Augusta Leigh
Encyclopedia
Augusta Maria Byron, later Augusta Maria Leigh (26 January 1783 – 12 October 1851), styled "The Honourable" from birth, was the only daughter of John "Mad Jack" Byron, the poet Lord Byron's father, by his first wife, Amelia Osborne
(Baroness Conyers in her own right and the divorced wife of Francis, Marquis of Carmarthen, who was later to become 5th Duke of Leeds
).
, noted the wedding with disdain in his diary: "Poor Augusta Leigh marries today! Poor thing! I pity her connecting herself with such a Family, and such a fool! However she has nobody to blame but herself."
and even then only very rarely. From 1804 onwards, however, she wrote to him regularly and became his confidante especially in his quarrels with his mother. Their correspondence ceased for two years after Byron had gone abroad, and was not resumed until she sent him a letter expressing her sympathy on the death of his mother, Catherine.
Not having been brought up together they were almost like strangers to each other. But they got on well together and appear to have fallen in love with each other. When Byron's marriage collapsed and he sailed away from England never to return, rumours of incest, a very serious and scandalous offence, were rife. Some say it was because of his fear of prosecution that Byron abandoned his country.
There is some evidence to support the incest accusation. The Honourable Augusta Leigh's third daughter, born in the Spring of 1814, was christened Elizabeth Medora Leigh
. A few days after the birth, Byron went to his sister's house Swynford Paddocks, Six Mile Bottom
, Cambridgeshire
, to see the child, and wrote, in a letter to Lady Melbourne
, his confidante: "Oh, but it is not an ape, and it is worth while" (a child of an incestuous relationship was thought likely to be deformed).
during the three weeks in January 1814 when the poet and a pregnant Augusta were snowbound there together. However, Augusta's husband, George, never questioned the paternity of Medora, and she grew up among her brothers and sisters unaware that she might be the first of Byron's three daughters.
In fact, they were entertained by his in-laws at the family home in Leicestershire
for several weeks after Byron had married Annabella Milbanke. At that time Augusta wrote to her sister-in-law about Medora, saying: "The likeness to Byron... makes her very good-humoured". In another she wrote, knowing it would be shown to Byron, "Here comes Medora".
Medora did become aware of her possible paternity years later and she and her child were assisted financially by Augusta Ada Byron
, who was also a source of emotional support when Medora fell on hard times. Neither Medora nor her mother met Byron's daughter by Claire Clairmont
, Allegra Byron
, who died at age five in 1822 in an Italian convent.
Medora had 6 (half?) siblings by her mother Augusta Maria (Byron) and Augusta's husband Colonel George Leigh of the 10th Dragoons. One of her sisters, Georgiana Augusta Leigh, married Henry Bettesworth Trevanion. The marriage between Georgiana and Henry was not harmonious and Medora was often used as a "chaperone". Medora's life became more complicated as a result.
Medora's father, Colonel Leigh, subsequently discovered that she was pregnant with a child by Henry Trevanion (her brother-in-law). Colonel Leigh sent Medora to an establishment in Maida Vale, London, where upper-class girls went to have their illegitimate offspring. She was a prisoner behind bars and locked doors. Georgiana and Henry arranged for her escape, as both Georgiana and Henry hated each other so much that they longed for Medora (each in their own way) to be between them again.
Henry Bettesworth Trevanion and Medora went to Normandy, where her child was stillborn. However, Henry was so infatuated with Medora that he wanted a living child by her.
Henry ran away again with Medora and prevailed on her to set up in an ancient, tumble-down chateau near Morlaix in France. There they lived as brother and sister and passed as such, for they looked very much alike. With no idea of money on either side they were reduced to poverty; as aristocratic delinquents they never considered turning their hands to work. In exile they used the surname AUBIN.
By 1833 Henry and Medora were living in Brittany, at the Breton Carhaix.
Medora became a Catholic and declared her intention of entering a convent. However, she got pregnant again by Henry. The Abbess was tolerant and found Medora lodgings outside the convent, where a living child was born on 19 May 1834; she was baptised Marie Violette Trevanion on 21 May 1834. [CHRISTENING: See page 116 of "Byron's Daughter" by Catherine Turney (1975) biography of Elizabeth Medora Leigh]
Due to poverty and illness, the pair eventually had to beg their families for money. Henry's father, Major John Purnell Bettesworth Trevanion
of Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, thought Medora was to blame for the situation. He sent one of Henry's uncles to Brittany to persuade Henry to return to England. Henry refused to leave. Augusta Maria (Byron) Leigh was now keeping her other daughter Georgiana's three children by Henry, but sent what money she could to Medora. However, Augusta eventually lost touch with Medora, who had become ill in Brittany after a series of miscarriages.
