Mary Anne Clarke

Common card · No. 492881

Mary Anne Clarke (born Mary Anne Thompson; 3 April 1776 – 21 June 1852) was the mistress of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Their relationship began in 1803, while he was Commander-in-Chief of the army. Later in 1809, she wrote her memoirs which were published. She was the subject of a portrait by Adam Buck, and a caricature by Isaac Cruikshank; ten days after the latter's publication, the Duke resigned from his post as Commander of the British Army. In 1811, she commissioned Irish sculptor Lawrence Gahagan to sculpt a marble bust of her; this is now housed in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Through her daughter Ellen, who married Louis-Mathurin Busson du Maurier, Clarke was a great-great-grandmother of author Daphne du Maurier, who wrote the novel Mary Anne about her life.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Adam Buck, Public domain