Maria Ponsonby, Viscountess Duncannon (11 May 1787 – 19 March 1834), formerly Lady Maria Fane, was the wife of
John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough. She died before he inherited the earldom and thus was never Countess of Bessborough, but three of her sons were successively earls of Bessborough.
She married Ponsonby on 16 November 1805 at Berkeley Square, London, when he was known as Viscount Duncannon.[1] They had eight sons and six daughters, including:[2]
Lady Georgiana Sarah Ponsonby (1807–1861), who married Rev. Sackville Bourke, nephew of the
Earl of Mayo, and had no children
William Wentworth Brabazon Ponsonby (29 December 1812 – 8 July 1831), who died unmarried
Lady Augusta Lavinia Priscilla Ponsonby (11 May 1814 – 19 November 1904), who married firstly
William Petty-FitzMaurice, Earl of Kerry, and had one child; she married secondly, the Hon. Charles Alexander Gore
Lady Kathleen Louisa Georgina Ponsonby (1826–1863), who married Frederick Edward Bunbury Tighe and had no children
Son, died in infancy (28 May 1828 – 5 July 1828)
Hon. Gerald Henry Brabazon Ponsonby (1829–1908), who married Lady Maria Emma Catherine Coventry and had children
The viscountess died in 1834, aged 46, at her home in Cavendish Square, London.[1] Her husband survived her by thirteen years and died in May 1847, aged 65. He was succeeded in the earldom by their eldest son, John, and subsequently by their younger sons Frederick and Walter.
Descendants
Through her daughter Lady Augusta Gore, Viscountess Duncannon was the grandmother of sportsman
Spencer Gore, who won the first
Wimbledon singles title in 1877, and the Rt. Rev.
Charles Gore, the
Bishop of Oxford.[5]
^G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 172.