Author: Madan, Judith
Biography:
MADAN, Judith, formerly Cowper (1702-81: ODNB)
The daughter of Spencer Cowper (1670-1728), a judge and MP, and his wife Pennington Goodere, she was probably born at the family estate of Hertingfordbury Park, Hertfordshire, on 26 Aug. 1702. She composed verse from an early age and was praised by Alexander Pope. Love poems from 1723 were the prelude to her marriage to Colonel Martin Madan on 19 Dec. of the same year at St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London; they had nine children and at least two, Spencer and Martin (qq.v.), also wrote verse. However, marriage saw the end of her own writing particularly as she suffered recurrent bouts of depression. In about 1749 she became a Methodist. She corresponded with William Cowper (q.v.), a nephew. Some of her poems appeared in miscellanies in her lifetime. In 1728 her “Abelard to Eloisa” was published in a posthumous collection of William Pattison’s verse as by him. She died at home on 7 Dec. 1781 in Stafford Row (now Buckingham Gate) and was buried in the churchyard at Grosvenor Chapel. She was predeceased by her husband who died 4 Mar. 1756 and has a memorial in Bath Abbey where he is buried. (ODNB 27 Apr. 2021; WorldCat; ancestry.co.uk 23 Jan. 2025) SR
Other Names:
- Mrs. Madan