Jane Cocking Glover (June 14, 1789 – September 15, 1876) was an English-born American socialite who was also, at one time, active as a poet.

Life

Glover was born Jane Cocking to William (1760-1820) and Ann (née Worseley, 1750–1834) Cocking in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. The family, which included her sister Ann (sometimes Anne), lived at

Holbeach Marsh Holbeach Marsh is a The Fens, fenland area in the South Holland, England, South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Holbeach Marsh is situated between the market town of Holbeach on the A17 road (England), A17 road at the south, and The ...

. Just before turning 16, Jane began submitting poetry to ''

The Lady's Magazine London fashionable spencer ">Spencer_(clothing).html" ;"title="walking dresses, July 1812, including a Spencer (clothing)">spencer ''The Lady's Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amuseme ...

''; six of her contributions, a pair of

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s and an elegy among them, appeared in the poetry section of that April's magazine. Later issues contain such pieces as a response to a poem by James Murray Lacey, cataloguing the many loves of his life; other poems appeared in the October edition. At some point during 1805 the Cocking sisters began preparations to move to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; in June the ''Magazine'' printed two poems by "Belinda" wishing them well on the trip. That same month, Jane wrote a pair of farewell poems from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

; on September 12, her sister married William Blanchard, and a few weeks later the sisters, their parents, and Blanchard left for the United States. Upon arrival they settled in

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Cocking married, on August 19, 1814, at

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, , a prominent Maryland attorney. With him she had three children; the 1820 census records that they also owned two slaves, and an 1820 document notes the

manumission Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

of a 41-year-old female slave, Fanny, " she being able to obtain a living for herself". Glover died in 1827, and was interred in the family plot at Washington's Oak Hill Cemetery. Whether or not she continued her literary career after emigration is unknown. Sources differ on the question of the names and longevity of her children. ''Becoming Jane'' specifies Glover would go on to outlive all three of her children - a daughter, Adeline, who died at 9 months, and sons William, died at 21, and Richard, died at 29. Charles C. Glover, Jr., a grandson of the couple, specifies " a daughter, Matilda, the wife of Robert Harper Williamson, also lived to be eighty-seven, and another daughter, Mary Jane, wife of Abraham Ferree Shriver, lived to the age of ninety-four, dying of influenza in the war epidemic of 1918. The only son of Charles and Jane Glover was Richard Leonidas, who married Caroline Percy of North Carolina". A portrait of Glover by Pietro Bonanni was painted in 1821, and later became part of the collection of the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

. At that museum's dissolution in 2014 the painting was accessioned by the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, where it currently resides. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a family friend, made a number of sketches of the Glover family; only two of these, both of Charles Glover, survive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glover, Jane Cocking 1789 births 1876 deaths English women poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century English women writers Writers from Lincolnshire People from South Holland (district) English emigrants to the United States American socialites People from Washington, D.C. Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) American slave owners American women slave owners