Mary Davis c.1651-1708

Charles II had many mistresses, one of whom was the actress Mary Davis. You can see her portraits here. She was already working in the theatre in her early teens and Pepys praised her acting abilities in his diary. (18th Feb 1662, 8th March 1664) He thought that she was a much better dancer than Nell Gwyn, one of the king's other mistresses. In 1668 Pepys learned that Mary was leaving the theatre because Charles was in love with her. The School of Venus (1716) claims that Nell saw her rival off by lacing her food with laxatives one day before she visited the king. However, Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson, the authors of the DNB entry I'm getting this all from, question this story. Mary certainly stayed around long enough to bear Charles a daughter in October 1673 and she was also a performer in court entertainments.

Mary's daughter, also called Mary, married Edward, Viscount Radcliffe in 1687. Two of their three sons were executed for their parts in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. (Charles II's brother James II was ousted from the throne in 1688 because of his Catholicism. James' family was exiled to France and their supporters were called Jacobites. Effectively the two executed men were fighting for their cousins.)

Mary Davis herself married the instrumentalist and composer James Paisible in 1686, the year after Charles II's death. They spent some time with the exiled court after 1688 but returned to England where Mary died in 1708.