In 1838, Henry Trevanion and Medora Leigh finally parted permanently. In an autobiography, Medora later wrote of Henry that he "gave himself up to religion and shooting". Henry died in 1855 in Brittany, France.
Medora left for the south of France with her daughter Marie Violette, who later entered a convent and became known as Sister Saint Hillaire. Marie Violette is said to have died within the order she joined in 1873.
Medora travelled in poverty and eventually met Monsieur Jean-Louis Taillefer whom she married in Aveyron, France on 23 August 1846. In 1846 they had a son, Elie Taillefer, who lived until 22 June 1900. Marie Violette took the surname of her stepfather and became Marie Violette Taillefer.
Medora died on 28 August 1849 at Lapeyre, Aveyron, southern France, and is believed to be buried there.
Amelia Osborne, Marchioness of Carmarthen
Amelia Osborne , Marchioness of Carmarthen and de jure 12th Baroness Darcy de Knayth and 9th Baroness Conyers and 5th Countess of Mértola was a British peeress and a Portuguese countess....
(Baroness Conyers in her own right and the divorced wife of Francis, Marquis of Carmarthen, who was later to become 5th Duke of Leeds
Duke of Leeds
Duke of Leeds was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1694 for the prominent statesman Thomas Osborne, 1st Marquess of Carmarthen...
).
Early life
Augusta's mother died soon after Augusta's birth. Her grandmother, Lady Holderness, raised Augusta for a few years, but died when Augusta was still a young girl, and the child divided her time among relatives and friends.Marriage
Augusta later married her cousin, Colonel George Leigh, and had a number of children by him. Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and ChandosRichard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos KG, PC , styled Earl Temple from 1784 to 1813 and known as The Marquess of Buckingham from 1813 to 1822, was a British landowner and politician.-Background:Born Richard Temple-Nugent-Grenville, he was the eldest son...
, noted the wedding with disdain in his diary: "Poor Augusta Leigh marries today! Poor thing! I pity her connecting herself with such a Family, and such a fool! However she has nobody to blame but herself."
Byron
Augusta's half-brother, George Gordon, Lord Byron, didn't meet her until he went to Harrow SchoolHarrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
and even then only very rarely. From 1804 onwards, however, she wrote to him regularly and became his confidante especially in his quarrels with his mother. Their correspondence ceased for two years after Byron had gone abroad, and was not resumed until she sent him a letter expressing her sympathy on the death of his mother, Catherine.
Not having been brought up together they were almost like strangers to each other. But they got on well together and appear to have fallen in love with each other. When Byron's marriage collapsed and he sailed away from England never to return, rumours of incest, a very serious and scandalous offence, were rife. Some say it was because of his fear of prosecution that Byron abandoned his country.
There is some evidence to support the incest accusation. The Honourable Augusta Leigh's third daughter, born in the Spring of 1814, was christened Elizabeth Medora Leigh
Elizabeth Medora Leigh
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.Three days after her birth, Byron visited Augusta and the baby...
. A few days after the birth, Byron went to his sister's house Swynford Paddocks, Six Mile Bottom
Six Mile Bottom
Six Mile Bottom is a hamlet within the parish of Little Wilbraham, near Cambridge in England.-History:In the 1790s the only building at Six Mile Bottom was a paddocks run by a stable keeper. In 1802, a sizeable country house was built nearby...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, to see the child, and wrote, in a letter to Lady Melbourne
Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne
Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne was an English political hostess and the wife of Whig politician Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne. She was the mother of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
, his confidante: "Oh, but it is not an ape, and it is worth while" (a child of an incestuous relationship was thought likely to be deformed).
Medora
"Medora" is the name of one of the heroines in Byron's poem The Corsair, which was written at Newstead AbbeyNewstead Abbey
Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, England, originally an Augustinian priory, is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron.-Monastic foundation:The priory of St...
during the three weeks in January 1814 when the poet and a pregnant Augusta were snowbound there together. However, Augusta's husband, George, never questioned the paternity of Medora, and she grew up among her brothers and sisters unaware that she might be the first of Byron's three daughters.
