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3 unusual facts about Mary Anne Clarke


Mary Anne

Daphne du Maurier's novel Mary Anne (1954) is a fictionalised account of the real-life story of her great-great-grandmother, Mary Anne Clarke née Thompson (1776-1852).

Mary Anne Clarke

Her daughter, born of her marriage to Clarke, married Louis-Mathurin Busson du Maurier and was the mother of the caricaturist George du Maurier (1834–96) and the great-grandmother of the novelist Daphne du Maurier (1907–1989), who wrote a book about her (Mary Anne).

When the scandal forced Clarke to leave London, she took a tenancy of Loughton Lodge, Loughton, Essex.


Adam Buck

His patrons included Angelica Catalani (an opera singer), JP Kemble, Sir Francis Burdett, Thomas Hope, George IV, the duke of York and his mistress Mary Anne Clarke.

Sylvia Llewelyn Davies

She was the daughter of cartoonist and writer George du Maurier and his wife Emma Wightwick, the elder sister to actor Gerald du Maurier, the aunt of novelists Angela and Daphne du Maurier and great-granddaughter of Royal mistress of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Mary Anne Clarke.


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