(1750 - 1842), courtesan; née Cane [Jesse, Selwyn, 2:230 - 1, has Blane], changed name to Armitstead c.1770; m. 1795 Charles James Fox.
1781 - 2 [Paris, Jul. 1781] Italy (Dec. 1781 - Feb. 1782)
1788 Parma, Cento, Venice (by 17 Oct.), Bologna (by mid-Nov.)
One of the most fashionable of London courtesans and a favourite with the Foxite Whigs, Mrs Armitstead travelled to Paris alone in July 1781, when the Prince of Wales stopped paying her bills. She soon took up with Lords Cholmondeley and Coleraine who followed her into Italy in December (there is otherwise no report of Coleraine being in Italy).1 She and Lord Cholmondeley, who had pursued her 'through every town in Italy like the stricken deer with an arrow in her side',2 left Italy together in February 1782.
Charles James Fox began to live with Mrs Armitstead in 1783, and they went to the Continent for a short tour after the 1788 election. They reached Italy via Paris (August) and Switzerland (September).2 Mrs Armitstead became 'wild about' the Correggios in Parma, and admired Guercino at Cento. In October they were staying with James Hare in Venice,3 where Mrs Armitstead met the composer Gazzaniga. Their tour ended abruptly when Fox was informed in Bologna in mid-November of George III's insanity. Fox rushed home, Mrs Armitstead leaving him at Lyons to travel at a more leisurely pace.
After their secret marriage in 1795 the Foxes again visited Italy in 1802.
1. See I.M. Davis, The Harlot and the Statesman, 50 - 1, 95 - 8. 2. Blagden Letters, 256. 3. Abbot jnl.MSS.
