King, Margaret, Lady Mount Cashell |
| AUTHOR, TRAVELLER, MEDICAL ADVISER (IRELAND) |
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BORN 1773, Mitchelstown - DIED 29 Jan 1835, Pisa, Toscana BIRTH NAME King, Margaret GRAVE LOCATION Livorno, Toscana: Antico Cimitero degli Inglesi, Via Giuseppe Verdi |
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Margaret Mountcashel was the second daughter of Robert King, 2nd Ear of Kingston, known as Lord Kingsborough. When she was a teenager Mary Wollstonecraft was her governess. Mary was very dear to her, but she left within a year because she couldn't get along with her Margaret's mother. In 1791 Margaret married Stephen Moore, 2nd Earl of Mount Cashell. They had seven children, but after she had met George William Tighe during a visit to Rome she left her husband in 1805 and she never saw him again. In 1807 in London she visited William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft's widower, and his second wife Mary Jane Clairmont. With Tighe she went to Germany, where she studied medicine at the University of Jena disguised as a man. They had two children, Laurette (1809-1880) and Nerina (1815-1874). In 1813 she contributed to "Stories of Old Daniel: Or, tales of wonder and delight" that was published by William Godwin and after its success she wrote additional stories. She settled with Tighe in Pisa where she assumed the name of Mrs. Mason, based on a character from a book by Mary Wollstonecraft. In Pisa she studied with professor Andrea Vaccá Berlinghieri. In 1819 she was visited by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and Claire Clairmont. She told Mary Shelley about Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother she had never known. She published "Advice to Young Mothers on the Physical Education of Children, by a Grandmother" in 1823. In 1824 the novel "The Sisters of Nansfield: A Tale for Young Women" followed. In 1822 her husband had died and she married Tighe in March 1826, but in 1827 they separated. In the same year she founded the Accademia dei Lunatici, a liberal-patriotic literary society attended by Giacomo Leopardi and others. In the 1830s Claire Clairmont lived with her. By that time Margaret had resumed the use of the name Lady Mount Cashell. She died in 1835 and was buried in Livorno. Tighe died two years later and was buried beside her. Related persons • was a friend of Clairmont, Claire • visited Godwin, William • was a friend of Shelley, Mary • was pupil of Vaccà Berlinghieri, Andrea • has a connection with Wollstonecraft, Mary Events |
| 30/9/1819 | Mary Shelley meets Lady Mount Cashell. She visited her in Pisa together with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary][Shelley, Percy Bysshe] |
| Images | |
 The grave of Margaret King, Lady Mount Cashell at the Antico Cimitero degli Inglesi, Livorno. Picture by Androom (17 Feb 2018) |
 The grave of Margaret King, Lady Mount Cashell at the Antico Cimitero degli Inglesi, Livorno. Picture by Androom (17 Feb 2018) |
Sources • Feldman, Paula R. and Diana Scott-Kilvert, The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814-1844, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987 • Margaret King - Wikipedia (EN) • A Liberated Woman: The Story of Margaret King - Longreads |
