Lady Caroline Lamb

 

 Lady Caroline Lamb - mistress of Lord Byron 

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 Lady Caroline Ponsonby Lamb, was the daughter of the earl of Bessborough and Henrietta Ponsonby, and the niece of the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish.

As a child, Caroline was a tomboy.
Her willful spirit and recklessness, never left her.

 Caroline had no formal education, and was unable to read until late adolescence, however, she was intelligent and incredibly witty.

As an adult, she wrote poetry and drew portraits.

 Caroline married William Lamb when she was 17, and the union began happily enough.

The death of one child and the health problems of another, as well as William’s growing interest in a political career, caused a rift between the couple.

After Caroline's death, William became 2nd Viscount Melbourne, and British prime minister.

 William was also sexually promiscuous, and made some disturbing demands upon his wife.

In 1810, in a letter to a friend, Caroline writes ~

"He called me prudish, and said I was strait-laced
He amused himself by instructing me in things I
need never have heard of or known.
The disgust that I at first felt for the world’s
wickedness - I till then had never even heard of!

In a very short time, this gave way to a general laxity
of principles, which little by little unperceived of you
all has been undermining the few virtues I ever
possessed."

 In 1812, Caroline met Lord Byron.
Byron was 24 years old and already famous as a writer.

Caroline was 27 years old, married and the mother of an autistic son.

Byron, of course, always preferred women he had to pursue.
She was not his usual type, tall and very thin, with short, curly blonde hair and hazel eyes.

Caroline was a vivacious and flirtatious woman and Byron suspected she wanted him too.

 Byron pursued Caroline with abandon, and planned to flee England with her.

They became passionate lovers, and shocked London with their affair through much of April and May 1812.
But such passion never lasts.

Byron was a victim of his own contradictory personality – he loved to pursue women but, once captured, he longed to leave them.

 Byron led Caroline to believe he loved her, and Caroline’s reaction to their break-up is understandable.

It was her sad fate to discover Byron’s interpretation of love – a mad, passionate obsession, which is abandoned as soon as curiosity and desire, are sated.

Byron had been completely captivated by Caroline.
However, after the grand infatuation faded, he treated Caroline badly.

Byron had been demanding and possessive, goading Caroline to admit she loved him more than her husband.

 On 9th August, she sent him a letter enclosed with a very personal gift... her bloodied pubic hair!! 

The letter read:

"I asked you not to send blood, but Yet do, because
if it means love, I like to have it.

I cut the hair too close & bled much more than you
need.
Do you the same & pray put not the scissor points
near where quei capelli grow.
Pray be careful…."

 Lord Byron and Caroline continued to write to each other, after their relationship ended
Caroline kept his 'Goodbye letter' until her death.

Later, Caroline traveled with her husband to Paris and Brussels where she continually humiliated her husband by pursuing various army officers, including the Duke of Wellington.

 Yet it was Lord Byron, who remained the greatest passion of Caroline's life.

She wrote a novel about him called ‘Glenarvon’, which revealed her continuing obsession.

Caroline’s last years found her increasingly melancholy and restless.
She wrote two more novels and separated from her husband in 1825.



 In her later years, Caroline struggled with her mental health.
This became more pronounced in her final years and was complicated by her abuse of alcohol and laudanum.

By 1827, she took up permanent residence at Brocket Hall, and was under the care of a full-time physician.

Her body, which had always been frail, began to shut down and retained fluids.

Lady Caroline Lamb died on 25th January 1828, aged 42.

She was buried in the graveyard of St Etheldreda's Church in Hatfield.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)
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 Source - englishhistory. net/byron/lady-caroline-lamb
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 Lady Caroline Lamb - mistress of Lord Byron, granddaughter to the 1st Earl and Countess Spencer ~ Unknown artist.