Maria Gisborne (''née'' James, previously Reveley; 1770–1836) was a friend and correspondent of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

and

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

, and

William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous fo ...

Early life

Maria James, the daughter of an English merchant at

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, was born in 1770, probably in England.Kaloustian 2007. When she was eight years old, her mother, who had been left in poverty, determined to rejoin her husband and sailed for Constantinople, only to discover that James had established a new household with the wife of one of his skippers. He persuaded his wife to return to England by promising an annuity, but had Maria kidnapped and concealed until her mother's departure. He subsequently brought her up with care, and gave her a good education. She showed a talent for painting, and grew up a beautiful and accomplished woman. Mary Shelley later hinted at sexual precocity, writing of Maria's upbringing that "she was left to run wild as she might, and at a very early age had gone through the romance of life".

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February Dual dating, 1747/8 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.

5 February 1748 Old Style and New Style dates, N.S. 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

– 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of mo ...

met her at her father's house in Constantinople in 1785, accompanied her on the violin, and said that she was the only woman he had met who could keep time. Not long afterwards, she and her father moved to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Marriage to Willey Reveley

In about 1788, Maria married

Willey Reveley Willey Reveley (1760–1799) was an 18th-century English architect, born at Newton Underwood near Morpeth, Northumberland. He was a pupil of Sir William Chambers, and was trained at the Royal Academy Schools. In 1781-2 he was employed (under C ...

, an architect who had been travelling in Greece to make sketches for Sir Richard Worsley. He contributed some views of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

to the ''Museum Worsleyanum'' (1794), the catalogue of Worsley's collections; and, also in 1794, edited the third volume of James Stuart's ''Antiquities of Athens''. Maria's father was opposed to the marriage and refused to help the couple financially, and they returned to England, where they lived on an income of £140 a year. There were two children of the marriage, born before Maria was twenty: one was Henry Willey Reveley, who later became an engineer in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

; the name of the other is not known. Willey Reveley was a strong liberal, and became a friend of

and

Thomas Holcroft Thomas Holcroft (10 December 174523 March 1809) was an English dramatist, miscellanist, poet, novelist and translator. He was sympathetic to the early ideas of the French Revolution and helped Thomas Paine to publish the first part of ''The Ri ...

. About 1791 he received his first professional fee as an architect, £10, for assisting Bentham in preparing drawings for his

Panopticon The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be ...

scheme. However, he died suddenly on 6 July 1799 from the rupture of a blood-vessel on the brain.

Marriage to John Gisborne

Within a month of Reveley's death, Maria had received an offer of marriage from Godwin, whose children she had taken into her house on the death of his first wife,

Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft ( , ; 27 April 175910 September 1797) was an English writer and philosopher best known for her advocacy of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional ...

, in 1797. She refused him, however, and in May 1800 married John Gisborne, a businessman. The Gisbornes went to Rome in 1801, taking with them Maria's son, Henry. They moved to

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

in about 1815, where John Gisborne tried, without success, to establish a business: on its failure he settled down as a quiet student. They paid occasional return visits to England. Through the Godwins, they became acquainted with

and

, who first visited them at Livorno in 1818. When apart, Maria and Mary remained in contact through correspondence, much of which survives. In 1820 Shelley wrote his beautiful "Letter to Maria Gisborne". It was Maria who introduced Shelley to the work of

Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (17 January 160025 May 1681) (, ; ) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, and writer. He is known as one of the most distinguished Spanish Baroque literature, poets and ...

. Maria wrote a short unpublished novel, ''Mathilda'', completed in 1820.

Later life and death

The Gisbornes moved back to England permanently in 1821, and settled at

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

: they made just one return visit to Italy in 1827. Both died in Plymouth early in 1836: John Gisborne was buried on 16 January, and Maria Gisborne on the following 23 April.

References

;Attribution:

Early life

Marriage to Willey Reveley

Marriage to John Gisborne

Later life and death

References

Further reading