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Catherine Maria Fischer (later known as Kitty) was born near Soho in London, to John and Ann. John was a silver chaser.

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Kitty is enrolled at boarding school in Hammersmith. Her father, John is determined that she should climb the social ladder and believes a good education is key to that.

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Kitty is forced to leave boarding school after becoming ill. When she returns to Soho a few years later at the age of about 14 or 15, she was old enough to be viewed as a young women, who could be preyed upon by men to take her virginity.

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Soon after her return, John is duped into believing Catherine has a rich, respectable admirer by the pimp, Jack Harris. In fact, it is a ploy by one of his clients to take her virginity - for which he paid Harris £100 to facilitate. Kitty screams enough that she is able to stop the attack.

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At the age of 15, Kitty is now working as a milliner. The profession had respectable and disreputable connotations. Respectable - making hats, caps and bonnets. Disreputable - employed in the sex industry with easy access to male clients.

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Kitty meets Anthony George Martin, an officer in the Coldstream Guards. He was 11 years older than her. She quickly fell in love and moved in with him. Her parents tried to ensure respectability by saying they were married. Kitty began to call herself Mrs Catherine Martin. In 1758 Martin was posted overseas, leaving Kitty alone aged 17.

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As a 'fallen woman', Kitty decided to reinvent herself as a fashionable, desirable courtesan (p27) - where her living expenses would all be covered in return for sexual favours as the mistress or  'kept woman' of a wealthy man. She first becomes the mistress of Thomas Hutchings, a young man and heir to a Somerset landowner. He announced he'd tired of her a few years later, around 1760.

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Kitty's notoriety grew in 1758. A well connected man-about-town, Thomas Bowlby wrote to his friend Philip Gell in January 1759 saying " he must come to town to see Kitty Fisher, the most pretty, extravagant, wicked little whore that ever flourished. You may have seen her but she was nothing till this winter" (p36)

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Kitty is now the mistress of Charles Bingham, who most likely commissioned this painting of Kitty as Cleopatra. It was painted by Sir Joseph Reynolds, a man who became a lifelong friend/acquaintance and painted her many times.  Many of these pictures were turned into prints which the public could purchase and hang on their walls, helping cement Kitty's celebrity status and allowing her to retain some control over her public persona.
Charles Bingham soon either grows tired of Kitty or is unable to maintain the lifestyle she requires, so passes her on to his friend, Lord Montford (p40). Montford had more wealth to spend on Kitty and at the age of 18 she lived in luxury.

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Lord Poulet devises a plan where he and four other men in his gambling club had an equal claim on Kitty. She would get 5% of each of their winnings and would be shared/enjoyed/used by each of them. The men were Sir Charles Bingham, Lord Montford, the Earl of Coventry and one other who remains anonymous (p45).

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Kitty has a horse riding accident on the Mall when her horse was startled and bolted. Sitting side-saddle she was eventually thrown to the ground. She quickly realised this was an opportunity and began laughing at her near death experience. She was escorted out of the Mall on a sedan chair, waving like a queen to the crowd. This event launched her celebrity status. The picture is a print of the 'Merry Incident' from the time.

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Two or three weeks after the horse riding accident, a pseudo-biography of Kitty's life so far was published anonymously - although it is likely to have been a writer called Samuel Derrick whom Kitty would have known through her friend Jane Lessingham (p54). It was called The Juvenile Adventures of Miss K___y F____r and contains a mix of fact and fiction. Kitty wrote and released a response to the defamation of her and others names which was published around the same time in the Public Advertiser (p58). Kitty's celebrity was now widespread and by 1760 her fame was global - reaching even America (p84).

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Her first love, Anthony George Martin's son was christened in Soho. Kitty becomes the mistress of Lord Sandwich (to whom her friend Jane had a baby as she was his mistress first). She found other men to spend her time with also and was regularly mobbed when out socialising (p 80). It is around this time that she created the Kitty Fisher bonnet - seen partially in this unfinished painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds .

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Since the release of the Juvenile Adventures and perhaps the news of Anthony George Martin's newborn son, Kitty begins to turn her back on the 'celebrity' and starts to live a less public lifestyle.  The publication had scared away her suitors and removed her mystique. The magic had been stripped away and the sleazy side of her life laid bare (p94).
In 1760 she moves into Titsey Place, an ancient manor house in Surrey with William Chetwynd, the MP for Stafford. It's possible she had been together with William since 1759, despite him being married, but it seems the reasons for her to live with him were because she fell in love with him, becoming a lover rather than a kept woman  (p94). She ultimately called herself Mrs Brown and passed as his housekeeper to attempt to give a veneer of respectability (p99).

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Maria, Countess of Coventry dies. She was one of Kitty's rivals. She died of tuberculosis having weakened her immune system through the use of lead based white face makeup which was popular at the time.

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Kitty is strolling through Ranelagh Gardens (above) with William Chetwynd  when his previous love, Mary 'Polly' Davies walked past. She was angry and jealous and launched herself at Kitty, hitting her on the head. Soon after a pamphlet called The Meretriciad was published containing a satirical verse written by Captain Edward Thompson. It praised the charms of Kitty and included the incident at Ranelagh. By now Kitty tried to ignore such pamplets, prefering to remain out of the public eye.

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William Chetynwd dies of consumption aged 33 (p113). Kitty returns to Titney Place temporarily before returning to London to live with her family. She was left with little of any worth from the relationship.

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Kitty decided to try and regain her celebrity status by commissioning a portrait from a rival artist to Joshua Reynolds, called Nathaniel Hone. He painted what has become the most iconic portrait of Kitty (above) and one in which she carefully controlled the image she wanted to portray. She had been out of the public eye now for five years. See p117 for an analysis of the meaning of this portrait.
The portrait was exhibited in May 1765 but didn't bring about any men offering to keep her.

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Kitty's father, John Fisher dies. Kitty is now the breadwinner for the family. She again commissions a portrait, this time from Joshua Reynolds (above). For a short time she took up with Joseph Salvador - although she had been indifferent to her in the early days of her career. It only lasted a few months and ultimately he moved to America (p123).

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Kitty meets John Norris. He is a year older than her and unmarried. He falls for her and she him. He was the MP for Rye and heir to a Kentish estate. His parents hoped that the affair would be short-lived, but they ended up marrying in secret in Scotland in October. They then repeated the marriage in London in December of the same year to silence rumours that the marriage was null and void. Two weeks after this wedding, Kitty's sister Sarah Louisa Pollard died in childbirth, aged just 19.

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Kitty's relationship with John is a good one and she turns the opinion of his family when they realise how good for him she is (p130). By March 1767, Kitty is unwell and heads to Bristol to take the waters which were believed to aid recovery. They made it as far as a lodging house at an inn in Bath, where Kitty died of tuberculosis - the disease which had lain dormant since she caught it while nursing William Chetwynd (p131).

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Kitty is laid to rest in the Norris family vault in Hemstead Park, wearing her best ball gown.