Margaret Bingham

Margaret Bingham, Countess of Lucan (1740 – 27 February 1814) was an English painter, copyist and poet, whose art was much admired by Horace Walpole. Her pseudonymous Verses on the Present State of Ireland made a strong protest against Britain's treatment of the country.

Personal life Margaret Bingham was born Margaret Smyth in Devon, England, the younger of the two daughters of James Smith MP of Canons' Leigh, Devon, and his wife Grace. In 1760, she married Charles Bingham, later 1st Earl of Lucan. This took 16 years for her to complete. She also painted portraits, still lifes, and landscapes.

Bingham was admired by Horace Walpole, who makes several flattering allusions to her in his letters. In his Anecdotes he attributes to her "a genius that almost depreciates those masters [from whom she copied], when we consider that they spent their lives in attaining perfection."