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sixteen, overweight from having been bedridden for three years, but the time was rapidly approaching when she would be expected to enter London society and find an aristocratic husband. It was time for the oyster shells of her childhood to open and filter in the outside world.
Fordhook was in Ealing, today, a suburb of London. But at the time when Ada and Lady Byron lived at Fordhook, Ealing was a separate village, located about eight miles west of the centre of London, and popular with wealthy people who wanted to escape the smells and bustle of the capital, yet remain within easy access to London.
It was – possibly unintended by Lady Byron – a witty literary choice that might have amused libertine Lord Byron. One of the manor’s claims to fame was that it had been the home of the writer Henry Fielding (1707-1754), the creator of immortal, wordy but entertaining and somewhat bawdy novels such Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749). These novels were written some decades before the 1830s, when the drawbridge of middle-class morality had come down and started greatly inhibiting what could be said in respectable print about sex. It was not until the last decade of the nineteenth century that writers again dared pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable, such as Thomas Hardy, with his sensuous novel Jude the Obscure (1895), though its furore led Hardy to abandon novel-writing.
Lady Byron gave Ada more leeway at Fordhook than Bifrons but recruited three friends no less to help supervise Ada’s education and demeanour. Ada referred to the three women as the ‘Three Furies’ and, resenting their presence in her life deeply, she did all she could to escape their influence. Her success rate was low. Greig wrote ‘As Ada grew older the interference of these ladies became more insufferable, but every attempt to resist it was [illegible] by Lady Byron.’
Born in 1805 and ten years older than Ada, Greig was the son of Mary Somerville. Ada and Lady Byron got to know Mary through Dr William Frend, a by that time ancient Cambridge mathematician who had been Annabella’s tutor when she was young, and whom she had recruited to teach Ada mathematics, too. (Frend was no stranger to avant-garde thinking; a convert to Unitarianism, he had taught his daughter Sophia Hebrew and philosophy, and been one of the tutors of the influential economist Robert Malthus.)
Born on December 26 1780 as daughter of Captain (later Vice-Admiral) William Fairfax, Greig’s mother Mary Somerville was another female genius, a Scottish science writer and polymath, who mastered mathematics, astronomy and other sciences later in life.
Mary had been brought up in Scotland with her brother who was three years older than she was. A sister was born when Mary was seven, and a second brother when she was ten. The two brothers were given a good education but, in keeping with the ideas of the time, little need was seen to educate girls so Mary’s parents provided virtually no education for their daughter.
As a young child what little education she did receive was from her mother, who taught her to read but didn’t consider it necessary to teach her to write. When Mary was ten years old she was sent to a Miss Primrose’s boarding school for girls in Musselburgh (a few miles east of Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth) but only because her father considered her somewhat of a brute. The school in Musselburgh neither gave Mary a happy time nor a good education. She spent only one year there and, on leaving, felt (in her own words) ‘like a wild animal escaped out of a cage’.
After this Mary returned to her home and began to educate herself by reading every book that she could find in her home. Far from encouraging Mary in her voracious reading, members of her family such as her aunt criticised her for spending time on this unladylike occupation. In order that she might learn the correct skills for a young lady, Mary was sent to a school in Burntisland
Fordhook was in Ealing, today, a suburb of London. But at the time when Ada and Lady Byron lived at Fordhook, Ealing was a separate village, located about eight miles west of the centre of London, and popular with wealthy people who wanted to escape the smells and bustle of the capital, yet remain within easy access to London.
It was – possibly unintended by Lady Byron – a witty literary choice that might have amused libertine Lord Byron. One of the manor’s claims to fame was that it had been the home of the writer Henry Fielding (1707-1754), the creator of immortal, wordy but entertaining and somewhat bawdy novels such Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749). These novels were written some decades before the 1830s, when the drawbridge of middle-class morality had come down and started greatly inhibiting what could be said in respectable print about sex. It was not until the last decade of the nineteenth century that writers again dared pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable, such as Thomas Hardy, with his sensuous novel Jude the Obscure (1895), though its furore led Hardy to abandon novel-writing.
Lady Byron gave Ada more leeway at Fordhook than Bifrons but recruited three friends no less to help supervise Ada’s education and demeanour. Ada referred to the three women as the ‘Three Furies’ and, resenting their presence in her life deeply, she did all she could to escape their influence. Her success rate was low. Greig wrote ‘As Ada grew older the interference of these ladies became more insufferable, but every attempt to resist it was [illegible] by Lady Byron.’
Born in 1805 and ten years older than Ada, Greig was the son of Mary Somerville. Ada and Lady Byron got to know Mary through Dr William Frend, a by that time ancient Cambridge mathematician who had been Annabella’s tutor when she was young, and whom she had recruited to teach Ada mathematics, too. (Frend was no stranger to avant-garde thinking; a convert to Unitarianism, he had taught his daughter Sophia Hebrew and philosophy, and been one of the tutors of the influential economist Robert Malthus.)
Born on December 26 1780 as daughter of Captain (later Vice-Admiral) William Fairfax, Greig’s mother Mary Somerville was another female genius, a Scottish science writer and polymath, who mastered mathematics, astronomy and other sciences later in life.
Mary had been brought up in Scotland with her brother who was three years older than she was. A sister was born when Mary was seven, and a second brother when she was ten. The two brothers were given a good education but, in keeping with the ideas of the time, little need was seen to educate girls so Mary’s parents provided virtually no education for their daughter.
As a young child what little education she did receive was from her mother, who taught her to read but didn’t consider it necessary to teach her to write. When Mary was ten years old she was sent to a Miss Primrose’s boarding school for girls in Musselburgh (a few miles east of Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth) but only because her father considered her somewhat of a brute. The school in Musselburgh neither gave Mary a happy time nor a good education. She spent only one year there and, on leaving, felt (in her own words) ‘like a wild animal escaped out of a cage’.
After this Mary returned to her home and began to educate herself by reading every book that she could find in her home. Far from encouraging Mary in her voracious reading, members of her family such as her aunt criticised her for spending time on this unladylike occupation. In order that she might learn the correct skills for a young lady, Mary was sent to a school in Burntisland
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