Lady Caroline Lamb
| Lady Caroline Lamb | |
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Lady Caroline Lamb, painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence
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| Born | 13 November 1785 |
| Died | 25 January 1828 (aged 42) |
| Spouse(s) | William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) |
The 3rd Earl of Bessborough Lady Henrietta Spencer |
Lady Caroline Lamb (née Ponsonby; 13 November 1785 – 25 January 1828), known as the Honourable Caroline Ponsonby until her father succeeded to the earldom in 1793, was an Anglo-Irish and novelist, best known for her affair with Lord Byron in 1812. Her husband was The Hon. William Lamb, who later became Viscount Melbourne and Prime Minister. However, she was never the Viscountess Melbourne because she died before Melbourne succeeded to the peerage; hence, she is known to history as Lady Caroline Lamb.
She was the only daughter of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, an Anglo-Irish peer, and Henrietta, Countess of Bessborough, and related to other leading society ladies, being the niece of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, and cousin (by marriage) of Annabella, Lady Byron.
As a small child she was considered delicate and for her health spent much time in the country. She travelled with her mother and other family to Italy, where she made an agonizing recovery from an illness caused by worms that nearly ended her life. After returning with her mother to England, she rejoined a lively menage of children who lived at Devonshire House and Roehampton, including her cousins: Lord Hartington (later the 6th Duke of Devonshire), Lady Georgiana, and Lady Harriet Cavendish; and two children of Lady Elizabeth Foster and the Duke of Devonshire. With these children she was educated at Devonshire House, at a Dame School in Knightsbridge, and at her overindulgent mother's and grandmother Lady Spencer's knees, although they found her behaviour increasingly troublesome, and experimented with sedatives like laudanum and a special governess to control her. During childhood she became particularly close to Lady Harriet Cavendish, who was only three months older.
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