• Name: Pilcher,
• Gender: Unknown
• Birth Date:
• Death Date:

The sister of Godwin's second wife, Mary Jane Clairmont, married a Pilcher. See St Clair: 'At the end of 1807 Godwin was introduced to Mrs Piclher, one of Mary Jane's sisters, and when he started to see her regularly in 1809 he must have learned something more of Mary Jane's past if he was not told everything in 1801. Sophia Elizabeth de Vial had married Edward Pilcher at Crediton in Devonshire in 1792 and a number of children were christened in a batch on one day at Barnstaple in 1796. Edward Pilcher was obviously a man of some substance since the family were then living in 'The Vines', the biggest house in Rochester, Kent .... The Godwins and the Pilchers were to visit one another often in following years and their children came to be friends although G disliked 'the padrone' as he called Edward Pilcher' (St Clair, p, 251). 'Edward Paul Pilcher married Sophia Elizabeth de Vial, Crediton, 25 January 1792. Edward Pilcher, Peter Pilcher, Sophia Pilcher, each baptized Barnstaple, 22 July 1795; (p. 542, n. 25). It is possible that a further child, Henry was also born to the couple. Mrs Pilcher is accompanied on a number of occasions in 1820 by 'Henry', but there are also earlier and later entries for Henry that do not suggest a connection.

There are several different forms of this name all of which are currently coded identically under the generic family code. It is possible to search more closely for different individuals. For example,
Edward Pilcher (Pilcher, E Pilcher, Pilcher senr)
Sophia Pilcher (S Pilcher, Mrs Pilcher, S P)
Peter Pilcher (P Pilcher, P P)
We have, however, favoured a single collective code because attempting to break down entries more precisely gives rise to various problems, such as how to distinguish the parents from their children of the same name (Edward and Sophia), how many of the family are denoted by 'Pilchers' and who H Pilcher/ H P and F Pilcher are. (Note that 'S P' has been taken to refer to Samuel Parr in the 1790s but from 1809 seems to be used instead to refer to S Pilcher - 29.8.1809, the first time the abbreviation has been used since 1796, comes weeks after G has first met S Pilcher). Mary Shelley's journal also seems to use the abbreviation 'P P' for Peter Pilcher (p. 162)

There is some concern as to whether Godwin is using H P consitently for a Pilcher. H. Palmer is an alternative, as is H Prentice. But in both cases the pattern of use seems reasonably consistent, with HP being listed alongside Prentice (e.g., on 4 February 1824, when Godwin's general practice with relatives is to refer to H and E Prentice, rather than 'HP and Prentice'. See also 19 May 1824, 'E and S Prentice and P and HP.' and 9 February 1825 'H and S Prentice and HP'. Nonetheless, the HP entries in 1824 in particular are interesting because of the connections with Landseer and other painters.

Godwin records F Pilcher dies 1820-11-19, Pilcher dies 1826-01-17, Peter Pilcher dies 1831-05-26 and Mrs Pilcher dies 1834-02-18.

• St Clair
• The journals of Mary Shelley, 1814–1844 ed. by Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott-Kilvert, 2 vols (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press; Clarendon Press, 1987)

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