A remarkable lady. As far as I know, she was the first woman not related to, married to, or sleeping with a king to be granted a hereditary peerage in her own right.
I very much enjoy being introduced to new people - especially those who, quite clearly, have lit a flame in another’s heart. Thank you for another fascinating article, and my best wishes for a Happy New Year.
That's so interesting, thank you. I knew a bit about her from the Dickens perspective, and remember seeing her memorial in Victoria Park, but it's good to hear more. I didn't know about her proposal to the Duke of Wellington! I hope she got some fun out of her late marriage in the end.
Ah - yes!!!! Quite extraordinary. He wasn’t a fiend, I’m glad to say, although it certainly panicked Coutts. And gave the Queen (and Disraeli) something to bitch about….
It’s an excellent question, and tbh I think he was very handsome and she had had enough of shouldering the heiress’s burden. As I said she was naive in some ways and didn’t worry overmuch about how it would ‘look’.
She lost part of her income although obvs there was still plenty - which he enjoyed spending - but she lived another 25 yrs so he didn’t inherit an instant fortune. He took her father’s old seat in Parliament etc. Probably got up to some mischief but he wasn’t too bad!!!!
Delightfuly expanded post, and with a bonus! Very enjoyable podcast!
Having read your book, all I can say is 'Good for Angela!' Had she been a man, no one would have batted an eyelid at the age difference. But envy is contagious, even in royalty...
Her relationship with Dickens is by far the most interesting one; while nuanced with self-restraint, dignity, and all that, at the same time it reflects the incandescent, secret life of the private mind, (or as some might comment: 'nobody's business', just as all feelings that matter are.)
Happy New Year, dear Laura! And thank you for the brilliant company all year long.
Thank you Maria! Talking to Phil is a lot of fun - he’s a brilliant host - so glad you enjoyed.
All that you say is quite beautifully accurate. That is why I love the Dickens relationship - the nuanced and secret quality that you identify. I find it quite remarkably moving.
As for the young man, as you say, hooray! Victoria’s reaction is priceless…
This was fascinating. I’d read about the home for impoverished women but I didn’t know anything about Miss Coutts. Thank you! I am a fan of Dickens and anything involving him is just so fascinating to me!
Wow. What an extraordinary woman. Thank you so much for this fascinating read. (I used to have the hots for the first Duke of Wellington, too, in my early teens, though my case was clearly even more hopeless than hers in that by then- the 1970s- he’d already been dead for a tidy period of time. But it’s nice to know I wasn’t alone.)
Laura- I don’t know you, and you write whole books, so clearly have a LOT more sticking-power and brains than I have, and I don’t wish to be presumptuous or (even worse) patronizing.However, I might be able to help with your wish to read more Dickens. I’ve been a terrible skim-reader since university, and as I’ve got older I’ve found myself less able to concentrate on reading bricks of Victorian novels. I find it hard not to zip through descriptive passages and non-funny ‘funny’ bits in order to crack on with the story; and then I miss passages that are important in other ways. If nothing else, the writers thought them important, and even I can’t argue with that. I’ve found, however, that audiobooks, if I choose the narrator with care and listen while driving or doing boring household tasks, do a great job in holding my interest while slowing me down so I properly appreciate the book as a whole. I started last year with Miriam Margolyes’ reading of ‘Bleak House’, which was a revelation, and now I’m sadly running out of Dickens… It seems like cheating, but it isn’t really.
Dear Catherine, thank you! Glorious reply! Your suggestion is NOTED and would even be a further bond with my unknown grandfather - an audio reader in his amateur way. As you say, if you pick the right narrator... it's a great idea.
The Duke of Wellington, who knew? I always favoured Marlborough myself.
Oh, did you?- boots and all? Happy New Year, and thank you for replying. (The Edith Thompson articles you wrote a while ago were gripping; my late father was a bit of a criminologist and found it an interesting and very sad story. Many thanks for your very readable account, too. I still have Pa’s Notable British Trials copies.)
Another really interesting and heart-warming story, Laura. Thank you so much. All I knew about Miss Coutts before reading this was the water troughs for horses in London story. I remember seeing some of them as a child on visits to London with my Dad, which often involved a long walk to get somewhere in the course of which we passed a number of these drinking troughs. I'd forgotten all about them till I read this piece - thanks for bringing back a lovely memory from my childhood and giving me so many more nuggets about a remarkable woman with a remarkable life. A great start to my new year.
