Maria Nugent

Maria, Lady Nugent (née Skinner; 1770/71 – 1834) was a diarist and art collector. She was born in the colony of New Jersey to a British loyalist family. She married British Army Officer and later M.P. George Nugent and is known for her diary, which she wrote while he was Governor of Jamaica and later Commander-in-chief of India. Part of her diaries were published privately in 1839.

Her diaries written in India were published later, and her art collection was sold for £420,000 in 2020.

Life Nugent was born in either 1770 or 1771 in the colony of New Jersey. She was one of the twelve children born to Elizabeth and Cortlandt Skinner, the Attorney-General of New Jersey and a descendant of the Schuyler and Van Cortlandt families of British North America, When the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783, her father, who was a British loyalist, moved to Britain. While she was in India she met other powerful women, including the Mughal Emperor's wives and daughters; Munni Begum; Begum Johnson; and Begum Samru. Most British wives stayed in England, so she was unusual when she went to India. Her journal was written as if she intended it to be published, or at least as stories for her children to read when they were reunited. Her writing improved in detail and she recorded sights that she was unfamiliar with.

Death and legacy Lady Nugent died in 1834 at Westhorpe House, and she was buried at St John the Baptist's Church in Little Marlow.

In 2014, a critical version of her journal in India was published.

They had three sons and two daughters, including: Sir George Edmund Nugent, 2nd Baronet (1802–1892), who married Maria Charlotte Ridley-Colborne, a daughter of Nicholas Ridley-Colborne, 1st Baron Colborne. Louisa Elizabeth Nugent (1803–1875), who married Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe, the eldest son of Betsey and Adm. Sir Thomas Fremantle. Charles Edmund Nugent (1811–1890), who married Louisa Douglas Price, a daughter of Sir Rose Price, 1st Baronet.