Fox, Lady Mary (née FitzClarence 1798-1864)

Lady Mary Fox was an illegitimate daughter of King William IV by his mistress Dorothea Jordan. In later life she became a writer.

Mary was born in Bushy House as the fourth child of Prince William, Duke of Clarence and Dorothea Jordan. She was ”a fine looking, brown girl with a pleasant countenance and manners”. She married Charles Richard Fox (1796-1873), the eldest but illegitimate son of Lord and Lady Holland on 19 June 1824 in St George”s, Hanover Square, London. Her mother-in-law wrote on 31 August that her son, ”though fond of her, he only considers her as an auxiliary to his medals and other possessions, not as a principal”, but concluded that ”it will all do well; as she is very winning, and very firm, and sincerely fond of him.” The pair established their household in Little Holland House by 1827. They moved to Canada in September 1829 when Charles resumed active army service.

Mary Fox was given the second part of the Anthony Roll by her father, which had been in the possession of the royal family since the reign of King Henry VIII. On the death of her uncle, King George IV, her father succeeded to the throne. William was anxious to see his daughter return home and had her husband transferred. King William IV died in January 1837 when Lady Mary”s cousin, Princess Victoria, ascended the throne. Later that year, Lady Mary published a utopian feminist Gothic fiction narrative titled An Account of an Expedition to the Interior of New Holland. Lady Mary”s treatise is the most representative example of the portrayal of New Holland (Australia) as a mysterious and ”unreal” place. In January 1857, Sir Frederic Madden, custodian of the manuscripts at the British Museum, learned that Lady Mary wished to sell the roll she was given by her father in order to raise funds for building a church. For a large part of her later life, Lady Mary served as a housekeeper at Windsor Castle. She died childless on 13 July 1864.