English aristocrat, socialite and sculptor Anne Seymour Damer was BOTD in 1748. Born in Sevenoaks, Kent to an aristocratic family, she was the cousin and god-daughter of politician and writer (and probable homosexual) Horace Walpole, and spent much of her childhood at his Gothic mansion Strawberry Hill in Twickenham. Highly educated, she was presented into society at 17, and married John Damer, the future Earl of Dorchester, in 1767. The marriage was unhappy and they had no children, eventually separating after seven years. After Damer’s suicide in 1776, she became independently wealthy, allowing her to pursue an artistic career. She became a noted socialite, with friends including the Vicountess Melbourne and Georgiana Cates, Duchess of Devonshire, and travelled extensively through Europe, meeting Napoleon Bonaparte and befriending the Empress Josephine. Encouraged by Walpole and her friend David Hume, she became a sculptor, primarily creating busts in the Neo-Classical style, and exhibiting regularly as an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Arts. Her subjects included many of the leading figures of Georgian society, including King George III, Lady Melbourne, Lord Nelson, Joseph Banks, the writer Mary Berry and the actresses Sarah Siddons and Elizabeth Farren. In 1797, she inherited Strawberry Hill. She died in 1828, aged 79. Anne’s friendships with Farren and Berry been extensively debated, with many biographers arguing that they were Anne’s lovers.