Clarissa Graves

Clarissa "Clara" von Ranke (8 April 1808 – 30 April 1871) was an Irish poet and salon host.

Life and family Clarissa von Ranke was born Clarissa Helena Graves in Dublin in 1808. She was the elder daughter of chief police magistrate of Dublin, John Crosbie Graves (1776–1835), and Helena, daughter of the Rev. Charles Perceval. The family live at 12 Fitzwilliam Square. Her brothers were John Thomas Graves a lecturer in mathematics at University College, London, Robert Perceval Graves a founder of Alexandra College, Dublin, and the Rt Rev. Charles Graves bishop of Limerick. Ranke was educated in England and Europe, having a talent for languages, literature, and music, but poetry in particular. Following the death of her father, Ranke travelled across Europe with her mother.

She met German historian Leopold Ranke in Paris in July 1843. They were engaged in London, and married in October 1843 at Bowness-on-Windermere, England. The couple had three sons, one of whom died in infancy, and one daughter. The son of her brother Charles, Alfred Perceval Graves, married her great-grand-niece Amelie Elisabeth Sophie von Ranke.