Maria Mary Fussell

Maria Mary Fussell became Maria de Gendre; Countess de Gendre (15 July 1834 – 20 December 1881) was a British benefactress. She married an abusive and unfaithful fortune hunter, and this ended in a divorce. She died in her 40s having given large donations to the church which created 33 new London parishes.

Life Fussell was born in Nunney. She was one of the two daughters of Maria Mary (born Dowding) and John Fussell. Her father was a partner in a company created by James Fussell IV. The company was known then for creating edge tools for the agricultural business. When her father died in 1853, he left £200,000 in trust for his daughters and an annuity for their mother.

She toured Europe with her sister-in-law Sophia Crosland and the writer Camilla Dufour Crosland. Fussell would pass all of the bills to Camilla to pay as she was trying to keep her fortune a secret. She failed and the information leaked to another hotel guest, Pierre Philip Eugene de Gendre. Camilla Dufour Crosland and her husband, Newton Crosland, (a London wine merchant) had become interested in spiritualism in 1854 and discussed it in 1857 with the Brownings in Italy.

Pierre Philip Eugene de Gendre, who was a member of the king of Naples' Swiss guard, devoted his time to courting Fussell and arranged that he would stay at the same hotel in Florence. Fussell was taken by his attentions, and she admitted to her party that she was secretly betrothed to him. They married in England at Dover on 1 May 1858. The marriage was quickly seen as a disaster. Her husband was not only unfaithful, but he was abusive. She developed breast cancer, and this was put down to her mistreatment.