Dame Mary Steele

Dame Mary Steele, second wife of politician and writer Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), is buried in the south transept of Westminster Abbey. Her gravestone inscription is now very worn. The grave is near the pillar where William Blake's memorial is placed. The inscription reads:

Dame Mary Steele, wife of Sir Richard Steele Knt. daughter and sole heiress of Jonathan Scurlock Esq. of the county of Carmarthen. Died December the 26th 1718 aged 40 years leaving issue one son and two daughters, Eugene, Elizabeth and Mary

The coat of arms of "a bend counter-compony between two lions' heads erased, on a chief three billets" and the crest of a stork also appears on the stone.

She was the daughter of Jonathan and his wife Elizabeth. Steele met her at his first wife's funeral and they married in 1707. She was the "Dearest Prue" of his correspondence. Their son Eugene was baptised in 1712. A son Richard presumably died before his mother. Sir Richard is buried in Carmarthen.

Further reading

"The correspondence of Richard Steele" edited by R. Blanchard, 1968.