Maria Villiers, Countess of Clarendon

Maria Eleanor Villiers, Countess of Clarendon (23 January 1761 – 18 March 1844),[1] formerly Maria Eleanor Forbes, was the wife of John Villiers, 3rd Earl of Clarendon.

Maria was the daughter and co-heir of Admiral Hon. John Forbes and his wife, the former Lady Mary Capell, daughter of William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex.[2] Her mother and the earl's mother being sisters, she and the earl were first cousins.[3][4] They married on 5 January 1791, and had one daughter, Mary-Harriet, who never married and died in 1838.[5]

The earl died in 1838 and was succeeded by his nephew.[5] The countess died, aged 83, at Clarendon House, North Audley Street, Westminster.

A miniature portrait of the countess was painted on ivory by Richard Cosway.[6]

  1. ^ The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James in the County of Middlesex Vol. V. 1761-1786. 15 February 1761.
  2. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
  3. ^ "Essex, Earl of (E, 1661)". Cracroft's Peerage. Archived from the original on 1 September 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  4. ^ John Forbes (1868). Memoirs of the Earls of Granard. Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer. pp. 2–.
  5. ^ a b A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Henry Colburn. 1869. pp. 510–.
  6. ^ "Past Auction". ArtNet. Retrieved 26 December 2017.