Papers of the Noel, Byron and Lovelace Families

The main part of this collection of papers belonged to Lady Byron. It includes the correspondence of her parents and other members of the Noel family. Lady Byron's own correspondence, much of it with eminent contemporaries, as well as with her parents, her husband, and her daughter, forms the bulk of the collection. There are also letters from Lord Byron to his sister Augusta, and holograph verse by him. The collection also contains correspondence of Ada and her husband, and correspondence and personal papers of Ralph Milbanke.

Anne Isabella, Lady Noel Byron (1792-1860), in her own right Baroness Wentworth, was the daughter of Sir Ralph (1747-1825) and Judith (d 1822) Milbanke (later Noel), and the wife of George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824), the poet. The daughter of Lord and Lady Byron, Ada Augusta (1815-1852), married William King, 1st Earl of Lovelace (1805-1893), and their son was Ralph Gordon Noel King Milbanke, 2nd Earl of Lovelace (1839-1906). Further details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/specialcollections).

The papers were deposited in the Library in 1972 and 1974.

Collection level description created by Emily Tarrant, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts.

A full catalogue is available in the Library.

The correspondence of the Noel family formed the basis of Malcolm Elwin's The Noels and the Milbankes (1967).

The correspondence of Ada and William King was used by Doris Langley Moore in her biography Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1978).

Ralph Milbanke made extensive use of the collection in Lady Noel Byron and the Leighs (1887) and Astarte (1905).

Ralph's widow, Mary, used his correspondence and personal papers for Ralph, Earl of Lovelace: A Memoir (1920).