Letters 1822-1828

NOTE: These transcription notes have been arranged in chronological order and are made available for researchers in the hope of stimulating further work on the life of Lady Caroline and her circle. Although they have been checked for accuracy, the transcriptions (which attempt to reproduce the original in its orthographic rawness) inevitably contain errors. The original letters should be consulted, and permission must be granted by the appropriate archive if they are to be quoted in published work.

Please contact Paul Douglass if you have any questions, corrections, or comments.

The files below include transcriptions of letters written by Lady Caroline Lamb [née Ponsonby] from 1822 to 1828, a period including the publication of two novels, Graham Hamilton (by Murray in 1822) and Ada Reis (by Colburn in 1823). She is staggered by the news of Byron's death in 1824, and happens to encounter the carriages transporting his body for burial in Nottinghamshire as they pass through Welwyn. After relentless pressure by his family, William Lamb finally consents to force a separation. Health beginning to fail, she goes to Paris for a period to live independently, but requires caretakers, and William relents, allowing her to return to Brocket Hall for a while, where she encounters young Edward Bulwer and gets involved with some characters who want to use her letters for blackmail. Drinking accelerates her organ failure, and she dies in rented rooms on Conduit Street in London, shortly after William arrives to speak with her. He has crossed in bad weather from Ireland to be there just in time.

The letters are referenced by the call letters and catalogue labels employed by their various sources, and the correspondents and their locations (when they are clear) are noted. Shorthand has been used for Lady Caroline Lamb [LC before her marriage, and LCL thereafter]. In some cases, the reader will find a partial transcriptions, single excerpts, or summaries. Many letters have been printed, and the printing, if known, is cited in the header. Occasionally, the only identifiable source of a letter is a print volume like Lady Bessborough and Her Family Circle. Here is a sample note.

LCL to Lady Bessborough. Bessborough Papers, West Sussex Records Office, Chichester. Wed., Jan. 15 [14], 1807. Transcription printed in Bessborough and Aspinall, Lady Bessborough and Her Family Circle, 156-57.

When no date was found on the original letter, but the date has been determined by biographical or other clues, including any archivist's notes appended to the original, this too is noted. For example, the second known letter of Lady Caroline is headed by this note, which includes the annotation "n.d." for "no date" and the reasons for probable dating suggested in brackets:

LCL to Georgiana, Lady Morpeth, future 6^th Countess of Carlisle. Castle Howard MSS J18/35/87 n.d. [1807? If so, probably Spring]

All text that has been interpolated is bracketed. For example, if Lady Caroline writes "Miss T" and the transcriber feels confident that she refers to "Miss Trimmer" (the author of educational works for children), the transcription reads "Miss T[rimmer]." In the case of missing, ambiguous or uninterpretable text, brackets and question marks appear. For example: "Ld M[elbourne?]" or "–I know you are all [capining??] for want of me" or "Wm laughed out loud at your letter & [Lady?] [?] remarks he begs [??]" Some additional information about historical events, or the identities of persons named in the letters, is included in footnotes.

Note: All letters held by the John Murray Archive were viewed at 50 Albemarle Street, the site of the John Murray Publishing House, rather than their current location in archives of the National Library of Scotland, where they may consulted now. I am indebted to Virginia Murray for her kind assistance in my research. --PD