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
Mary Frances Dowdall are available. Mary Frances Dowdall Mary Frances Harriet Dowdall (née Borthwick, 1876–1939) was a London-born English writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her four novels are "astutely critical" on the subject of marriage. Mary Frances was the youngest of the five children of Cunninghame Borthwick, 19th Lord Borthwick (1813–1885) and his wife Harriet Alice (née Day, from Rochester, Kent, died 1917). She was privately educated. The family lived in Mayfair as her father worked as a stockbroker, but since 1870 they had also owned property in Scotland: Ravenstone Castle at Glasserton, Wigtownshire, now Dumfries and Galloway. In 1897 Mary Frances married