Elizabeth Milbanke was baptised on 15 October 1751, in the village of Croft-on-Tees, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. She was the youngest child and only daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke, 5th Baronet, and his wife, Elizabeth (née Hedworth).[1] She had two brothers, with the eldest being Ralph Noel—future Foxite Whig politician and 6th Baronet. The family resided at Halnaby Hall, Yorkshire.[2]
Elizabeth's father was a politician and her maternal grandfather was John Hedworth, a Member of Parliament for County Durham.[3] Elizabeth was privately educated and learned French and poetry composition.[1] Her mother died in 1767. Two years later, Elizabeth met Sir Peniston Lamb, 2nd Baronet; they married in London on 13 April 1769.[3] The couple lived at Melbourne House in Piccadilly and Elizabeth quickly became a well-known figure in London Whig society.[3]
She was apparently untroubled by her husband's infidelity early in their marriage with the actress and courtesan, Sophia Baddeley, just as he came to tolerate her numerous love affairs.[3] Peniston was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Lord Melbourne, Baron of Kilmore, in 1770, and Viscount Melbourne, in 1781.[3] As well as Melbourne House, the family had country residences at Brocket Hall, in Hertfordshire, and Melbourne Hall, in Derbyshire.[3]
From the start of her marriage, the shrewd and coldly pragmatic Lady Melbourne cultivated friendships that helped her position in society, and her husband's career. These relationships were frequently with men, some of whom became lovers.[4] She was noted for discretion in her affairs: she famously remarked that no man was safe with another's secrets and no woman with her own. Unlike her daughter-in-law, Lady Caroline Lamb, who conducted a very public extramarital affair with Lord Byron, Lady Melbourne had a clear understanding of what society would and would not condone. She was highly intelligent, if not intellectual; it was said of her that, within the rather narrow limits of her experience, her knowledge of the world was remarkable.
She was a devoted mother and worked tirelessly to advance the careers of all her children, especially William. Lord David Cecil remarked that few children have had a better mother, although her reputation for immorality caused them some distress: George once came to blows with a friend who said "your mother is a whore". William, though admitting that his mother's private life was not blameless, called her "the most sagacious woman [he] ever knew" and remarked that "she kept me straight as long as she lived".
After the marriage in 1774 of Lady Georgiana Spencer to William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, Lady Melbourne became a close friend of and personal advisor to the Duchess.[3] Until this point, Lady Melbourne had enjoyed unrivalled success as a political hostess and quickly recognised that the young duchess, with a higher rank and better connections, would be a more valuable friend than a rival.[5] The two women were painted, alongside their friend, sculptor Anne Damer, by Daniel Gardner as the Three Witches in his 1775 painting Witches Round the Cauldron.[3] Lady Melbourne featured as the character of Lady Besford in the Duchess' novel The Sylph.[6]
By contrast, she and the Duchess' sister, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, disliked each other intensely, and Lady Melbourne's enmity later extended to Henrietta's daughter, Lady Caroline Lamb. True to her practical nature, she did not allow this dislike to interfere with her support for her son William's marriage to Caroline, which was a social step up for the Lamb family, who were still, by the strict social standards of the age, considered to be newcomers to polite society.
By the late 1770s, Lady Melbourne was romantically involved with George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont.[4] There was a rumour that the Earl had bought her from a previous lover, Lord Coleraine, for £13,000.[7] Egremont remained unmarried, probably due to Lady Melbourne's influence.[3][7] It is believed that he was the father of Lady Melbourne's children William (b. 1779), Emily (b. 1787) and possibly Frederick (b. 1782).[3] Lord Melbourne, who had affairs of his own, was not greatly troubled by his wife's infidelities. Only once, it is said, did they quarrel on the subject: this was in the strained atmosphere caused by the death of their eldest son Peniston, the only child whom Melbourne knew to be his own flesh and blood. Melbourne is said on that occasion to have expressed resentment of his wife's favouritism towards William, whom Melbourne (like everybody else) believed to be Lord Egremont's son.
