Lady Caroline Lamb - Youth and Education

Youth and Education

She was born the Honourable Caroline Ponsonby, and became Lady Caroline when her father succeeded to the earldom in 1793. As a small child she was considered delicate and for her health spent much time in the country, but from 1794 she lived at Devonshire House with her cousins: Lord Hartington (later the 6th Duke of Devonshire), Lady Georgiana, and Lady Harriet Cavendish; and two children of Lady Elizabeth Foster and the Duke of Devonshire. With these children she was educated at Devonshire House, and was particularly close during childhood to Lady Harriet, who was only three months older.

Lady Morgan reported in her memoirs that Lamb told her that she had grown up as a tomboy, and quite unable to read or write until adolescence. While many scholars have accepted this (and other melodramatic claims made by Lady Morgan) at face value, published works of correspondence about her family members make it extremely unlikely. The grandmother she shared with her Cavendish cousins, the formidable Dowager Lady Spencer, was zealously dedicated to promoting education, and later employed their governess as her own companion. This governess was Miss Selina Trimmer, who was the daughter of Mrs Sarah Trimmer, a well-known and respected author of moral tales for children. She taught them an extensive curriculum, considerably beyond mere literacy. There is a published letter Lamb wrote on 31 October 1796 (just before her eleventh birthday) that not only demonstrates her literacy, but also a merciless wit and talent for mimicry. Lamb was exceptionally well educated at home, and also attended a school in Hans Place, London. In her early adult years, she not only wrote prose and poetry, but also took to sketch portraiture. These courtly skills stood her in good stead. She spoke French and Italian fluently, was skilled at Greek and Latin, and also enjoyed music and drama.