Author: Bury, Catherine Maria
Biography:
BURY, Catherine Maria, formerly Dawson, formerly Tisdall (1762-1851: Slagle)
She was the Countess of Charleville and a friend of many contemporary writers, including Joanna Baillie, Byron, and Caroline Lamb (qq.v.). She contributed one poem, “Thelema and Macarius,” to The Casket; it is identified as “a free translation from Voltaire.” She is primarily known for her letters and literary friendships. For many years she was thought to be the translator of Voltaire’s Henriade (1797) and La Pucelle (1796-97). The translator of the former is now believed to be Patrick Lattin, an Irish writer; the latter was likely translated by her husband, Charles William Bury. She was the daughter of Thomas Townley Dawson (d 1768) of Armagh, Ireland, and his wife Joanna Saunders of Saunder’s Court, Co. Wicklow. She was born on 22 Dec. 1762 and grew up living with her grandmother in Dublin. In 1778-81 she studied at a convent in Toulouse, France. In Mar. 1787 she married James Tisdall in Ireland; they had a son and a daughter. Tisdall had epilepsy and died in 1797. On 4 June 1798 she married Charles William Bury (1764-1835); they had a son born in 1801 (later the 2nd Earl). Bury was created 1st Earl of Charleville in 1806; their home was at Charleville Castle near Tullamore in Co. Offaly. She died at Cavendish Square, London, on 24 Feb. 1851. (Judith Bailey Slagle, The Collected Letters of Joanna Baillie [1999]; John Burke, The Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Females [1833]; ancestry.co.uk)
Other Names:
- Countess of Charleville