And in the sprit of sharing 'Laura moments', I see that the PBS America channel in the UK is showing 'Agatha Christie's England' and Agatha Christie: 100 years of Poirot and Miss Marple' back to back this afternoon (1 January). I seem to remember you feature in both, Laura? Catch the whole thing from 1pm or 2pm.
A very happy 2025 to you and all your readers, and good luck with that January deadline...
Having said that my mother has just described it to me (I can't get PBS) and it isn't the documentary I thought. So much for 'especially remembering' it....
You're very welcome Laura. I manged to record both broadcasts through Virgin and I look forward to watching them soon. Sorry you couldn't access them yourself but glad your mother saw them.
I do love Miss Coutts and her remarkable determination— you tell her story so well, Laura!
Thank you so much Ann - that means a lot. She really touches my heart!
A remarkable lady. As far as I know, she was the first woman not related to, married to, or sleeping with a king to be granted a hereditary peerage in her own right.
Absolutely right! And her husband took her surname.
Thank you David - she was indeed remarkable.
Wow!
Write that script!
Sam THANK YOU, you are the absolute best. Just the push I need!!!!
I very much enjoy being introduced to new people - especially those who, quite clearly, have lit a flame in another’s heart. Thank you for another fascinating article, and my best wishes for a Happy New Year.
And to you, Rod, hope it’s a good one. Thank you so much for the support - glad you enjoyed being introduced to Angela!
That's so interesting, thank you. I knew a bit about her from the Dickens perspective, and remember seeing her memorial in Victoria Park, but it's good to hear more. I didn't know about her proposal to the Duke of Wellington! I hope she got some fun out of her late marriage in the end.
Thanks Anna! I hope so too, it was said that she looked 10 yrs younger after marrying so it seems to have worked for a while, at least.
Glad you enjoyed - she is so wonderful.
And now I'm longing to know more about that late marriage!
Ah - yes!!!! Quite extraordinary. He wasn’t a fiend, I’m glad to say, although it certainly panicked Coutts. And gave the Queen (and Disraeli) something to bitch about….
May be a dumb question - but do we know why she married him? And did he inherit a fortune? Yes, I know - another story!
It’s an excellent question, and tbh I think he was very handsome and she had had enough of shouldering the heiress’s burden. As I said she was naive in some ways and didn’t worry overmuch about how it would ‘look’.
She lost part of her income although obvs there was still plenty - which he enjoyed spending - but she lived another 25 yrs so he didn’t inherit an instant fortune. He took her father’s old seat in Parliament etc. Probably got up to some mischief but he wasn’t too bad!!!!
But it’s certainly a surprise ending….
Delightfuly expanded post, and with a bonus! Very enjoyable podcast!
Having read your book, all I can say is 'Good for Angela!' Had she been a man, no one would have batted an eyelid at the age difference. But envy is contagious, even in royalty...
Her relationship with Dickens is by far the most interesting one; while nuanced with self-restraint, dignity, and all that, at the same time it reflects the incandescent, secret life of the private mind, (or as some might comment: 'nobody's business', just as all feelings that matter are.)
Happy New Year, dear Laura! And thank you for the brilliant company all year long.
Thank you Maria! Talking to Phil is a lot of fun - he’s a brilliant host - so glad you enjoyed.
All that you say is quite beautifully accurate. That is why I love the Dickens relationship - the nuanced and secret quality that you identify. I find it quite remarkably moving.
As for the young man, as you say, hooray! Victoria’s reaction is priceless…
There’s a ward at the Royal Marsden named after her, she loaned the hospital £3000 which made it possible for it to purchase the Fulham Road site
That’s wonderful - I didn’t know. Thank you!
Truly fascinating! Write more, write more!
That’s wonderful to hear - thank you so much! It IS a beautiful story.
Writing about Mr. Dickens today, as a matter of fact: Enjoy Laura: https://johnnogowski.substack.com/p/did-dickens-recognize-his-breakthrough
Thank you John.
