Her husband had consistently borrowed throughout their marriage. On his death his assets in Hobart were not sufficient to meet his liabilities. Maria unsuccessfully petitioned the Admiralty for a pension. In 1811 she petitioned Robert Peel, then Undersecretary at the Transport OfficeThe National Archives, Kew, CO 201/65 p160 as quoted in Currey for a pension pointing out that she had "been born and bred a gentlewoman and with better prospects than my hard fate has realised," her ill-health and that she had only thirty six pounds a year to live on, her 'husband's creditors having taken everything including a small property of my own amounting to one hundred a year." She was now dependent on the support and accommodation of friends. She petitioned Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in September 1812 that she "must now find a residence for myself; but where to turn; to what corner of the world, situated as I am, to direct my bewildered course?" Her brother-in-law, George Collins petitioned Lord Liverpool on her behalf. It transpired that before he left for Tasmania, Lord Hobart, who would become the Earl of Buckingham promised David, that if Maria's situation "should appear to be such as to require the aid of government, I should consider it my duty to support any application from her".National Archives, Kew, CO 201/65 f.280 - Letter from Lord Hobart to David Collins 4 February 1703 as quoted in Currey As Earl of Buckingham he wrote to Earl Bathurst in support of her application and she was awarded a pension of £120 per year. In 1815 she petitioned again for an increase, but this was refused.
