Frances Burney and Mary Delany

The Blue Plaque is located on the wall of Windsor castle, along St Albans Street near the junction with Castle Hill. Castle plans show this as the site of the grace & favour house occupied by Mary Delany.

Frances Burney (1752 – 1840), is commemorated as a pioneering novelist, writer of Court Journals & Second Keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte (1786-91). A prolific writer, Burney is said to be the forerunner of successive novelists such as Jane Austen and William Makepeace Thackeray. Frances Burney was also offered office in the Royal Court as a result of her friendship with Mary Delany.

Works

Fiction

• The History of Caroline Evelyn, (ms. destroyed by author, 1767).
• Evelina: Or The History of A Young Lady's Entrance into the World.
• Cecilia: Or, Memoirs of an Heiress, 1782.
• Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth, 1796.
• The Wanderer: Or, Female Difficulties

Nonfiction

• Brief Reflections Relative to the French Emigrant Clergy, 1793.
• Memoirs of Doctor Burney

Journals and letters

• The Early Diary of Frances Burney 1768-1778, (2 vols).
• The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay.
• The Diary of Fanny Burney.
• Dr. Johnson & Fanny Burney.
• The Journal and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay) 1791-1840, (12 vols.) Vols. I-VI, ed. Joyce Hemlow, with Patricia Boutilier and Althea Douglas; Vol. VII, eds. Edward A. and Lillian D. Bloom; Vol. VIII, ed. Peter Hughes; Vols. IX-X, ed. -Warren Derry; Vols. XI-XII, ed. Joyce Hemlow with Althea Douglas and Patricia Hawkins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972-1984.

Plays

• The Witlings, 1779.
• Edwy and Elgiva, 1790, (Produced at Drury Lane, 21 March 1795).
• Hubert de Vere, 1788-91.
• The Siege of Pevensey, 1788-91.
• Elberta, (fragment) 1788-91.
• Love and Fashion, 1799.
• The Woman Hater, 1800-1801.
• A Busy Day, 1800-1801

Mary Delany (14 May 1700 – 15 April 1788) is also commemorated on this Plaque. She was an artist, writer, and English Bluestocking. Delany was well liked by King Geroge III and Queen Charlotte, who after the death of Delany's second husband offered her a house and a pension of £300 per year.

The plaque was unveiled 7 November 2006