| Notes |
--- "Derby Mercury" 5 May 1737, page 1:
Tuesday Richard Nugent, Esq, of the Kingdom of Ireland, and his new married Lady Mrs. Knight, a Widow, Sister to the late Right Hon. James Craggs, Esq, some Time Principal Secretary of State, for Great Britatin, a Fortune of 150,000 l. were introduced to their Majesties, and met with a gracious Reception.
--- "Newcastle Courant" 2 Nov 1734, page 2:
A Marriage Treaty is concluded between the Duke of Grafton and Mrs. Knight, Relict of John Knight, Esq; and Sister to the late Secretary Craggs, a Fortune of 100,000 l.
--- "Derby Mercury" 26 Nov 1756, page 2:
On Monday died at Gosfield Hall in Essex, the Lady of the Hon. Robert Nugent, Esq; Member of Parliament for the City of Bristol, and one of the Lords of the Treasury; by whose Death a large Estate comes to her Son James Newsham, Esq; Member for St. Maw's in Cornwall, who lies dangerously ill at Oxford, in the Road to Town.
--- "Memoir of Earl Nugent" by Claud Nugent,1898 , page 9-14:
On March 23, 1736, Nugent married Anne, the daughter of James Craggs, the Postmaster-General, and sister of Secretary Craggs, Pop's and Addison's intimate friend, who were both so deeply involved in the South Sea scheme; the Postmaster-General having been proved by the Committee of Secrecy appointed to inquire into the management of the Company, to have received from the directors a bribe of 40,000 l. stock. He died in a lethargic fit on the night before the Secret Committee was to report to the House of Commons on his case, and as it was discovered that he had realized no less a sum that 69,000 l. by his transactions in the South Sea, the rumour was not unnaturally spread abroad that he had taken poison to avert public disgrace.
Secretary Craggs was not convicted of actual fraud, and Pope, one of his staunchest friends, ardently maintained his innocence. "There never lived," he wrote, "a more worthy nature, a more disinterested mind, a more open and friendly temper, than Mr. Craggs. A little time, I doubt not, will clear up a character which the world will learn to value and admire when it has none such remaining in it."
Two year later, however, he died of smallpox, being then in the thirty-sixth year of his age.
Anne Craggs had first married, in 1712, John Newsham of Chadshunt in Warwickshire, by whom she had one son only. Her second husband was John Knight, M.P. successively for St. Germains and Sudbury, by whom also she had one son only, who died in 1727. John Knight, her second husband, died in 1733, bequeathing to her all his estates, including the beautiful seat of Gosfield Hall in Essex, and a very considerable sum of money. She also shared with her two sisters, Mrs. Trefusis and Mrs. Eliot, her father's fortune, which was in itself ample enough, although the executors were compelled by Act of Parliament to refund the 69,000 l. which he had realized by his transactions with the South Sea Company. She also shared with her sisters the fortune of her brother, the Secretary. Nugent is said to have recieved with her 100,000 l. in money and estates, in additions to the seat for St. Mawe's; Nugent's own fortune, in is stated amounting to 1,500 l. a year.
To his marriage with "fat and ugly dame" (whose name he took in addition to his own, and who was five years his senior) Nugent owed his first real advancement in life, for her great wealth placed him in an influential posiition at as early an age as thirty-four, and obtained for him a seat in Parliament for St. Mawe's in Cornwall. He took the name of Craggs as a prefix to that of Nugent.
The marriage seems to have excited some amusement in social circles. The bride was something of an oddity, and was the subject of a good deal of not entirely good-natured laughter. For instance, we find Mrs. Anne Granville, afterwards Mrs. Delany, writing on May 6, 1737, to Mrs. Catheirne Collingwood at Bath--- "There have been weddings without number this spring, but none so much talked of as Mrs. Knight's, who is most ridiculous. She says that 'she and Mr. Nugent have been in the country attended only by the boy Cupid.' I could tell you many more of her bon mots, but fancy you have enough of them.
. . . Nugent's second marriage was certainly an unfortunate one. His wife was five years older than himself, and, though she brought him great wealth, she bore him no children, nor did she contribute greatly to his personal happiness. They were both possessed of hasty tempers, and were continually quarrelling in private, though in public they appeared to be the best of friends. Mrs. Nugent seems to have been quite a character, and many amusing incidents relating to her lie scattered over the pages of Walpole. She was worse than plain; she is described as "very ugly," and she was enormously fat. Horace Walpole narrates how that the chairmen who were drive two pigs to Park Place (of such proportions that he likens them Ziechi Miechi, the Chinese God of good eating and drinking), got drunk on the way, and in excuse for the delay declared that the creatures got unruly, ran away, and would not be managed. "Do but think of their running!" says Walpole; "it puts me in mind of Mrs. Nugent's talking of just jumping out of a coach!"
Mrs. Nugent was very fond of entertaining, both in the country and in London; and her husband's wit, together with her own amiability, rendered her dinner-parties and assemblies most popular. . . .
Walpole gives an amusing account of a visit he paid to Gosfield . . . [follows a rather mean account] . . . Mrs. Eliot [Elizabeth, widow of Edward] . . . has built herself a very pretty small house in the Park, and is only a dialy visitor. . . .
Mrs. Bugent died in 1756, aged 59, and was buried at Gosfield. It is difficult to believe that she was much regretted by her husband, when we find that he married another wife in teh following year; but she was lamented by a large circle of friends by whom she had been greatly liked. . . .
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1691 - 1756 (65 years)
[1] 
Married