Maria Nugent

Maria Nugent, Lady Nugent born Maria Skinner (1770/71 – 1834) was a diarist and art collector. She was born in the colony of New Jersey to a British loyalist family. She married British M.P. George Nugent and is known for her diary, which she wrote while he was lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief of Jamaica and again in India. Part of her diaries were published privately in 1839. Her diaries written in India were published later, and her art collection was sold for £420,000 in 2020.

Maria Nugent
Lady Nugent
Known fordiaries describing her experiences in India and Jamaica
Born1770/1771
colony of New Jersey
Died1834
Westhorpe House
Spouse(s)Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet
Issue5
FatherCortlandt Skinner
MotherElizabeth Kearny

Life

Nugent was born in either 1770 or 1771 in the colony of New Jersey. She was one of the twelve children born to Elizabeth (born Kearny) and Cortlandt Skinner, the Attorney-General of New Jersey and a descendant of the Schuyler and Van Cortlandt families of British North America,[1] When the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783, her father, who was a British loyalist, moved to Britain.[2]

In 1801, she and her husband went to Jamaica, where he was lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief. She wrote a journal before they returned in 1806. She became Lady Nugent when her husband was made a baronet.[2] In 1812, they set sailed to India, and they once went on a tour to inspect the territory. She rode on elephants occasionally while there, and more usually carried by servants in a single poled sedan chair called a tonjon.

Maria, Lady Nugent in 1812 in a Palanquin with 24 bearers and attendants
The famous sheep-eating fakir, Jurah Geer Berah Geer in 1800

Nugent had to leave her children behind, including a six-week-old baby.[3] While she was in India she met other powerful women, including the Mughal Emperor's wives and daughters; Munni Begum; Begum Johnson; and the adventuress Begum Samru.[4] Most British wives stayed in England, so she was unusual when she went to India. Her journal was written as if she intended it to be published, or at least as stories for her children to read when they were re-united. She saw widows burned at their husband's funeral, servants who refused her food, snakes being charmed and nawabs demonstrating traditions and etiquette that the British could only covet. Her writings improved in detail and she recorded sights that she was unfamiliar with.[3]

Lady Nugent collected paintings she had commissioned to illustrate things she had seen. Nine of these paintings that were passed down to her descendants were sold at auction in 2020 for £420,000. The painting of her in a palanquin sold for over £60,000, whilst a painting of the famous sheep-eating fakir, Jurah Geer Berah Geer, dated 1800, sold for over £75,000.[5]

Death and legacy

Lady Nugent died in 1834 at Westhorpe House, and she was buried at St John the Baptist's Church in Little Marlow.[2]

Lady Nugent wrote a journal of her experiences in Jamaica, which was privately published in 1839[2] and made public in 1907.[6][7]

In 2014 a critical version of her journal in India was published.[4]

Personal life

On 16 November 1797, she married George Nugent, who was an officer in the British Army and the Member of Parliament for Buckingham.[2]

They had three sons and two daughters, including:

References
  1. Burke, Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 2. London: Harrison 1871, page 1270
  2. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (2004-09-23), "Maria Nugent", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47677, retrieved 2023-08-01
  3. "A woman in an unfamiliar territory". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  4. Nugent, Lady Maria (2014). Lady Nugent's East India Journal: A Critical Edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-808972-8.
  5. "Bonhams : Company Paintings from The Nugent Collection Sweep the Board at Bonhams Islamic and Indian Sale". www.bonhams.com. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  6. "Lady Maria Nugent [Skinner]". Dukes of Buckingham. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  7. Bohls, Elizabeth A.; Duncan, Ian (2005). Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology. Oxford University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-19-284051-6. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  8. "RIDLEY COLBORNE, Nicholas William (1779-1854), of West Harling, Norf". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  9. Seccombe, Thomas (2004-09-23), Matthew, H. C. G. (ed.), "Fremantle, Thomas Francis, first Baron Cottesloe, and Baron Fremantle in the nobility of the Austrian empire (1798–1890), politician and civil servant", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10160, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 2023-08-01
  10. Debrett, John (1840). The Baronetage of England. revised, corrected and continued by G.W. Collen. p. 407. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
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