[1] She was the daughter of William Thomas Beckford[2] and his wife, the former Lady Margaret Gordon.

Beckford was an art collector who made his home at Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran.

Susan Beckford married the future duke, then a former MP and styled Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale,[1] on 26 April 1810 in London.

They had two children: Her daughter, also named Susan, caused the duke and duchess some concern by eloping with Horatio Walpole, by whom she had an illegitimate child, born in 1849.

The dowager duchess was a patron of the arts whose acquaintances included Alfred, Lord Tennyson.