Catherine Tylney-Long

Catherine Tylney-Long (2 October 1789 – 12 September 1825) was a 19th-century British heiress, known as "The Wiltshire Heiress." Life She was the eldest daughter of Sir James Tylney-Long, 7th Baronet, of Draycot, Wiltshire. Her only brother James had inherited their father's fortune but died just short of his eleventh birthday in 1805, meaning that the vast estates (see list at Draycot Cerne article) gathered by the 7th Baronet in Essex, Hampshire, and Wiltshire and financial investments in hand worth devolved to Catherine. These estates were said to bring in total annual rents of £40,000. She thus became known in fashionable London society as "The Wiltshire Heiress" and was believed to be the richest commoner in England. Her suitors included the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV (b. 1765) keen to pay off his great debts. She eventually chose William Wesley-Pole (b. 1788), who on 14 January 1812 assumed the additional surnames of Tylney-Long, changing his name by Royal Licence. The couple married on 14 March 1812, but his extravagance, arrogance and cruelty meant the marriage was an exceedingly unhappy one.