Sophia Sidney, Baroness De L'Isle and Dudley

The Right Honourable The Lady De L'Isle and Dudley
Lady De L'Isle and Dudley in 1832, by Andrew Morton
Born	Sophia FitzClarence 25 August 1796 Somerset Street, London, England
Died	10 April 1837 (aged 40) Kensington Palace, London, England
Noble family	FitzClarence
Spouse(s)	Philip Sidney, 1st Baron De L'Isle and Dudley ​ ​ (m. 1825)​
Issue	Adelaide Sidney Ernestine Sidney Sophia Sidney Philip Sidney, 2nd Baron De L'Isle and Dudley
Father	William IV
Mother	Dorothea Jordan
Occupation	State Housekeeper

Sophia Sidney, Baroness De L'Isle and Dudley (née FitzClarence; 25 August 1796 – 10 April 1837) was the eldest illegitimate daughter of William IV of the United Kingdom and his longtime mistress Dorothea Jordan. She was married to Philip Sidney, 1st Baron De L'Isle and Dudley, and had four surviving children. Shortly before her death in 1837, she served as State Housekeeper in Kensington Palace.

Family and early life

Sophia FitzClarence was born on 25 August 1796 on Somerset Street in London, the eldest daughter of Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, by his longtime mistress, the comic actress Dorothea Jordan. Sophia would come to have nine siblings, five brothers and four sisters all surnamed FitzClarence. While circumstances prevented the couple from ever marrying, for twenty years William and Dorothea enjoyed domestic stability and were devoted to their children. In 1797, they moved from Clarence Lodge to Bushy House, residing at the Teddington residence until 1807. The couple separated in 1811 as William sought to produce legitimate issue.

Marriage and issue

On 13 August 1825, she married Philip Sidney, later an M.P. and the 1st Baron De L'Isle and Dudley of Penshurst in the County of Kent. Sidney was a relation of the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley, though he opted to drop "Shelley" from his surname.

Sophia and her husband had four surviving children, three daughters and a son:

• Adelaide Augusta Wilhelmina Sidney (1 June 1826 – 20 September 1904), married her first cousin, Frederick Charles George FitzClarence-Hunloke, son of George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster, no issue
• Philip Sidney, 2nd Baron De L'Isle and Dudley of Penshurst (28 January 1828 – 17 February 1898), grandfather of the 1st Viscount De L'Isle
• Ernestine Wellington Sidney (9 January 1834 – 20 September 1910), married Philip Perceval; mother of Major Sir Philip Hunloke, who was the father of Lt.-Col. Henry Philip Hunloke
• Sophia Philippa Sidney (11 March 1837 – 12 May 1907), married Alexander, Graf von Kielmannsegg, a great-grandson of Johann Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Wallmoden-Gimborn (alleged illegitimate son of George II of Great Britain)

Later life

William IV drawn by his daughter Sophia in 1837

In May 1831 Sophia, like her sisters, was raised to the status of a daughter of a marquess. In January 1837, she was appointed State Housekeeper of Kensington Palace, where she died three months later. Sophia died in childbirth just after drawing a sketch of her ailing father. She was his favourite child and her death caused him intense grief, exacerbated by the fact that he was completely estranged from her brother the Earl of Munster. She was remembered as a woman of great wit, charm and gaiety. There is a memorial to her at St John the Baptist, Penshurst.

The widowed Sidney died in 1851.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Sophia Sidney, Baroness De L'Isle and Dudley

16. George II of Great Britain 8. Frederick, Prince of Wales 17. Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach 4. George III of the United Kingdom 18. Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg 9. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha 19. Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst 2. William IV of the United Kingdom 20. Adolf Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 10. Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg 21. Princess Christiane Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen 5. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 22. Ernest Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen 11. Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen 23. Countess Sophia Albertine of Erbach-Erbach 1. Sophia Sidney, Baroness De L'Isle and Dudley 24. James Bland 12. Nathaniel Bland 25. Lucy Brewster 6. Francis Bland 13. Elizabeth Heaton 3. Dorothy Jordan 7. Grace Phillips

References

Works cited

• Beauclerk-Dewar, Peter; Powell, Roger (2008). Royal Bastards. Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 9780752473154.
• Brennan, Michael G. (2006). The Sidneys of Penshurst and the Monarchy, 1500-1700. Ashgate Publishing Company. ISBN 9780754650607.
• Brock, Michael (2004). "William IV (1765–1837)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29451. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Burke, Bernard (1880). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, Volume 42, Part 1. Harrison and Sons.
• Campbell Denlinger, Elizabeth (2005). Before Victoria: Extraordinary Women of the British Romantic Era. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231136303.
• Weir, Alison (2008). Britain's Royal Families, The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5.
• Wright, G.N. (1837). The Life and Reign of William the Fourth. London: Fisher, Son, & Co.