Maria Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans


Maria Janetta Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans, formerly Maria Janetta Nelthorpe, was the second wife of William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans, and the mother of the 9th Duke.
Maria was the only daughter of John Nelthorpe and his wife, the former Mary Cracroft, of Little Grimsby Hall. Nelthorpe had been High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1775, and was related to the Nelthorpe baronets.
Maria married the future duke on 4 March 1799, at Little Grimsby, Lincolnshire, his first wife, Charlotte Thelwell, having died in October 1797, leaving no surviving children. Beauclerk inherited the dukedom in 1816, as a result of the death, in infancy, of his nephew, Aubrey Beauclerk, 7th Duke of Saint Albans. His wife then became Duchess of St Albans.
The couple had thirteen children:
The duchess died in London, and was outlived by her husband. Her brother, John Nelthorpe, had died in 1819.