In Byron's Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Lord Byron's Wife and Daughter: Annabella Milbanke and Ada Lovelace

"Miranda Seymour’s biography of Ada Lovelace and Annabella Byron is based on thorough contemporary research in archives in Oxford and elsewhere, some of which have only come to light recently. It’s very well written, keeping track of the sometimes strained relationships among the extended Byron, Milbanke and King families, as well as of a Dickensian cast (including Dickens himself) of family friends, scientists, lawyers, divines, doctors and gamblers. It steers away from over-romantic presentations of Byron and his wife and daughter, and, unlike some earlier biographies, avoids the temptation of taking sides in the Byron marriage, or of rehashing earlier myths. It doesn’t shy away from the complexities of the lives of its subjects, but addresses them honestly and in a principled way. She was fascinated by him—a small child brought up by her mother, with a famous father she never knew—he had died during the Greek War of Independence when she was eight. In later life she sometimes compares herself to him. She once wrote “I shall in due time be a poet”, but that ambition was not fulfilled. She was well aware of the social status that came, not just from being Byron’s daughter, but, also through her mother’s family: Annabella was first cousin of Lord Melbourne, Whig politician and Queen Victoria’s first prime minister—Lord Melbourne’s wife, Caroline Lamb, was also one of Byron’s most public mistresses. Lovelace’s social status, and the sense of entitlement it brought her, offset some of the disadvantages of being a woman in predominantly male scientific circles. She was being taught all those things, by governesses, as was typical for young women of her social class, alongside elementary mathematics and science, which was not so uncommon either. Her mother Annabella had a passion for mathematics—Byron in Don Juan called her a ‘walking calculation’. She encouraged her daughter’s interests, sought out textbooks and tutors for her, and they both went to Charles Babbage’s evening parties in London, where he would show off working models of his inventions. The teenage Ada became intrigued by astronomy , seeing if the position of stars matched the predictions of the formulae governing their movement: this was the original motivation for her interest in studying calculus with De Morgan. “Lovelace’s social status, and the sense of entitlement it brought her, offset some of the disadvantages of being a woman in predominantly male scientific circles” It is sometimes said that her mother forced her to learn mathematics instead of poetry, but that’s a bit overblown. Her mother encouraged her mathematical interests: later in life Lovelace did aspire to write poetry, though what survives is not especially memorable. She was a very intelligent woman and pursued many ambitions and interests intensely at different periods in her short life. But mathematics was her passion in her late teens and early twenties, and that is when she became fascinated by Charles Babbage’s engines, and what they might be able to do. Yes, indeed. But it’s a biography, rather than a history of technology. It focuses on Lovelace and her mother and their interactions with the people around them, including scientists like Babbage, De Morgan and Mary Somerville. It doesn’t go so much into the bigger scientific or mathematical context of the time. Ada Byron was introduced to William, Lord King—later through the intervention of Lord Melbourne upgraded to Earl of Lovelace—through Mary Somerville’s family. The couple shared scientific interests. He wrote several papers on using data to improve agricultural production, at least one with the help of his wife, and later in life developed a somewhat eccentric interest in architecture. As to the supposed affairs, it’s hard to tell: they may have been no more than intense friendships with men who shared her scientific interests, though her husband certainly disapproved of at least one of them and the correspondence was destroyed. Yes. In the earliest biographies, Babbage or computing were hardly mentioned, and the focus was on the supposed wild daughter of Lord Byron. She was certainly interested in horses, and a bit of a daredevil horsewoman. As to the gambling, in the last years of her life she was a member of a syndicate of some kind, and lost a lot of money. It’s tempting to think that she might have had a sophisticated mathematical system, but my sense is that she was in a weak frame of mind and just got caught up in the excitement. The interest in horses continued with her daughter, who travelled in the Near East with her husband Wilfred Scawen Blunt, and introduced the first Arab horses to the UK."