In fact, they were entertained by his in-laws at the family home in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
for several weeks after Byron had married Annabella Milbanke. At that time Augusta wrote to her sister-in-law about Medora, saying: "The likeness to Byron... makes her very good-humoured". In another she wrote, knowing it would be shown to Byron, "Here comes Medora".
Medora did become aware of her possible paternity years later and she and her child were assisted financially by Augusta Ada Byron
Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine...
, who was also a source of emotional support when Medora fell on hard times. Neither Medora nor her mother met Byron's daughter by Claire Clairmont
Claire Clairmont
Clara Mary Jane Clairmont , or Claire Clairmont as she was commonly known, was a stepsister of writer Mary Shelley and the mother of Lord Byron's daughter Allegra.-Early life:...
, Allegra Byron
Allegra Byron
Clara Allegra Byron , initially named Alba, meaning "dawn," or "white," by her mother, was the illegitimate daughter of the poet George Gordon, Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont, the stepsister of Mary Shelley....
, who died at age five in 1822 in an Italian convent.
Medora had 6 (half?) siblings by her mother Augusta Maria (Byron) and Augusta's husband Colonel George Leigh of the 10th Dragoons. One of her sisters, Georgiana Augusta Leigh, married Henry Bettesworth Trevanion. The marriage between Georgiana and Henry was not harmonious and Medora was often used as a "chaperone". Medora's life became more complicated as a result.
Medora's father, Colonel Leigh, subsequently discovered that she was pregnant with a child by Henry Trevanion (her brother-in-law). Colonel Leigh sent Medora to an establishment in Maida Vale, London, where upper-class girls went to have their illegitimate offspring. She was a prisoner behind bars and locked doors. Georgiana and Henry arranged for her escape, as both Georgiana and Henry hated each other so much that they longed for Medora (each in their own way) to be between them again.
Henry Bettesworth Trevanion and Medora went to Normandy, where her child was stillborn. However, Henry was so infatuated with Medora that he wanted a living child by her.
Henry ran away again with Medora and prevailed on her to set up in an ancient, tumble-down chateau near Morlaix in France. There they lived as brother and sister and passed as such, for they looked very much alike. With no idea of money on either side they were reduced to poverty; as aristocratic delinquents they never considered turning their hands to work. In exile they used the surname AUBIN.
By 1833 Henry and Medora were living in Brittany, at the Breton Carhaix.
Medora became a Catholic and declared her intention of entering a convent. However, she got pregnant again by Henry. The Abbess was tolerant and found Medora lodgings outside the convent, where a living child was born on 19 May 1834; she was baptised Marie Violette Trevanion on 21 May 1834. [CHRISTENING: See page 116 of "Byron's Daughter" by Catherine Turney (1975) biography of Elizabeth Medora Leigh]
Due to poverty and illness, the pair eventually had to beg their families for money. Henry's father, Major John Purnell Bettesworth Trevanion
John Bettesworth-Trevanion
John Trevanion Purnell Bettesworth-Trevanion, MP, OW was a Cornish politician. He rebuilt Caerhays as a Gothic-style castle.-Early years:...
of Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, thought Medora was to blame for the situation. He sent one of Henry's uncles to Brittany to persuade Henry to return to England. Henry refused to leave. Augusta Maria (Byron) Leigh was now keeping her other daughter Georgiana's three children by Henry, but sent what money she could to Medora. However, Augusta eventually lost touch with Medora, who had become ill in Brittany after a series of miscarriages.
In 1838, Henry Trevanion and Medora Leigh finally parted permanently. In an autobiography, Medora later wrote of Henry that he "gave himself up to religion and shooting". Henry died in 1855 in Brittany, France.
Medora left for the south of France with her daughter Marie Violette, who later entered a convent and became known as Sister Saint Hillaire. Marie Violette is said to have died within the order she joined in 1873.
Medora travelled in poverty and eventually met Monsieur Jean-Louis Taillefer whom she married in Aveyron, France on 23 August 1846. In 1846 they had a son, Elie Taillefer, who lived until 22 June 1900. Marie Violette took the surname of her stepfather and became Marie Violette Taillefer.
Medora died on 28 August 1849 at Lapeyre, Aveyron, southern France, and is believed to be buried there.