• Name: Mountcashell, Margaret
• Gender: Female
• Birth Date: 1773
• Death Date: 29  January  1835
• Occupation: writer

A daughter of the family for whom Mary Wollstonecraft acted as governess in Ireland. Married to the Earl of Mountcashel. Godwin meets her first on his trip to ireland in 1800, and then again in London in 1801. This acquaintance produces acquaintance with Lord Mountcashel. After the few entries to L/La Mountcashel in 1801, C Mountcashel accounts for almost ever entry between 1802 and 1814. According to thepeerage.com, Lady Mountcashel had seven children, none of whom were named C.... This suggests that the entries for C. Mountcashel are to Lady Mountcashel, despite the fact that after leaving her husband she adopted the name Mrs Mason (before marrying Tighe in 1822). The C probably stands for Countess, which was her formal title after her marriage to Mountcashel in 1791. All entries for C. Mountcashel have accordingly been coded for Margaret. This presumes that Godwin is simply being inconsistent in his references, using Mountcashel, L. Mountcashel, and C Mountcashel to refer to the same person, and it presumes that he does not accept her re-designation of Mrs Mason, or, indeed, Mrs Tighe..

There is correspondence between Godwin and Lady Mountcashel in 1800-1 (MS. Abinger c. 6, fols. 43-4: 8 Sept. [1800] ; MS. Abinger c. 7, fols. 23-4: 6 Apr. 1801; MS. Abinger c. 7, fols. 56-7: 6 Aug. [1801]). Then Lady Mountcashel takes a trip to England and then the continent, writing to Godwin from Paris in 1802 (MS. Abinger c. 7, fols. 93-4: 21 Feb. 1802), when she reports having met Holcroft, taken his daughter as a governess and found her severely wanting; and then of Lord Mountcashell being told that Holcroft had been tried for Treason and that he was associated with notorious English Democrats whom it would be prudent for loyal British subjects to avoid, she ended the arrangement and Holcroft reacted very badly. (She contributed some works to the Juvelile Library and, when in Paris, she left her husband to set up house with George Tighe on 'Wollstonecraft's principles'. They finally settled in Pisa. (St Clair, 292-3)

• www.thepeerage.com
• St Clair,The Godwins and the Shelleys

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.