The Creevey Papers
Samuel Whitbread to Thomas Creevey, 4 June 1814
“Dover St., June 4, 1814.
“. . . I have just received a petition from Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke, complaining of cruelty
and partiality in her mode of confinement, and stating various instances where
indulgences have been obtained for money. If I do not hear from you that you
wish me to delay presenting it that you may be present, I intend to present it
on Monday. We reckon your letter received yesterday to be quite provincial in
its Politicks, and even the House of Commons—all
but Wynne—seem to think it a case
that in some shape they must interfere, if nothing shall be done to set the
matter right out of doors. . . .”
Mary Anne Clarke (1776 c.-1852)
Having married a Joseph Clarke, she was mistress to the Duke of York (1803-06) and
involved with selling government offices, as came to light in an 1809 House of Commons
investigation. She spent her later years living in Paris.
Charles Watkin Williams Wynn (1775-1850)
The son of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, fourth baronet; educated at Westminster and Christ
Church, Oxford, Robert Southey's friend and benefactor was a Whig MP for Old Sarum (1797)
and Montgomeryshire (1799-1850). He was president of the Board of Control (1822-28).
