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{{Short description|American born diarist and art collector in the British empire}}
{{Infobox noble|image=File:SIR_GEORGE_AND_LADY_NUGENT_WITH_THEIR_CHILDREN_BY_JOHN_DOWNMAN_(page_275_crop).jpg|birth_date=1770/1771|birth_place=[[colony of New Jersey]]|death_date=1834|death_place=[[Westhorpe House]]|father=[[Cortlandt Skinner]]|mother=Elizabeth Kearny|title=Lady Nugent|spouse=[[Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet]]|known_for=diaries describing her experiences in India and Jamaica|issue=5}}

'''Maria Nugent, Lady Nugent''' born '''Maria 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 a British M.P. and is known for her diary which she wrote while he was [[List of governors of Jamaica|lieutenant-governor]] and commander-in-chief of Jamaica and again in India. Part of her diaries were published privately in 1839. Her diaries of India were published later. 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 (born Kearny) and [[Cortlandt Skinner]], the [[Attorney-General]] of [[New Jersey]] and a descendant of the [[Schuyler family|Schuyler]] and [[Van Cortlandt family|Van Cortlandt families]] of [[British North America]],<ref>Burke, Bernard. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 2. London: Harrison 1871, page 1270</ref> When the [[American Revolutionary War]] finished in 1783 then her father, who was a British loyalist, moved to Britain.<ref name=":0" />

In 1801 she and her husband went to Jamaica where he was lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief. She wrote a journal before they returned in 1806. She became Lady Nugent when her husband was made a baronet.<ref name=":0" /> In 1812 they set sail for India and once there they went on a tour to inspect the territory. She was carried on elephants and more usually carried by servants in a single poled sedan chair called a [[wikt:tonjon|tonjon]].
[[File:Maria Lady Nugent in 1812 in a Palanquin.jpg|thumb|Maria Lady Nugent in 1812 in a Palanquin with 24 bearers and attendants]]
[[File:The famous sheep-eating fakir, Jurah Geer Berah Geer.jpg|thumb|The famous sheep-eating fakir, Jurah Geer Berah Geer in 1800]]
Nugent had to leave her children behind including a six-week-old baby.<ref name=telegraph>{{Cite web |title=A woman in an unfamiliar territory |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/a-woman-in-an-unfamiliar-territory/cid/1444141 |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=www.telegraphindia.com |language=en}}</ref> While she was in India she met other powerful women including the [[Mughal emperors|Mughal Emperor]]'s wives and daughters; [[Munni Begum (noble)|Munni Begum]]; [[Begum Johnson]]; and the adventuress [[Begum Samru]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Nugent |first=Lady Maria |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZPmOoAEACAAJ&dq=LADY+NUGENT'S+EAST+INDIA+JOURNAL:A+CRITICAL+EDITION&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y |title=Lady Nugent's East India Journal: A Critical Edition |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-808972-8 |language=en}}</ref> Most British wives stayed in England so she was unusual when she went to India. Her journal is written as if she intended it to be published or at least as stories for her children to read when they were re-united. Her writings can be seen as prejudiced but it could also be due to misunderstanding. She was seeing widows burned at their husband's funeral, servants who refused her food, snakes being charmed and [[Nawab|nawabs]] demonstrating traditions and etiquette that the British could only covet. Her writing was skilful and recorded sights that she was unfamilar with.<ref name=telegraph/>

Lady Nugent collected paintings that she commissioned to illustrate things she had seen. Nine of these paintings that were passed down to her descendants were sold at auction in 2020 for £420,000. The painting of her in a palanquin sold for over £60,000, whilst a painting of the famous sheep-eating fakir, Jurah Geer Berah Geer, dated 1800, sold for over £75,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bonhams : Company Paintings from The Nugent Collection Sweep the Board at Bonhams Islamic and Indian Sale |url=https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/30404/ |access-date=2023-08-02 |website=www.bonhams.com}}</ref>

== Death and legacy ==
Lady Nugent died in 1834 at [[Westhorpe House]] and she was buried at St John the Baptist Church in [[Little Marlow]].<ref name=":0" />

Lady Nugent wrote a journal of her experiences in Jamaica which were privately published in 1839<ref name=":0" /> and published in 1907.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lady Maria Nugent [Skinner] |url=http://www.dukesofbuckingham.org.uk/people/family/nugent/maria_skinner.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302152256/http://www.dukesofbuckingham.org.uk/people/family/nugent/maria_skinner.htm |archive-date=2 March 2014 |access-date=2 March 2014 |publisher=Dukes of Buckingham}}</ref><ref name="Bohls2005">{{cite book |last1=Bohls |first1=Elizabeth A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6H7dKT77tooC&pg=PA325 |title=Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology |last2=Duncan |first2=Ian |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-284051-6 |page=32 |access-date=15 May 2020}}</ref>

In 2014 a critical version of her journal in India was published.<ref name=":1" />

==Personal life==
On 16 November 1797, she married [[Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet|George Nugent]] who was an officer in the British Army and the Member of Parliament for Buckingham.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |title=Maria Nugent |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47677 |work=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |access-date=2023-08-01 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/47677 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="historyofparliamentonline">{{cite web |title=RIDLEY COLBORNE, Nicholas William (1779-1854), of West Harling, Norf. |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/ridley-colborne-nicholas-william-1779-1854 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org |publisher=[[History of Parliament Online]] |access-date=15 May 2020}}</ref>
* Louisa Elizabeth Nugent (1803–1875), who married [[Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe]], the eldest son of [[Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle|Betsey]] and Adm. [[Thomas Fremantle (Royal Navy officer)|Sir Thomas Fremantle]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Seccombe |first=Thomas |title=Fremantle, Thomas Francis, first Baron Cottesloe, and Baron Fremantle in the nobility of the Austrian empire (1798–1890), politician and civil servant |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-10160 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |access-date=2023-08-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10160 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}}</ref>
* Charles Edmund Nugent (1811–1890), who married Louisa Douglas Price, a daughter of [[Price baronets|Sir Rose Price, 1st Baronet]].<ref name="Debrett1840"/>
* Maria Amelia Nugent, who married [[Rice Richard Clayton]], the fourth son of [[Sir William Clayton, 4th Baronet]].<ref name="Debrett1840">{{cite book |last1=Debrett |first1=John |title=The Baronetage of England. revised, corrected and continued by G.W. Collen |year=1840 |page=407 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mvIDAAAAQAAJ&dq=Louisa+Douglas+Price+nugent&pg=PA407 |access-date=15 May 2020 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nugent, Mary}}
[[Category:1770s births]]
[[Category:People from New Jersey]]
[[Category:1834 deaths]]
[[Category:Diarists]]
[[Category:Art collectors]]

Maria Nugent - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article