Esther Acklom, known as Esther Spencer, Viscountess Althorp, was a British heiress and socialite most well known for her social flirtations.
16 Facts About Esther Acklom
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Esther Acklom quickly gained the reputation of a flirt, turning down a large amount of marriage proposals, including those of James, Lord Lindsay, naval officer Edmund Knox, and Henry, Lord Glentworth, the heir of Lord Limerick.
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In 1812 Esther Acklom became engaged to the army officer Christopher Tilson, but she broke this off just before the wedding, and she broke off a subsequent engagement to another man after she inherited her father's wealth upon his death in December.
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Esther Acklom went on to meet John, Viscount Althorp towards the start of 1814, and despite his initial unwillingness she persuaded him to marry her, probably so that he could remove his debts with her dowry and she could receive a title.
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Esther Acklom died giving birth to a stillborn child in June 1818, and Althorp mourned her for the rest of his life.
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Esther Acklom, born 1788, was the only child of Richard Acklom of Wiseton Hall, Nottinghamshire, and his wife Elizabeth Bernard, the sister of Francis, Lord Bandon.
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Esther Acklom arrived in London in around 1807, living at her father's house in Lower Grosvenor Street.
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Esther Acklom was supported and sometimes chaperoned by Frances Calvert, the wife of politician Nicolson Calvert, who quickly noted that Acklom was wont to be a flirt and coquette.
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Esther Acklom continued her flirtations, this time with Henry, Lord Glentworth, the heir of Edmund, Lord Limerick.
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Esther Acklom continued to grace social circles, and by the middle of 1811 was still receiving marriage proposals, with Frances resigned that Esther Acklom was "a very good girl, only with some faults in manner".
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Opinions on Esther Acklom were not all negative however; she was occasionally chaperoned by John Spencer Stanhope's mother, and was close with the Spencer-Stanhope family.
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Esther Acklom was likely drawn to Althorp because of his title, and at first the couple had little to like about each other but this changed as the engagement went on.
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Esther Acklom retired to Bath, during which time Tilson returned to England, having been promoted to lieutenant-general.
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Some were unimpressed with the marriage, with Althorp's sister Lady Sarah Spencer deriding Esther Acklom as "a vulgar person and a spoilt child", arguing that Althorp only married her in order to settle his debts with her dowry, but still admitting that the marriage itself was a happy one, with the couple devoted to each other.
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Aware that an heir was necessary for the aristocratic Spencer family, Esther Acklom was eager to have a child.
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Esther Acklom fell pregnant towards the end of 1817, and the couple moved from their town house on noisy Pall Mall to William, Lord Fitzwilliam's quieter house in Halkin Street.