| Lady Charlotte Bury | |
| Nationality: | English |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Birth Date: | 1775 1, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Birth Name: | Charlotte Susan Maria Campbell |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 11, including: Walter Frederick Campbell Eliza Maria, Lady Gordon-Cumming Harriet Bury, Countess of Charleville |
| Parents: | John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll Elizabeth Gunning |
| Notable Works: | Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV (1838) |
Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Bury (née Campbell; 28 January 1775 – 1 April 1861) was an English novelist, who is chiefly remembered in connection with a Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV (1838).
Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Campbell was the daughter and the youngest child of Field Marshal John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, and his wife the former Elizabeth Gunning; Elizabeth was the second daughter of John Gunning, of Castle Coote, County Roscommon, and the widow of James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton. Lady Charlotte was born at Argyll House, Oxford Street, London. In her youth she was noted for her personal beauty and charm, which made her one of the most popular persons in society. She was interested in "belles-lettres", and knew the literary celebrities of the day, including the young Walter Scott.[1] It was at one of her parties that Scott met "Monk" Lewis. At the age of twenty-two she anonymously published a volume of poems.
She married on 14 June 1796 Colonel John Campbell (eldest son of Walter Campbell of Shawfield, by his first wife Eleanora Kerr), who, at the time of his decease in Edinburgh on 15 March 1809, was Member of Parliament for the Ayr Burghs. By this marriage she had nine children, of whom, however, only two survived her, Lady A. Lennox and Mrs. William Russell. Lady Charlotte Campbell married secondly, on 17 March 1818, the Reverend Edward John Bury (only son of Edward Bury of Taunton); they had two daughters. Bury received from University College, Oxford, his B.A. in 1811 and M.A. 1817. He assumed the position of rector in Litchfield, Hampshire, in 1814 and died at Ardencaple Castle, Dumbartonshire, in May 1832, aged 42.
After Lady Charlotte had been widowed in 1809, she was appointed a Lady-in-Waiting in the household of Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales.[1] It is believed that she kept a diary, in which she recorded the foibles and failings of the princess and other members of the court. The diary was later published anonymously, and the identity of its author was revealed in the Edinburgh Review by Lord Brougham; Lady Charlotte was rumoured to have received a thousand pounds from the publisher.[2]
After her marriage to Bury, she made various contributions to light literature; some of her novels were very popular, although now almost forgotten. When the Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV appeared in two volumes in 1838, with a further two volumes being added in 1839. it was thought to bear evidence of a familiarity with the scenes depicted which could only be attributed to Lady Charlotte. It was reviewed with much severity, and attributed to her ladyship by both the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews. The diary was a big success and several editions sold out in a few weeks. The charge of the authorship was not denied, and no one else has claimed to have written the diary, which public libraries began to catalogue under Lady Charlotte's name. Volume 3 of the Diary was discovered by William Michael Rossetti to contain an encounter with William Blake; a rare description of the poet and artist from a contemporary.[3]
There are many instances in the diary that call into question the identification of Campbell as the author, chiefly on page 339 of volume one where the diarist writes the paragraph quoted below. "All goes gloomily for the Princess. Lady Charlotte Campbell told me, she regrets not seeing all these curious personages ; but, she said, the more the Princess is forsaken, the more happy she is at having offered to attend her at this time. This is very amiable in her and must be gratifying to the Princess." This paragraph clearly indicates that the diarist was a close acquaintance of Lady Charlotte, but not Lady Charlotte herself.
In a paragraph on Page 133 of volume 3 the diarist writes,"Lady C. hints that Mr. Brougham intends to restrict the Princess of Wales to thirty thousand pounds, and to employ the remainder in paying the debts ; and that the salaries of all her attendants must be diminished. Lady C. says she told him how herself and Lady C. Campbell were situated, and only desired him to do what he considered to be most just and equitable by all the household."This indicates that Henry Brougham's identification in the Edinburgh Review of Campbell as the author of the Diary Of The Times of George IV was wrong and may have been intentional to disguise the identity of the diarist, whose true identity he surely must have known.
Lady Charlotte died at 91 Sloane Street, Chelsea, on 31 March 1861. She was curiously described in her death certificate at Somerset House as "daughter of a duke and wife of the Rev. E. J. Bury, holding no benefice."
The following is believed to be a complete list of Lady Charlotte's writings; many of them originally appeared without her name, but even at that time there does not seem to have been any secret as to the identity of the writer:
She is also said to have been the writer of two volumes of prayers, Suspirium Sanctorum, which were dedicated to Samuel Goodenough, bishop of Carlisle.
Children of Colonel John Campbell and Lady Charlotte:[4]