Mary, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset
Mary Sackville, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset (1645 – 1679, née Bagot) was a British courtier and mistress of King Charles II.[2] The King rewarded her with grants of land, including Somerset House, in the Strand,[3] and a state pension.
Life
[edit]Her parents were Colonel Henry Bagot and his wife Dorothea Arden, of Pipe Hall, Warwickshire.
She married firstly Charles Berkeley, 1st Earl of Falmouth in 1663. He died at the Battle of Lowestoft on 3 July 1665, by cannon shot.[4]
They had one daughter:
- Mary Bagot (c. 1665- 18 April 1693), married Gilbert Cosins Gerard (1662-1720) on 2 May[5] 1681, divorced in 1684.[4]
After the death of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, in 1671, Mary was briefly considered as a possible bride for the widowed Duke of York, who later became King James II.[6] She was discounted due to her relationship with his brother the King.[7] James instead married Mary of Modena.[8]
She married secondly, and secretly,[1] Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset in June 1674, as his first wife.
Mary died in childbirth on 12 September 1679 and was buried at Withyan, Sussex.[5]
She was one of the Windsor Beauties painted by Sir Peter Lely.[9] Her portrait by Lely was erroneously named "Elizabeth, Countess of Falmouth" and also as "Countess of Ossory" in some portrait prints and books in the 18th and 19th centuries, many of which were later reprinted, compounding the error.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "RCIN 404958 - Mary Bagot, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset (1645-79)". www.rct.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
- ^ Bagot, Mrs O. R. (1953). Levens Hall, the Historic Westmorland Home of the Bagot Family: Official Guide. English Life Publications.
- ^ Everett Green, Mary Anne. "Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1665-6. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1864". British History Online. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ a b Wilson, John Harold (1976). Court Satires of the Restoration. Ohio State University Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-0-8142-0249-4.
- ^ a b Steinman, George Steinman (1880). Althorp memoirs, or Biographical notices of lady Denham, the countess of Shrewsbury, the countess of Falmouth, mrs. Jenyns, the duchess of Tyrconnel, and Lucy Walter. [With] Addenda.
- ^ Alexander, Julia Marciari; MacLeod, Catharine (2007). Politics, Transgression, and Representation at the Court of Charles II. Yale Center for British Art. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-300-11656-4.
- ^ Pritchard, R. E. (15 September 2015). Scandalous Liaisons: Charles II and his Court. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-4879-8.
- ^ Haile, Martin (1905). Queen Mary of Modena, her life and letters. Robarts - University of Toronto. London : Dent; New York : E.P. Dutton.
- ^ Melville, Lewis (2005). The Windsor Beauties: Ladies of the Court of Charles II. Modern HIstory Press. ISBN 978-1-932690-13-2.
External links
[edit]- "Elizabeth Bagot, Countess of Falmouth & Dorset". Archived 14 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine (1832) NYPL.
- "Mary Bagot, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset" (1645–79), c.1664-5, Sir Peter Lely. Royal Collections Trust.
- Mary Sackville (née Bagot), Countess of Dorset (formerly Berkeley, Countess of Falmouth) engraved as Amelia, Countess of Ossory, c. 1779, by Thomas Watson, after Sir Peter Lely. National Portrait Gallery.
- Mary Bagot (1645–1679), Countess of Falmouth, Later Countess of Dorset, National Trust, Knole via ArtUK.