In 1782, Lady Melbourne became acquainted with George, Prince of Wales while visiting her son Peniston twice a week at Eton College.[8] The relationship proved to be of benefit to Lord Melbourne, who was made Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Prince George at Carlton House.[8] Lady Melbourne's fourth son George (b. 1784) was widely believed to have been fathered by the prince, who acted as the boy's godfather.[3][9]
Early on, Lady Melbourne seems to have a fraught relationship with Caroline St. Jules.[10] This is because Caroline St. Jules' and George Lamb's marriage, in the early years, was a rocky marriage.[11] Lady Melbourne was upset that Caroline St. Jules would confide her marriage problems to her mother, Lady Elizabeth Foster.[12] Lady Elizabeth Foster saw the worst in Caroline St. Jules’ marital problems.[13] Lady Elizabeth Foster was so furious that George Lamb seem unfazed by his neglect towards Caroline St. Jules that Lady Elizabeth Foster “look upon [George Lamb] to be some kind of monster”.[14] When Caroline St. Jules had an affair with Henry Brougham, in 1816, Lady Melbourne rebuked Caroline St. Jules for the affair.[15][16] Caroline St. Jules reminded Lady Melbourne that George Lamb saw Caroline St. Jules as a distraction from his work in theater.[17] In addition, Caroline St. Jules felt trapped in a marriage where her husband was neglectful and a drunk.[18] Eventually, Caroline St. Jules and Henry Brougham ended their affair.[19][20] Caroline St. Jules reconciled with George Lamb and stayed with George Lamb until his death in 1834.[21][22] Shortly after Caroline St. Jules ended her affair with Henry Brougham, Lady Melbourne reconciled with both Caroline St. Jules and George Lamb.[23]
Later in life, Lady Melbourne formed a friendship with the poet Lord Byron. She became his confidante during his affair with her daughter-in-law Lady Caroline Lamb.[24] Although she approved of her son's marriage on social grounds, Lady Melbourne disliked Caroline intensely and their relationship was always bad. By contrast, she liked Byron and blamed him neither for having the affair with Caroline nor for ending it. Byron later married Lady Melbourne's niece, Anne Isabella Milbanke.
Lord Melbourne was made a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Melbourne of Melbourne in 1815. Lady Melbourne died on 6 April 1818 at Melbourne House of rheumatism: her slow and painful death distressed her loved ones greatly. It was entirely in character that on her deathbed she urged her daughter Emily to be faithful, not to her husband, Lord Cowper, but to her lover, Lord Palmerston (Emily and Palmerston eventually married after Cowper's death). She was survived by her husband who died in 1828.[3]
Issue
Lady Melbourne had six children that survived childhood; infant twins died in 1788.[3] Of the remaining six, only the eldest, Peniston, was certainly fathered by Lord Melbourne.[3] Their youngest daughter Harriet died of consumption in 1803 at the age of 14; the young Peniston succumbed to the same illness in 1805, at 34.[25]
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne,, in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister. His first premiership ended when he was dismissed by King William IV in 1834, the last British prime minister to be dismissed by a monarch. Five months later he was re-appointed and served for six more years, into the reign of Queen Victoria. He is best known for coaching the Queen in the ways of politics, acting almost as her private secretary. Historians do not rank Melbourne's tenure as prime minister favourably, as he had no great foreign wars or domestic issues to handle, and he was involved in several political scandals in the early years of Victoria's reign.
Lady Caroline Lamb is a 1972 British epic romantic drama film based on the life of Lady Caroline Lamb, novelist, sometime lover of Lord Byron and wife of politician William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. The only film written and directed by Robert Bolt, it starred his wife, Sarah Miles, as Lady Caroline, Jon Finch, Richard Chamberlain, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Margaret Leighton and Michael Wilding.
