Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton

Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton suo jure, was born on 17 January 1709 and died on 13 January 1781. She was a member of the British aristocracy associated with the Rolle family of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, Devon. Her father was Samuel Rolle (1646–1719), a Member of Parliament, and her mother was Margaret Tuckfield, daughter of Roger Tuckfield of Raddon Court, Devon. The Rolle family was a descendant of George Rolle, an MP who acquired lands during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, establishing one of Devon's significant landowning branches.

Margaret Rolle was the sole surviving daughter and heiress of her family, inheriting extensive estates and the patronage of the Rolle pocket borough of Callington, Cornwall. She was also an heiress to her maternal grandmother, Lady Arabella Clinton, connecting her to the family of the Earls of Lincoln and later the Dukes of Newcastle.

In 1760, she was called out of abeyance as the senior co-heiress to the barony of Clinton, which had been in abeyance following the death in 1751 of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Clinton. This inheritance included numerous manors and the patronage rights associated with her family estates.

Margaret Rolle's marital history includes two marriages. Her first marriage occurred in 1724, at the age of 15, to Robert Walpole, who later became the 2nd Earl of Orford. Robert Walpole was the eldest son of Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Their marriage produced a son, George Walpole, born in 1730, who succeeded her as the 3rd Earl of Orford and the 16th Baron Clinton. The marriage was reportedly troubled; they lived separately after the birth of their son, and Margaret obtained a legal separation.

In 1751, she married Hon. Sewallis Shirley, son of Robert Shirley, 1st Earl Ferrers. Prior to this marriage, she was his mistress, and they resided together for some time. She was involved with Emmanuel de Nay, Count of Richecourt, during her time in Florence, where she also sponsored Shirley’s election as MP for Callington in 1754.

Margaret Rolle was known for her eccentricity and her extramarital affairs, including eloping to Florence with Samuel Sturgis, Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Correspondence, especially from her brother-in-law Horace Walpole, who later became the 4th Earl of Orford, often disparaged her actions and character.

She died in Pisa, Tuscany, in 1781 and was buried at Leghorn. Her son, George Walpole, succeeded as the 16th Baron Clinton but died without issue in 1791. The barony then descended into abeyance and was later claimed in 1794 by Robert George William Trefusis, 17th Baron Clinton, descendant of Margaret's aunt, Bridget Rolle. The estate of Heanton Satchville and related lands were subject to a lengthy legal dispute, ultimately awarded to the Trefusis family.

Her life reflects her status as a wealthy landowning aristocrat with notable family connections, inheritance rights, and involvement in the social and political spheres of 18th-century Britain.