Mary Robinson (poet) Mary Robinson (poet) Mary Robinson (née Darby; 27 November 1757? – 26 December 1800) was an English actress, poet, dramatist, novelist, and celebrity figure. During her lifetime she was known as "the English Sappho". She earned her nickname "Perdita" for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale") in 1779. She was the first public mistress of King George IV while he was still Prince of Wales. Robinson was born in Bristol, England to Nicholas Darby, a naval captain, and his wife Hester (née Vanacott) who had married at Donyatt, Somerset, in 1749, and was baptised 'Polle(y)' ("Spelt
Frances Mabel Robinson near her widowed sister in Paris, where she stayed for the rest of her life except for a temporary move to Aurillac during World War Two. Frances Mabel Robinson Frances Mabel Robinson (1858-1954), who wrote some of her works by the pen name WS Gregg, was an English novelist and critic. Born and brought up at Milverton, Royal Leamington Spa, England, she was the younger sister of the poet Agnes Mary Frances Robinson (later Duclaux). After studying at the Slade School of Art, she moved to literature and wrote a series of novels in the 1880s-1890s, largely on Irish political