Glenarvon

[image error] I always love finding little historical bits to add to stories for one thing or another. For my latest book, Particular Attachments, I had a scene in a bookshop and aside from researching actual bookshops in London at that time, I wanted Georgiana to find a book that would cause a little surprise that she would read it. While playing around researching books published in the few years before my story, I found Glenarvon, which fit what I was looking for.

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Lady Caroline Lamb

Glenarvon was a gothic novel published in 1816 and written by Lady Caroline Lamb. For those unfamiliar with the authoress, she is more commonly known as one of Lord Byron’s many lovers. She was born Lady Caroline Ponsonby and was a niece to Lady Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire. When she was seventeen, Lady Caroline married the Hon. William Lamb, who was the heir of the 1st Viscount Melbourne.

Despite their marriage being orchestrated by her mother-in-law, it is said the two loved one another, and several theories exist as to why the marriage was far from a happy one. Lady Caroline gave birth to a premature daughter and later, a son with a mental impairment, who instead of sending to an institution, remained at home with them until his death. Some say this combined with her husband’s political ambitions sent Lady Caroline into the arms of another.

Another theory was that the Lambs expected to inherit the wealth and title of William Lamb’s father, which did not occur until after Lady Caroline’s death. Lady Caroline lived expecting riches she would never have and her husband indulged her, despite her tantrums and her affair with Byron.

One other theory was that William Lamb had unusual demands in the bedroom. Lady Caroline wrote in a letter to Lady Melbourne in 1810, “He called me prudish – said I was strait-laced, – amused himself with instructing me in things I need never have heard 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.” Rather ironic for someone who had a torrid love affair with another man.

[image error]From March to August of 1812, Lady Caroline Lamb and Lord Byron had a scandalous and very public affair. She described him as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” and he described her as “the cleverest most agreeable, absurd, amiable, perplexing, dangerous fascinating little being that lives now or ought to have lived 2000 years ago.” It is also said he admired her for raising her handicapped son at home rather than sending him away. They even considered fleeing the country and eloping in May of 1812.

When the affair ended, William Lamb took his wife to Ireland, but she still corresponded with Lord Byron. Upon her return to London, Byron refused to resume their relationship and eventually a scene occurred at Lady Heathcote’s ball in 1813, when Byron insulted Lady Caroline and she responded with an attempt to cut her own wrists.

At the time, physicians referred to Lady Caroline Lamb’s affliction as “erotomania” or a dementia caused by an obsession with a man, but her sanity was definitely called into question by her scandalous behaviour. Her reputation was not helped by the publication of Glenarvon three years later.

The characters in Glenarvon were said to be modelled after not only herself but also other prominent members of society. Lord Ruthven was an unfavourable depiction of Lord Byron, Calantha, the corrupted young bride, was Lady Caroline, and Lord Avondale was said to be her husband, the Hon. William Lamb. Her characterisations didn’t stop there, however, and many recognised themselves in the pages of her work and she paid a price for their inclusion. Lady Jersey, for example, excluded her from Almacks, and Lady Caroline never found her way back into society again.

 

Sources:

https://englishhistory.net/byron/lady-caroline-lamb/

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/douglass/caro/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Caroline_Lamb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenarvon