Charlotte Clayton, Baroness Sundon

Charlotte Clayton, Baroness Sundon
by Godfrey Kneller
Born	Charlotte Dyve 11 December c.1679
Died	1 January 1742 Cleveland Row, London
Nationality	British
Occupation	Courtier
Spouse(s)	William Clayton, 1st Baron Sundon

Charlotte Clayton, Baroness Sundon (11 December c.1679 – 1 January 1742) was a British Lady in Waiting.

Life

Charlotte Dyce was a woman of the bedchamber to Queen Caroline. She was the granddaughter of Sir Lewis Dyve of Bromham in Bedfordshire.^[1] She married William Clayton, a Treasury official,^[2] at some date before 1715. In 1735 she became Lady Sundon when her husband was made first Baron Sundon. She enjoyed a lot of influence with the Queen and she was mistrusted by Robert Walpole who suspected that it was her opinions that were making the Queen uncooperative. It was alleged that she even proposed that she and Walpole could rule the country.^[3]

References

1.  Aitken, George Atherton (1898). "Sundon, Charlotte Clayton". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. Sedgwick, Romney (1970). "Clayton, William (1671-1752)". In Sedgwick, Romney. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754. London: HMSO. ISBN 9780118800983.
3. Carter, Philip. "Clayton , Charlotte, Lady Sundon (c.1679–1742)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5568. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)