San Diego Sarah on 22 Jun 2019  •  Link

Mary Bagot (1645–79) was the daughter of Colonel Hervey Bagot, third son of Sir Hervey Bagot, Bart., and Dorothea Arde, of the Ardens of Park Hall, Warwickshire, who died in 1649, leaving only Mary, an infant.

Col. Bagot soon married Elizabeth Rotheram, who made an good step-mother. All the Bagots supported King Charles, and suffered in the royal cause. Col. Bagot particularly distinguished himself in the defense of Lichfield: his service was not overlooked.

On the Restoration, Col. Bagot became one of the Gentlemen-pensioners of Charles II, and daughter Mary was appointed Maid of Honor to Anne Hyde, Duchess of York.

The praises of De Grammont are valuable from their rarity. In his observations on the new Court, and the merits of the fair faces around him, "Miss Bagot was the only one who was really possessed of virtue and beauty among these maids of honor: she had beautiful and regular features, and that sort of brown complexion, which, when in perfection, is so particularly fascinating, and more especially in England, where it is uncommon. There was an involuntary blush almost continually upon her cheek, without having anything to blush for."

In 1664 Mary Bagot married Charles Berkeley, Earl of Falmouth (1630–65), who was killed the following year by a cannon shot during the battle of Lowestoft.

After the death of Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, in 1673, Mary Bagot was suggested as a possible bride for the Duke of York, but in 1674 she secretly married Charles Sackville (1643–1706), later 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex.

She died in childbirth five years later.

Her portrait hangs at Althorpe.

https://www.rct.uk/collection/404…