Dorothy Boyle, Countess of Burlington and Countess of Cork

Dorothy Boyle, Countess of Burlington and Countess of Cork (née Savile; 13 September 1699 – 21 September 1758) was a British noble and court official, as well as a caricaturist and portrait painter. Several of her studies and paintings were made of her daughters. Through her daughter Charlotte, who married the 4th Duke of Devonshire. A collection of 24 of her works of art descended to the Duke of Devonshire and kept at Chatsworth House.

Boyle had a great interest in the arts and was a patron of David Garrick and George Frideric Handel. She was one of Queen Caroline's Ladies of the Bedchamber. Savile Row, developed at the edge of the Boyle's Burlington House estate, was named after her (based on her surname, Savile).

Early life Dorothy Boyle (née Savile) was the third surviving daughter of William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifaxby his second wife Lady Mary Finch, whose father was Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl Nottingham, 7th Earl of Winchilsea. Boyle was a co-heiress of her father's estate.

Boyle's two brothers both died when they were young. She had a sister, Lady Mary, who wed Sackville, 7th Earl of Thanet. Boyle also had a half-sister and 2nd cousin, Lady Anne (married to the 3rd Earl of Ailesbury), from her father's first marriage to Elizabeth Grimston, daughter of Sir Samuel Grimston and Lady Elizabeth Finch, sister of 2nd Earl of Nottingham.

Dorothy became an orphan when her mother died in 1718. Afterwards she went to live with her grandfather Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham at his home Burley on the hill with her many aunts and uncles.

She had an inheritance of £30,000 and an annual income of £1,600. The Duchess of Marlborough said that Boyle was “so desirable that everybody is fighting for the prize”. One of her suitors was the duchess's own widowed son in law, the wealthy Scroop Egerton, 4th Earl of Bridgewater (later 1st Duke of Bridgewater). He pursued Dorothy for over a year. On her appointment Lord Hervey said her manner was like 'a cringing House-Maid.'

Philanthropy Boyle was one of the signatories to Thomas Coram's 1735 petition to King George II calling for the foundation of the Foundling Hospital. She signed the petition on 19 May on the same day as the Countess of Cardigan. The petition was initially unsuccessful, but Dorothy influenced her husband, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, who in 1739 became involved in the creation of the Foundling Hospital and became a governor of the charity.

Alongside her husband, Richard Boyle, Boyle was a patron of the arts, taking a supporting interest in both David Garrick and George Frideric Handel. Garrick and Boyle were correspondents and a letter survives in the Folger Library collection from Garrick to Boyle from October 1750. Additionally the celebrated dancer Eva Marie Veigel (also known as Violette) lived with Boyle at her home Burlington House when she first came over to England in 1746. Garrick fell in love with the young dancer and in 1749 they wed. Boyle was initially against the match but was later persuaded to support the marriage.

Savile Row A view of Burlington House in the 1690s, forming the centrepiece of the Burlington Estate. Burlington House south front. Designed in 1725 by Colen Campbell (1676 - 1729). Boyle drew up plans for a new street for townhouses. The Daily Post reported on 12 March 1733 that new buildings were about to be built on Savile Street in Mayfair, London. The Burlington Estate project was named after Lady Dorothy Boyle's maiden name, Savile. Savile Row was built by 1735 on freehold land known as Ten Acres belonging to a merchant tailor, William Maddox, By the late 18th century, it was a centre for high-quality tailor shops.

Marriage and later life William Aikman, Rt. Hon. Richard Boyle and Lady Dorothy Savile, 1723, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashirethumb Dorothy Savile, Lady Dorothy Boyle (1724–1742), Countess of Euston, and Her Sister Lady Charlotte Boyle (1731–1754), Later Marchioness of Hartington, National Trust, Hardwick Hall. Dorothy Savile married Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington on 21 March 1721 and brought a substantial dowry and a shared interest of theatre and music to the marriage. She enjoyed the opera, music, and theatre and was a patron of the arts, including David Garrick and George Frideric Handel. Her favourite writer was John Gay.

Soon after their marriage, Boyle began modernising Chiswick House and its grounds. They also lived at Londesborough, East Riding of Yorkshire and in London at Burlington House.

Boyle had three daughters:

Dorothy (1724–1742) Julianna (1727–1730) Charlotte (1731–1754).

Jean-Baptiste van Loo painted a family portrait of Dorothy Boyle, her husband, and three daughters in 1739. The painting is currently located in Lismore Castle's Devonshire Collection.

In 1741, Boyle's eldest daughter, Dorothy, married the Earl of Euston, eldest son of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton and died of smallpox just before her eighteenth birthday in 1742. Her husband "treated her with the utmost brutality, till her death." He was later disowned by his father.

Her youngest daughter, Charlotte, married William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington (later 4th Duke of Devonshire), on 28 March 1748. Charlotte died of smallpox in 1754. She became heiress to the entire Burlington fortune and passed down her mother's artwork and correspondence to her descendants.

The Countess of Burlington died on 21 September 1758, aged 59.The remaining Burlington estate went to her grandson, William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire.

Ancestry