Mary Robinson (Maid of Buttermere)

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For the President of Ireland of the same name, see Mary Robinson.
For the poet of the same name, see Mary Robinson (poet).

Mary Robinson (1778-1837) was known as "The Maid of Buttermere", is the subject of Melvyn Bragg's novel of that name, and is mentioned in William Wordsworth's Prelude.

She was a shepherdess and the daughter of the landlord of the Fish Inn in the village of Buttermere in the Lake District. She was married bigamously in 1802 to John Hatfield (c.1758-1803), who presented himself as "Colonel Hope". The marriage of the celebrated local beauty to the brother of an earl (as he claimed) was widely reported, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in the London Morning Post of "The romantic marriage". Hatfield was exposed as an impostor, bigamist and forger, was arrested, escaped, was captured in South Wales, and was tried at Carlisle for forgery and hanged in 1803. Mary's story captured the public imagination, and subscriptions were raised on her behalf. She married a local farmer Richard Harrison in 1807 and had four children. Her death was mentioned in the Annual Register.

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Persondata
NAME Robinson, Mary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION "Maid of Buttermere"
DATE OF BIRTH 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Cumberland, England
DATE OF DEATH 1837
PLACE OF DEATH