Charlotte Campbell Bury

Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Bury (née Campbell; 28 January 1775 – 1 April 1861) was an English novelist, who is chiefly remembered in connection with a Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV (1838).

Early life

Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Campbell was the daughter and the youngest child of Field Marshal John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, and his wife the former Elizabeth Gunning; Elizabeth was the second daughter of John Gunning, of Castle Coote, County Roscommon, and the widow of James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton. Lady Charlotte was born at Argyll House, Oxford Street, London.

In her youth she was noted for her personal beauty and charm, which made her one of the most popular persons in society. As a young woman she travelled to Naples, where she was painted by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, in about 1789. He described her as "more perfect than the best artist could have imagined".

She was interested in "belles-lettres", and knew the literary celebrities of the day, including the young Walter Scott. It was at one of her parties that Scott met "Monk" Lewis. At the age of twenty-two she anonymously published a volume of poems.

Marriage

She married on 14 June 1796 Colonel John Campbell (eldest son of Walter Campbell of Shawfield, by his first wife Eleanora Kerr), who, at the time of his decease in Edinburgh on 15 March 1809, was Member of Parliament for the Ayr Burghs. By this marriage she had nine children, of whom, however, only two survived her, Lady A. Lennox and Mrs. William Russell. Lady Charlotte Campbell married secondly, on 17 March 1818, the Reverend Edward John Bury (only son of Edward Bury of Taunton); they had two daughters. Bury received from University College, Oxford, his B.A. in 1811 and M.A. 1817. He assumed the position of rector in Litchfield, Hampshire, in 1814 and died at Ardencaple Castle, Dunbartonshire, in May 1832, aged 42.