To the Vale of Graves…
And one glorious afternoon in October I took a stroll through this fabulous cemetery to the grave of Byron’s spouse…
And one glorious afternoon in October I took a stroll through this fabulous cemetery to the grave of Byron’s spouse…
More than 228 years have now passed since that ‘involuntary Act of coming into the World’ for May 17 is the birthday of Anne Isabella, Lady Noel Byron, the Poet’s ‘Princess of Parallelograms’ and the woman he later said was ‘born for my destruction.’
Born on Ascension Day in 1792 in County Durham, she was the cherished only child of Sir Ralph and the Hon. Judith Milbanke who had lived through a marriage of over 15 years, childlessness and hope in anticipation of the arrival of their ‘’little angel’…
“Oh! my God! how has my poor Child been sacrificed! not only to a wicked, but unmanly Creature!”
The agitated author of this letter was the Hon. Judith Noel in the dying days of January 1816 as the marriage separation between her beloved only daughter and Lord Byron became increasingly acrimonious and as the latter prepared for a life in exile far away from the marital home of 13 Piccadilly Terrace in London.
However, Judith was QUITE mistaken in her distraught prediction about her ‘poor child’s’ imminent demise…
With her Scottish ancestry for omens and superstition perhaps Catherine’s confusion is understandable for she did indeed marry ‘Mad Jack’ Byron on Friday May 13 AND by all accounts their brief marriage was a disaster!
On this day in 1810 – Byron swam across the Hellespont in search of his own Hero and while not seeking confirmation of his conjugal powers – his epic swim certainly affirms his prowess in the water.