54:, was born in 1770, probably in England. When she was eight years old, her mother, who had been left in poverty, determined to rejoin her husband and sailed for Constantinople, only to discover that James had established a new household with the wife of one of his skippers. He persuaded his wife to return to England by promising an annuity, but had Maria kidnapped and concealed until her mother's departure. He subsequently brought her up with care, and gave her a good education. She showed a talent for painting, and grew up a beautiful and accomplished woman. Mary Shelley later hinted at sexual precocity, writing of Maria's upbringing that "she was left to run wild as she might, and at a very early age had gone through the romance of life".
152:, who first visited them at Livorno in 1818. When apart, Maria and Mary remained in contact through correspondence, much of which survives. In 1820 Shelley wrote his beautiful "Letter to Maria Gisborne". It was Maria who introduced Shelley to the work of
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met her at her father's house in
Constantinople in 1785, accompanied her on the violin, and said that she was the only woman he had met who could keep time. Not long afterwards, she and her father moved to
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in about 1815, where John
Gisborne tried, without success, to establish a business: on its failure he settled down as a quiet student. They paid occasional return visits to England.
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175:: they made just one return visit to Italy in 1827. Both died in Plymouth early in 1836: John Gisborne was buried on 16 January, and Maria Gisborne on the following 23 April.
95:. Maria's father was opposed to the marriage and refused to help the couple financially, and they returned to England, where they lived on an income of £140 a year.
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Within a month of
Reveley's death, Maria had received an offer of marriage from Godwin, whose children she had taken into her house on the death of his first wife,
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scheme. However, he died suddenly on 6 July 1799 from the rupture of a blood-vessel on the brain.
110:; the name of the other is not known. Willey Reveley was a strong liberal, and became a friend of
87:(1794), the catalogue of Worsley's collections; and, also in 1794, edited the third volume of
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134:, in 1797. She refused him, however, and in May 1800 married John Gisborne, a businessman.
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The
Gisbornes went to Rome in 1801, taking with them Maria's son, Henry. They moved to
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Maria
Gisborne and Edward E. Williams, Shelley's friends: their journals and letters
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Older sources name her father as James Barnes, but this appears to be incorrect.
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There were two children of the marriage, born before Maria was twenty: one was
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The
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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Kaloustian, David (2007) . "Gisborne , Maria (1770–1836)".
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Maria James, the daughter of an
English merchant at
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280:, i. 81, 135, 162, 239, 362, ii. 314; Bentham's
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311:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
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308:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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154:Pedro Calderón de la Barca
67:Marriage to Willey Reveley
126:Marriage to John Gisborne
338:. London: Henry S. King.
383:English women novelists
332:Paul, C. Kegan (1876).
373:English letter writers
368:British women painters
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378:Women letter writers
167:Later life and death
150:Percy Bysshe Shelley
100:Henry Willey Reveley
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252:(1890). "
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260:(ed.).
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139:Livorno
83:to the
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278:Godwin
270:Dowden
256:". In
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282:Works
24:James
148:and
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