Mary Ann Radcliffe

The Female Advocate . (1799) by Mary Ann Radcliffe

Mary Ann Radcliffe (c. 1746 - 1818 or after) was an important British figure in the early feminist movement She was born Mary Ann Clayton in Nottingham, the elder daughter of a successful Anglican merchant James Clayton and his Catholic wife Sarah Blatherwick and christened at St Nicholas Nottingham on 18 June 1746.[verification needed] James Clayton was already 70 at the time of Mary Ann's birth and died when she was four. Mary Ann's sister Sarah predeceased him leaving Mary Ann as his heiress. Radcliffe was raised as a Catholic by her mother and educated at the Bar Convent in York. Mary Ann eloped to marry Joseph Radcliffe of Coxwold, Yorkshire at age 15. Initially they were married in private by a Catholic priest, but Radcliffe's guardians insisted that she be married in the Anglican Church and the marriage was conducted at St Nicholas' in Nottingham on 2 May 1762. Joseph Radcliffe seems to have been descended from the Radcliffe family of Ugthorpe Old Hall, however Mary Ann Radcliffe insists in her memoirs that he is related to the Earl of Derwentwater, a statement confirmed by a reference from Lord Traquair