’s directory, containing an exact alphabetical list of the duchess dowagers &c from 1742.

Mary Edwards by Hogarth, 1742 (at Frick Collection)

In it you find the ladies listed in order of rank – starting with duchesses and ending with “Widows and Spinsters in Great-Britain” – and for each you can see the address, the fortune and (specified especially) what they have “In The Stocks” (and the considerate author has even specified in what, so that you may judge the value of East India versus South Sea). How then to proceed in order to be introduced to The Dowager Lady Salisbury and her 40,000 pounds, it does not say, but an enterprising young man will always find a way, will he not? Though I have to say that the odds of laying your hands on The Dowager Duchess of Marlborough and her millions would likely be slim, considering that Sarah was probably not too keen on remarrying in her 82nd year…

The list is very useful for a writer – not only do you get great inspirations for names and addresses, but you also get a picture of the sort of fortunes found in a selection in British society. A “how much is much” sort of guide. Plus, oh, the ideas it generates! All those wealthy spinsters and widows and the idea of all the fortune-seekers out to get them… It’s a plot bunny farm!

The author is merely given as a younger brother, but who says he was? Who says it was even a he at all? Wouldn’t that be an occupation worthy of a heroine – being the secret author of a list of marriageable rich ladies?