Marriage and Family
In June 1805, at the age of nineteen, Lady Caroline married the Hon. William Lamb, an up-and-coming young politician, and heir to the 1st Viscount Melbourne. Although their meeting had been shrewdly orchestrated by William Lamb's mother, theirs was a love match. The couple had become "mutually captivated" during a visit to Brocket Hall in 1802 and for many years the pair enjoyed a happy marriage. Their union produced a son, George Augustus Frederick, born on 11 August 1807, and a premature daughter, born in 1809 who died within 24 hours. Lady Caroline was physically ill-suited to childbirth and suffered long recovery periods after each one. Her son was born with severe mental problems that may have been a type of autism. Although most aristocratic families sent mentally challenged relatives to institutions, the Lambs cared for their son at home until his death. The stress, combined with William Lamb's consuming career ambitions, drove a wedge between the couple.
Read more about this topic: Lady Caroline Lamb
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or family:
“Every relationship that does not raise us up pulls us down, and vice versa; this is why men usually sink down somewhat when they take wives while women are usually somewhat raised up. Overly spiritual men require marriage every bit as much as they resist it as bitter medicine.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Family lore can be a bore, but only when you are hearing it, never when you are relating it to the ones who will be carrying it on for you. A family without a storyteller or two has no way to make sense out of their past and no way to get a sense of themselves.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)