Who's Who

Who's Who in Lady Caroline Lamb's story? Here is a partial list...

Bessborough, Lord (3rd Earl). Frederick Ponsonby.

Father of Lady Caroline Lamb. Held title of Lord Duncannon until his father, the 2nd Earl, died in 1793.

Bessborough, Lady (Countess). Henrietta Frances Spencer Ponsonby.

Mother of Lady Caroline and her three brothers, John, Frederick, and William. With her lover, Granville Leveson-Gower, she also had two other children.

Bruce, Michael.

Acquaintance of Byron’s who had an affair with Lady Caroline after meeting her in Paris in 1816.

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward.

Novelist and poet, he developed a youthful crush on Lady Caroline and almost became her lover late in her life.

Byron, Lord (6th Baron). George Gordon.

Poet and political activist, he had many love affairs, including one with Lady Caroline Lamb in 1812, and died helping the Greek revolutionary movement.

Byron, Lady. Anne Isabella (“Annabella”) Milbanke.

Wife of Lord Byron and cousin of Lady Caroline’s husband, William Lamb.

Canis. (see 5th Duke of Devonshire)

Cavendish, Georgiana. (Little G, or G)

Lady Caroline Lamb’s cousin, the elder daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Later Lady Morpeth.

Cavendish, Harriet Elizabeth. (Harryo)

Lady Caroline Lamb’s cousin, the younger daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Later Lady Granville.

Churchill, Susan Spencer.

Illegitimate daughter of Harriet Caroline Spencer, a relative of Lady Caroline’s, who became the ward of William and Lady Caroline Lamb.

Cooper, Lady Barbara Ashley.

Married Willy Ponsonby, Lady Caroline’s favorite brother.

Cowper, Lady. née Emily Lamb. Later, Lady Palmerston.

Sister of William Lamb. Upon Cowper’s death, she married a future Prime Minister of England, Lord Palmerston.

Devonshire, Duchess of. Georgiana Spencer Cavendish.

Aunt of Lady Caroline.

Devonshire, Duchess of (see Lady Elizabeth Foster).

Devonshire, 5th Duke of. William Cavendish (nicknamed “Canis”).

Uncle of Lady Caroline.

Devonshire, 6th Duke of. (Hart) William Spencer George Cavendish.

Cousin of Lady Caroline. Nicknamed “Hart,” because he held the honorific title of “The Marquis of Hartington” until the 5th Duke died in 1811.

Duncannon, Lord John Ponsonby.

Lady Caroline’s eldest brother.

Duncannon, Lady Maria (John’s Wife, formerly Maria Fane).

Fane, Maria (see Lady Duncannon)

Fleming, J. Wilmington.

Obscure poet to whom Lady Caroline gave her journals to read and who later tried to use them for blackmail.

Foscolo, Ugo. Italian novelist.

He advised Lady Caroline on her writing.

Foster, Lady Elizabeth.

Lived with the 5th Duke and Georgiana, the Duchess, bearing the Duke two children, then married the 5th Duke after Georgiana’s death.

Goddard, Dr. B.

Lady Caroline’s personal physician through the last years of her life.

Godwin, William.

Author, publisher, and social philosopher, husband of Mary Wollstonecraft and father to their daughter, Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein). He became Lady Caroline’s close friend and mentor after they began corresponding in 1819.

Granville, Viscount. Granville Leveson Gower.

Lover of Caroline’s mother, with whom he had two children before he married Caroline’s cousin, Harryo.

Grey, Lord Charles.

Famous tea maker and lover of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who bore him a child, almost ruining herself when her husband discovered she was pregnant. Formerly Lord Howick.

Harryo (see Harriet Cavendish)

Hobhouse, John Cam.

Political liberal and close friend of Byron as well as longtime acquaintance and correspondent of Lady Caroline Lamb, witnessing many scenes during and after Caroline’s affair with Byron in 1812.

Holland, Lady.

One of Lady Caroline’s closest bluestocking (or liberal-feminist) friends. Caroline had an affair with her son, Godfrey, and later satirized Lady Holland as “The Princess Madagascar” in her novel Glenarvon.

