Mercy Doddridge

Mercy Doddridge born Mercy Maris (4 September 1709 – 4 April 1790) was a British dissenting laywoman and letter-writer.

Life Doddridge was born in Worcester in 1709. She was the daughter of Richard Maris, a baker and maltster in the city, and his second wife, Elizabeth Brindley, who also had three sons and both came from middle-class dissenting families.

Doddridge was frequently travelling and it was Mercy who looked after the school's finances.

Marriage On 22 December 1730 she married Philip Doddridge at Upton-upon-Severn and had nine children. The eldest, Elizabeth or Tetsey (1731–1736), died just before her fifth birthday and was buried under the platform of the Doddridge Chapel in Northampton. Of the remaining eight, four survived to adulthood: Mary, also known as Polly (1733–1799), who married John Humphreys; Mercy (1734–1809); Philip (1735–1785); and Anna Cecilia, also known as Caelia (1737–1811).