Nancy Fish

Nancy Fish Barnum Callias D'Orengiani, born Nancy Fish on 22 April 1850 in Blackburn, Lancashire, United Kingdom, was a prominent English socialite and the daughter of a prosperous cotton miller. Her life took an exciting twist when she became the second wife of P. T. Barnum, a famous showman who was 40 years her senior. Following the death of his first wife in 1873, they married in both London and New York City in 1874. After Barnum's death in 1891, Fish was left with a large annuity. In 1895, Fish married Demetrius Callias Bey, an Ottoman diplomat and nobleman, after a serendipitous meeting in Egypt. The marriage ended with Callias's death in 1896. Later in 1898, Fish formed a practical and beneficial business-like marriage with Baron Lucien D'Alexandry D'Orengiani, a French nobleman. From then on, she led her life in Europe as a baroness until her death in 1927. Fish spent her growing-up years in an advantageously large house in North Meols, near Southport, Lancashire, which her father's business success made feasible. Fish's relationship with Barnum started as letter writing and eventually evolved into a full-fledged romance. This relationship supposedly started before the death of Barnum's first wife Charity in 1873. In fact, upon Charity's death, Barnum traveled to Southport to be with Fish and her father a