(14 May 1700 – 15 April
1788)
Mary Delaney was born Mary Granville
at Coulston,  Wiltshire
on 14th May 1700, she was a niece if the 1st Lord Lansdowne, in
1718 she married Alexander Pendarves, a wealthy Cornish landowner
this was an unhappy marriage which ended in 1724 by the death of
Pendarves who was considerably her senior.
Mary travelled widely during
a visit to Ireland she met Jonathan Swift
who introduced her to Patrick Delaney an Irish cleric who she married
in 1743. Patrick Delaney was Dean of Down, the couple resided for
a time at xxx near Ballyduggan outside Downpatrick, later they moved
to Mountpanther House on the outskirts of Dundrum County Down. From
here Mary Delaney visited many of the grand houses in the area.
She became something of a social guru leaving
six volumes of Autobiography and Letters, she corrosponded extensively
with her sister Anne Granville, these letters have recently been
published by New Island and edited by Katherine Hill, they contain
much interisting information and comments such as this relating
to a visit to Castle Ward,
"Mr Ward is building a fine house but the scene about it
is so uncommonly fine it is a pity it should not be judiciously
laid out. He wants taste and Lady Anne Ward, his wife, is so whimsical
that I doubt her judgement. If they do not do too much they can't
spoil the place, for it hath every advantage from nature that can
be desired." |
