Lady Margaret Heathcote (née Yorke; 21 March 1733 – 19 August 1769) was a British aristocrat and poet. The daughter of

Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an England, English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1 ...

and husband of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 3rd Baronet, she wrote several poems throughout her life, some of which were posthumously published.

Biography

Lady Margaret Yorke was born on 21 March 1733 as the youngest child of Margaret (née Cocks) and

, a Member of Parliament who became

Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and ...

around the same time. She married Gilbert Heathcote on 22 June 1749, later a baronet and British MP; they had no surviving children. Although her marriage was financially beneficial, her husband lacked the ambitiousness of his grandfather

Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet (2 January 1652 – 25 January 1733) was an English merchant and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician who sat in the English House of Commons, English and House of Commons of Great Britain, Bri ...

, and she had a poor relationship with the

Heathcote family Heathcote may refer to: Places in Australia * Heathcote, New South Wales Heathcote is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is located 36 km south of the Sydney central business district in the Sutherla ...

. Despite feeling "utterly incapable ..of affording either amusement or intelligence", she had a minor career in the arts. She was skilled in poetry during her youth, with one of them appearing in a personal anthology from Lady Mary Capell and another, "Epistle addressed to Lady Grey at Wrest Park" (1747), posthumously appearing in ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term ''m ...

'', which also published an Italian-language translation she worked on in 1818, and ''Bell's Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry'' in the 1780s. She also wrote poems in her letters to her sister Lady Elizabeth Anson and her sister-in-law Lady Amabel Yorke, Countess of Hardwicke, as well as

Catherine Talbot Catherine Talbot (May 1721 – 9 January 1770) was an English author and member of the Blue Stockings Society. Life She was the posthumous and only child of Edward Talbot, second son of William Talbot (bishop), William Talbot, bishop of Durham, ...

. She also did satire, at one point exploring the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

in her poetry. In 2024, Jemima Hubberstey called it her "most enduring legacy". Outside of poetry, she had some fine art experience, being a student of Louis Goupy and a drawing teacher of

Anne FitzPatrick, Countess of Upper Ossory Anne FitzPatrick, Countess of Upper Ossory (''née'' Liddell, – 23 February 1804), formerly Anne FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton, was an English noblewoman and the first wife of Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton. Grafton divorced her wh ...

. Heathcote, spending her last years in declining health and stressed from pressure to beget an heir for the family, died on 19 August 1769 from complications from childbirth. Originally buried at

St Matthew's Church, Normanton St Matthew's Church is a de-consecrated church in Normanton, Rutland. It is now on the shore of Rutland Water. The building is Grade II listed. Church of St Matthew, Normanton History The church was built in classical style for the Norman ...

, she was later re-interred at

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Edith Weston The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a church in Edith Weston, Rutland. It is a Grade I listed building. History The church was built in c.1170 but the tower was built two centuries later. The northern aisle in the chancel is used as a sacristy, ...

in 1970 as part of construction of

Rutland Water Rutland Water is a reservoir in Rutland, England, east of Rutland's county town, Oakham. It is filled by pumping from the River Nene and River Welland, and provides water to the East Midlands. By surface area it is the largest reservoir in E ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heathcote, Margaret 1733 births 1769 births 18th-century English poets 18th-century English women writers English women poets People from Holborn People from Mayfair Socialites from London Writers from the London Borough of Camden Writers from the City of Westminster Poets from London Yorke family Heathcote family