Lady M: The Life and Loves of Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne 1751-1818

by Colin Brown

Overview

At a time of emerging women leaders, the life of Elizabeth Milbanke, Viscountess Melbourne, the shrewdest political hostess of the Georgian period, is particularly intriguing. It was Byron who called her ‘Lady M’ and it was Byron’s tempestuous and very public affair with Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law Lady Caroline Lamb that was the scandal of the age. Lady M rose above all adversity, using sex and her husband’s wealth to hold court among such glittering figures as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the Whig leader and wit Charles James Fox and the playwright Sheridan. Her many lovers included Lord Egremont, Turner’s wealthy patron, and the future George IV.Elizabeth schemed on behalf of her children and her ambitions were realised when her son William Lamb (‘Lord M’) became the young Queen Victoria’s confidant and Prime Minister. Based upon primary research – diaries, archives and extensive correspondence between Lady M and Lord Byron – Colin Brown examines the Regency period and its pre-Victorian code of morals from the perspective of a powerful and influential woman on the 200th anniversary of her death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781445666501
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing
Publication date:	08/01/2018
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Colin Brown is the former Deputy Political Editor of the Independent and Political Editor of the Sunday Telegraph and the Independent on Sunday. He worked for thirty years as a lobby journalist at Westminster and is the author of five books, including Whitehall: The Street That Shaped a Nation (Simon and Schuster).

Table of Contents

Timeline vii

Family Tree ix

Introduction 1

1 A Marriage of Convenience 5

2 Peniston 17

3 'He Must and Would See Her' 27

4 Maternal Affection and How to Create a Salon 36

5 Halcyon Days at Melbourne House - and an Unmasking 52

6 Georgiana 63

7 Cocks Heath 79

8 William 91

9 The Affectionate Brothers 104

10 Emily 116

11 The House Swap 130

12 Tragedy 144

13 Two Weddings and a Funeral 160

14 Scandal 177

15 Byron 191

16 Lady M's Unlikely Lover 203

17 Honeymoon in Hell 214

18 The Monster and the Weasel 227

19 The Last Word 243

Annexe Dr James Stone 248

Postscript 250

Select Bibliography 253

Cross Section of Melbourne House, Whitehall/Dover House 254

Notes 255

Acknowledgements 271

Index 272