Lady Caroline Lamb was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and novelist, best known for Glenarvon, a Gothic novel. In 1812 she had an affair with Lord Byron, whom she described as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know". Her husband was The Hon. William Lamb, who after her death became British prime minister.
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire,, was a British nobleman, aristocrat, and politician. He was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, by his wife, the heiress Lady Charlotte Boyle, suo jure Baroness Clifford, who brought in considerable money and estates to the Cavendish family. He was invited to join the Cabinet on three occasions, but declined each offer. He was Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and Governor of Cork, and Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire. The 5th Duke is best known for his first wife Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. At the age of about twenty, Devonshire toured Italy with William Fitzherbert which is where they commissioned the pair of portraits by Pompeo Batoni.
Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron, nicknamed Annabella and commonly known as Lady Byron, was an English mathematician and the wife of poet George Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byron.
Brocket Hall is a neo-classical country house set in a large park at the western side of the urban area of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England. The estate is equipped with two golf courses and seven smaller listed buildings, apart from the main house. The freehold on the estate is held by the 3rd Baron Brocket. The house is Grade I-listed.
Elizabeth Medora Leigh was the third daughter of Augusta Leigh. It is widely speculated that she was fathered by her mother's half-brother Lord Byron, although her mother's husband Colonel George Leigh was her official father.
The Hon. George Lamb was a British politician and writer.
Elizabeth Christiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire was an English aristocrat and letter writer. She is best known as Lady Elizabeth Foster, the close friend of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. Elizabeth supplanted the Duchess, gaining the affections of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire and later marrying him. Several of her letters are preserved.
Frederick James Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne,, known as The Lord Beauvale from 1839 to 1848, was a British diplomat.
Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne, known as Sir Peniston Lamb, 2nd Baronet, from 1768 to 1770, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1793. He was the father of Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne.
Ralph Gordon King Noel Milbanke, 2nd Earl of Lovelace was a British author of Astarte: A Fragment of Truth concerning George Gordon Byron, Sixth Lord Byron.
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, simply known as Lord Byron, was an English poet and peer. One of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, Byron is regarded as one of the greatest English poets. He remains widely read and influential. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular.
The Bad Lord Byron is a 1949 British historical drama film about the life of Lord Byron. It was directed by David MacDonald and starred Dennis Price as Byron with Mai Zetterling, Linden Travers and Joan Greenwood.
Emily Temple, Viscountess Palmerston, styled The Honourable Emily Lamb from 1787 to 1805 and Countess Cowper from 1805 to 1839, was a leading figure of the Almack's social set, sister to Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, wife to the 5th Earl Cowper, and subsequently wife to another Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.
The Honourable Peniston Lamb was a British politician.
Jane Elizabeth Harley, Countess of Oxford and Countess Mortimer was an English noblewoman, known as a patron of the Reform movement and a lover of Lord Byron.
Lady Charlotte Mary Bacon, née Harley, was the second daughter of Edward Harley, 5th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer. Her beauty as a child prompted Lord Byron to dedicate the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage to her, under the name "Ianthe". Lord Byron had been one of the many lovers of her mother, Jane Elizabeth Scott. Lady Charlotte was also the subject of the painting Lady Charlotte Harley as Hebe by Richard Westall.
Lady Frances Caroline Wedderburn-Webster was an Anglo-Irish woman who became a figure of scandal of the Regency period, for her supposed affairs with the leading celebrities, Lord Byron and the Duke of Wellington. It may be that neither of those relationships went beyond flirtation.
Lewis, Judith Schneid (2003), Sacred to Female Patriotism: Gender, Class, and Politics in Late Georgian Britain, Routledge, ISBN0-415-94412-0
Melbourne, Elizabeth Milbanke Lamb; Gross, Jonathan David (1998), Byron's "Corbeau Blanc": The Life and Letters of Lady Melbourne, Texas A&M University Press, ISBN0-89096-672-9
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
