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Lady Agusta FitzClarence was born at Bushy in 1803, and in 1827 she married the Hon. John Kennedy Erskine, second son of the Marquis of Ailsa and Mary, daughter and heiress of John Erskine of Dun, Forfar. Four years later Lady Augusta's husband died, leaving one son and two daughters, and for a time she lived [[deletion]] on [[/deletion]] in a house on the banks of the Thames, next to the one inhabited by her mother-in-law. Lady Ailsa seems to have been an awe-inspiring person, and in 1836, when her daughter-in-law became engaged to Lord Frederick Gordan she was very angry; her elder grandaughter, [[addition]] (1) [[/addition]] then aged six, describes a scene when her grandmother [[addition]] had [[/addition]] insisted on her giving a solemn promise that she would never call Lord Fredick Gordon father! [[deletion]] It had [[/deletion]] now [[addition]] that it had clearly [[/addition]] become impossible for Lady Augusta to live on any longer next [[addition]] [[deletion]] to [[/deletion]] [[/addition]] her mother-in-law, [[deletion]] and [[/deletion]] she was appointed State Housekeeper of Kensington Palace by the King, who gave her apartments there. But even here she was not secure; Lady Ailsa caused her grandson to be kidnapped from the Pal [[addition]] a [[/addition]] ce, and she sent [[addition]] him [[/addition]] off to school; as a matter of fact, [[addition]] according to [[/addition]] [[deletion]] by [[/deletion]] Scottish law in those days, she had acted within her rights in removing the boy from the custody of his stepfather, [[deletion]] and [[/deletion]] [[addition]] especially as[[/addition]] in this case the boy was Lady Ailsa's heir. However, acting in accordance with the advice given her by the King, Lady Augusta retaliated by kidnapping her son when the [[deletion]] moment [[/deletion]] [[addition]] moment arrived [[/addition]] for the holidays [[deletion]] arived [[/deletion]], and for some time this process was continued, Lady Ailsa kidnapping the boy for his term at school, and his mother kidnapping him for the holidays. (1) Miss Kennedy Erskine became the wife of her first cousin, the 2nd Earl of Munster.
