Elizabeth Medora Leigh (15 April 1814 – 28 August 1849) was the third daughter of

Augusta Leigh Augusta Maria Leigh (''née'' Byron; 26 January 1783 – 12 October 1851) was the only daughter of John "Mad Jack" Byron, the poet Lord Byron's father, by his first wife, Amelia, née Darcy (Lady Conyers in her own right and the divorced wife ...

. It is widely speculated that she was fathered by her mother's half-brother

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

, although her mother's husband Colonel George Leigh was her official father.

Birth

She was born as the middle child of seven children. Three days after her birth, Byron visited Augusta and the baby. He later wrote to a friend, Lady Melbourne: "Oh! but it is 'worth while' – I can't tell you why – and it is not an ''Ape'' and if it is – that must be my fault." The child's middle name was taken from the heroine of Byron's poem '' The Corsair.'' In the family, she was known as Elizabeth or "Libby", but she also later used the name Medora. In 1816, the scandal over his separation from his wife Annabella, rumours surrounding his relationship with Augusta, and mounting debts forced Byron to leave England. He never returned.

Early life

Augusta's husband, George, never questioned the paternity of Medora, and she grew up among her brothers and sisters unaware that she might be the first of Byron's three daughters. As a young teenager, she was seduced by her brother-in-law, Henry Trevanion, unhappily married to her older sister Georgiana. She had accompanied the couple when they took up residence in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

in a house belonging to their aunt,

Lady Byron Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron (''née'' Milbanke; 17 May 1792 – 16 May 1860), nicknamed Annabella and commonly known as Lady Byron, was wife of poet George Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byro ...

. When neighbours reported the scandalous appearance of an apparently pregnant unwed teenager to Lady Byron, she arranged for the trio to travel to France, where the child was born and given up for adoption. Medora returned home, but the relationship continued and she became pregnant again. The three departed for Bath to stay in a house of one of Henry's relatives in an attempt to hide the second pregnancy from Medora's father, Colonel Leigh. The Colonel was eventually informed, and after travelling to Bath with an attorney removed her from the Trevanions and sent Medora to an establishment in London, to give birth in secrecy. After she miscarried, Henry arranged for her escape and in 1831 the couple eloped to France.

Marriage and France

Henry Trevanion and Medora set up in an ancient, tumble-down chateau near

Morlaix Morlaix (; br, Montroulez) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Leisure and tourism The old quarter of the town has winding streets of cobbled stones and overha ...

in France, living under the surname Aubin. By 1833 Henry and Medora were living in Brittany, at the Breton

Carhaix Carhaix-Plouguer (; br, Karaez-Plougêr ), commonly known as just Carhaix (), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, France.John Bettesworth Trevanion, sent one of Henry's uncles to Brittany to persuade Henry to return to England. Henry refused to leave. Augusta Leigh was now keeping her other daughter Georgiana's three children by Henry, but sent what money she could to Medora. However, Augusta eventually lost touch with Medora, who had become ill in Brittany after a series of miscarriages. In 1838, Henry Trevanion and Medora Leigh parted permanently. In her 1844 autobiography, Medora later wrote of Henry that he "gave himself up to religion and shooting". Medora and her daughter were supported financially and emotionally for a number of years by Byron's widow, Annabella Milbanke, and by Byron's only legitimate daughter,

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the An ...

. Milbanke told Lovelace that Medora was her half-sister and had been fathered by Byron. Medora had an affair with a French officer who abandoned her. She ultimately ended up with his servant, former sergeant Jean-Louis Taillefer with whom she went to live in south Aveyron in Versols et Lapeyre. They had a son, Elie, (1846-1900). Leigh and Taillefer married on 23 August 1848.

Death

Medora died on 28 August 1849 from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

Versols-et-Lapeyre Versols-et-Lapeyre (; oc, Verzòls e La Pèira) is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. Geography The hamlets of Versols and Lapeyre lie on the right bank of the Sorgues, which flows northwest through the middle of the com ...

, Aveyron, southern France, where her grave can be visited (a tombstone was erected in the 1960s). Henry died in 1855 in Brittany, France. Her daughter Marie Violette entered a convent in 1856 under the name "Sister St. Hilaire" and is said to have died within the order in 1873.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Elizabeth Medora 1814 births 1849 deaths 19th-century English women Lord Byron

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

Women of the Victorian era Women who experienced pregnancy loss

Birth

Early life

Marriage and France

Death

See also

References