Howick, Lord (see Lord Charles Grey)

Lamb, Augustus.

Only child of William and Lady Caroline Lamb, born epileptic and retarded.

Lamb, Caroline Adelaide St. Jules.

Exact contemporary of Lady Caroline Lamb and illegitimate child of Lady Elizabeth Foster and the 5th Duke of Devonshire, she married William Lamb’s brother, George and was nicknamed “Caro George” to distinguish her from Lady Caroline Lamb.

Lamb, Lady Caroline.

Born Caroline Ponsonby. Attained the title of “Lady” when her father became 3rd Earl Bessborough. Also called “Caro William” to distinguish her from George Lamb’s wife, the former Caroline St. Jules.

Lamb, Emily (see Lady Cowper)

Lamb, George.

William’s younger brother and a hack journalist and amateur playwright.

Lamb, William.

Lady Caroline’s husband. Later Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of England under Queen Victoria.

Lee, Dr. Robert.

Augustus Lamb’s personal physician and tutor from 1817 to 1822.

Leveson Gower, Granville (see Lord Granville)

Leigh, Augusta.

Lord Byron’s half-sister, with whom he was accused of having an incestuous affair that resulted in the birth of an illegitimate daughter.

Little G (see Georgiana Cavendish)

Melbourne, Lord. Peniston Lamb.

William Lamb’s father, who lived until after Caroline died, so that she never became “Lady Melbourne” and so that during her lifetime William never achieved financial independence.

Milbanke, Anne Isabella (see Lady Byron).

Milbanke, Sir Ralph, 6th Baronet.

Lady Melbourne’s brother and the father of Anne Isabella Milbanke, later Lady Byron.

Morgan, Lady. Formerly Sydney Owenson.

Novelist, feminist, and friend of Lady Caroline.

Morpeth, Lady (See Georgiana Cavendish)

Morpeth, Lord.

Married Caroline’s cousin, Georgiana Cavendish.

Nathan, Isaac.

Jewish tenor, composer, and publisher who collaborated with Lord Byron on A Selection of Hebrew Melodies(1815-1816) and with Lady Caroline Lamb on almost a dozen songs, including music printed in two of her novels. Lady Caroline became godmother to his daughter.

Ossulston, Lady. Corisande de Grammont.

A French émigré who grew up in the Devonshire household with Lady Caroline.

Oxford, Lady. Jane Elizabeth Harley.

Lady Caroline’s friend and tutor, who betrayed her trust by having an affair with Byron after he had dropped Caroline.

Palmerston, Lady Emily (see Lady Cowper)

Ponsonby, Caroline (see Lady Caroline Lamb)

Ponsonby, Frederick Cavendish.

Lady Caroline’s older brother, a war hero at the battles of Talavera and Waterloo.

Ponsonby, John William.

Lady Caroline’s eldest brother, became Lord Duncannon and married Lady Maria Fane.

Ponsonby, William (“Willy”) Francis Spencer.

Lady Caroline’s younger, favorite brother, who married Lady Barbara Ashley Cooper.

Preedy, Rev. James.

Performed the marriages of William to Lady Caroline and of Lady Elizabeth Foster to the 5th Duke.

St. Jules, Caroline (see Caroline St. Jules Lamb)

Sheridan, Esther Jane Ogle.

Nicknamed “Hecca,” Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s second wife, who participated in a bizarre scene on the night Lady Caroline gave birth to her son Augustus.

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley.

Playwright, politician, and lover of Caroline’s mother, Lady Bessborough.

Spencer, George John, 2nd Earl Spencer.

Lady Caroline’s Uncle.

Spencer, Lady Georgiana.

Lady Caroline’s grandmother.

Trimmer, Selina.

Governess for the Devonshire and Bessborough households.

Webster, Sir Godfrey Vassal.

Son of Lady Holland by her first marriage and lover of Lady Caroline in the two years before she met Byron.

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke.

Hero of Waterloo (1815), who had an liaison with Lady Caroline in Paris after his great victory.

Wheeler, Rosina Doyle.

In the last years of Lady Caroline’s life, her protégée who married Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the novelist.