Mary Eleanor Bowes

Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (24 February 1749 – 28 April 1800), known as "The Unhappy Countess", was the daughter and heiress of George Bowes. Some of her children with John Lyon hyphenated their parents' names, styling themselves Bowes-Lyon. Mary Eleanor Bowes was well-educated for her time, and in 1769 published a poetical drama entitled The Siege of Jerusalem (see 1769 in literature, 1769 in poetry). She was also enthusiastic about botany, sending William Paterson to the Cape in 1777 to collect plants on her behalf. Mary's father died when she was eleven years old, and left her a vast fortune (estimated at between £600,000 and £1,040,000) which he had built up through control of a cartel of coal-mine...