On the odd chance you might have enjoyed this, here’s an online class I did during COVID that I think worked. So there was one! Hope you don’t mind me sharing. https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/was-shakespeares-hamlet-truly-bipolar?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios
A great story, beautifully told, Laura! And keep going with the Dickens!
I shall, we definitely have the weather for it here at the moment…. And thank you Jeffrey!
Beautiful story- I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you!
That’s very kind - I’m so glad!
This was fascinating. I’d read about the home for impoverished women but I didn’t know anything about Miss Coutts. Thank you! I am a fan of Dickens and anything involving him is just so fascinating to me!
Thanks Mariella! So glad you enjoyed - it’s such a great story.
Wow. What an extraordinary woman. Thank you so much for this fascinating read. (I used to have the hots for the first Duke of Wellington, too, in my early teens, though my case was clearly even more hopeless than hers in that by then- the 1970s- he’d already been dead for a tidy period of time. But it’s nice to know I wasn’t alone.)
Laura- I don’t know you, and you write whole books, so clearly have a LOT more sticking-power and brains than I have, and I don’t wish to be presumptuous or (even worse) patronizing.However, I might be able to help with your wish to read more Dickens. I’ve been a terrible skim-reader since university, and as I’ve got older I’ve found myself less able to concentrate on reading bricks of Victorian novels. I find it hard not to zip through descriptive passages and non-funny ‘funny’ bits in order to crack on with the story; and then I miss passages that are important in other ways. If nothing else, the writers thought them important, and even I can’t argue with that. I’ve found, however, that audiobooks, if I choose the narrator with care and listen while driving or doing boring household tasks, do a great job in holding my interest while slowing me down so I properly appreciate the book as a whole. I started last year with Miriam Margolyes’ reading of ‘Bleak House’, which was a revelation, and now I’m sadly running out of Dickens… It seems like cheating, but it isn’t really.
Dear Catherine, thank you! Glorious reply! Your suggestion is NOTED and would even be a further bond with my unknown grandfather - an audio reader in his amateur way. As you say, if you pick the right narrator... it's a great idea.
The Duke of Wellington, who knew? I always favoured Marlborough myself.
Happy new year and thanks again, L
Oh, did you?- boots and all? Happy New Year, and thank you for replying. (The Edith Thompson articles you wrote a while ago were gripping; my late father was a bit of a criminologist and found it an interesting and very sad story. Many thanks for your very readable account, too. I still have Pa’s Notable British Trials copies.)
Again many thanks - yes it’s one of the great (and terrible) stories. Notable British Trials, what treasures.
The skim-reading and need to multi-task are both ADHD things in my case.
Another really interesting and heart-warming story, Laura. Thank you so much. All I knew about Miss Coutts before reading this was the water troughs for horses in London story. I remember seeing some of them as a child on visits to London with my Dad, which often involved a long walk to get somewhere in the course of which we passed a number of these drinking troughs. I'd forgotten all about them till I read this piece - thanks for bringing back a lovely memory from my childhood and giving me so many more nuggets about a remarkable woman with a remarkable life. A great start to my new year.
And in the sprit of sharing 'Laura moments', I see that the PBS America channel in the UK is showing 'Agatha Christie's England' and Agatha Christie: 100 years of Poirot and Miss Marple' back to back this afternoon (1 January). I seem to remember you feature in both, Laura? Catch the whole thing from 1pm or 2pm.
A very happy 2025 to you and all your readers, and good luck with that January deadline...
Having said that my mother has just described it to me (I can't get PBS) and it isn't the documentary I thought. So much for 'especially remembering' it....
Anyway THANK YOU for letting me know!!!!!
You're very welcome Laura. I manged to record both broadcasts through Virgin and I look forward to watching them soon. Sorry you couldn't access them yourself but glad your mother saw them.
Happy new year Sue! Many thanks for this, so glad you enjoyed - what a HEROINE she was and I love the story about the water troughs.
And thank you so much re the TV! I especially remember the first as we filmed at beautiful Greenway, always a great treat...
Do I recall that she also paid the school fees for one of Dickens’ many sons ?
Hello! That sounds very probable - I don’t recall but I have no doubt you’re right… The Edna Healey biog is a great source.
Claire Tomalin’s books about Dickens might be where I read it …