Maria Rosetti (born
Mary Grant; 1819 – ) was an
English-born
Wallachian and
Romanian political activist, journalist, essayist, philanthropist and socialite. The sister of
British diplomat
Effingham Grant and wife of
radical leader
C. A. Rosetti, she played an active part in the
Wallachian Revolution of 1848. A journalist and
feminist, she was also noted for her enduring friendships with the painter
Constantin Daniel Rosenthal and with
Pia Brătianu, the wife of
National Liberal politician
Ion Brătianu. The Rosettis were parents to three sons:
Mircea,
Vintilă and
Horia, all of whom were noted for their political activities.
Biography
Born to Captain Edward Grant, a ship-owning resident of
Guernsey, and his
French wife Marie Lavasseur, Mary belonged to the
Church of England. The Grants, who eventually settled in
Plymouth, claimed lineage from the
Scottish Clan Grant of Cannon, but this is uncertain.
In 1837, her younger brother Effingham was appointed secretary of
Robert Gilmour Colquhoun, the British
consul in Wallachia; soon after, Mary herself arrived in
Bucharest, where she began work as a
tutor. It was then that she met Rosetti, Effingham Grant's close friend and a member of the
Rosetti family of
boyars, who fell in love with her. Mary Grant was employed...
Read More