Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton, Lady Stirling-Maxwell (22 March 1808 – 15 June 1877) was an active English social reformer and author.
[Perkin, pp. 26–28.] She left her husband in 1836, who sued her close friend
Lord Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first prem ...
, then the
Whig Prime Minister, for
criminal conversation
At common law, criminal conversation, often abbreviated as ''crim. con.'', is a tort arising from adultery. "Conversation" is an old euphemism for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term.
It is similar to breach of p ...
(adultery). The jury threw out the claim, but she failed to gain a divorce and was denied access to her three sons. Norton's campaigning led to the passage of the
Custody of Infants Act 1839, the
Matrimonial Causes Act 1857
The Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act reformed the law on divorce, moving litigation from the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts to the civil courts, establishing a model of marriage ...
and the
Married Women's Property Act 1870
The Married Women's Property Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 93) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed married women to be the legal owners of the money they earned and to inherit property.
Background
Before 1870, any money made b ...
. She modelled for the fresco of ''Justice'' in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...
by
Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise (25 January 180625 April 1870) was an Irish history painter, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.
Early life
Maclise was born in Cork, Ireland, the son of Alex ...
, who chose her as a famous victim of injustice.
Youth and marriage
Caroline Norton was born in London to
Thomas Sheridan and the novelist
Caroline Henrietta Callander. Her father was an actor, soldier and colonial administrator, the son of the prominent Irish playwright and
Whig statesman
Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his wife
Elizabeth Ann Linley
Elizabeth Ann Sheridan ( Linley; September 1754 – 28 June 1792) was an 18th-century English singer who was known to have possessed great beauty. She was the subject of several paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, who was a family friend, Joshu ...
.
[Strauss, p. 141.][Mitchell, pp. 219–221] Caroline's Scottish mother was the daughter of a landed gentleman, Col. Sir James Callander of Craigforth and Lady Elizabeth MacDonnell, sister of an
Irish peer
The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five div ...
, the 1st
Marquess of Antrim. Mrs. Sheridan authored three short novels described by one of her daughter's biographers as "rather stiff with the style of the eighteenth century, but none without a certain charm and wit...."
[Perkins, pp. 5–6.]
In 1817, her father died in South Africa while serving as colonial secretary at the
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...
. His family was left almost penniless.
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profes ...
, an old friend of her grandfather's, arranged for them to live at
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...
in a "
grace and favour" apartment for several years.
The combined beauty and accomplishments of the Sheridan sisters led to their being collectively referred to as the Three "Graces". The eldest,
Helen, was a songwriter who married
Price Blackwood, the 4th
Baron Dufferin and Claneboye. Through her, Caroline became the aunt of
, later the third
Governor General of Canada
The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...
and eighth
Viceroy of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
. Her younger sister,
Georgiana
Georgiana is a Catalan, English, Greek and Romanian name. It is the feminine form of the male name George and a variation of the female names Georgina and Georgia. It comes from the Greek word Γεώργιος, meaning farmer. A variant spellin ...
, seen as the prettiest, later married
Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset.
In 1827, she married
George Chapple Norton, barrister,
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
for
Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
, and the younger brother of
Lord Grantley
Baron Grantley, of Markenfield, in the County of York is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 9 April 1782 for Sir Fletcher Norton, Attorney General from 1763 to 1765 and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1770 to 1780. ...
.
[Scott-Kilvert, p. 614.] George was a jealous and possessive husband given to violent fits of drunkenness. The union quickly proved unhappy due to his mental and physical abuse.
[Caine, p. 67.] To make matters worse, George was unsuccessful as a barrister and the couple fought bitterly over money.
[Woodham-Smith, p. 220.]
During her early married years, Caroline used her beauty, wit and political ties to set herself up as a major society hostess.
Her unorthodox behaviour and candid conversation raised many eyebrows in 19th-century English high society; she made enemies and admirers in almost equal measure.
Among her friends were such literary and political luminaries as
Samuel Rogers,
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whigs (British political party), Whig member of Parl ...
,
Edward Trelawny,
Abraham Hayward,
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...
,
Fanny Kemble,
Benjamin Disraeli, the future King
Leopold I of Belgium
* nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik
* en, Leopold George Christian Frederick
, image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg
, caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856
, reign = 21 July 1831 –
, predecessor = Erasme Lou ...
and
William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire.
She also claimed in later life to have taken part in the
Tolpuddle Martyrs protest march in 1834.
Despite his jealousy and pride, George encouraged his wife to use her ties to advance his career. It was through her influence that in 1831 he was made a Metropolitan Police Magistrate.
[Woodham-Smith, pp. 220–221.] During those years, Caroline turned to prose and poetry as means of releasing her inner emotions and earning money. Her first book, ''The Sorrows of Rosalie'' (1829), was well received.
''The Undying One'' (1830), a romance founded on the legend of the
Wandering Jew, soon followed. From 1832 to 1837 she edited ''
The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée''. In 1843 she petitioned
Sir Robert Peel for the post of
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
after the death of
Robert Southey, but was unsuccessful.
Separation and Melbourne scandal
In 1836, Caroline left her husband.
[Mitchell, pp. 221–223.] She managed to subsist on her earnings as an author, but George claimed these as his, arguing this successfully in court.
[Yalom, p. 186.] Paid nothing by her husband and her earnings confiscated, Norton used the law to her own advantage.
[Perkin, pp. 28 and 72–73.] Running up bills in her husband's name, she told the creditors when they came to collect, that if they wished to be paid, they could sue her husband.
Not long after their separation, George abducted their sons, hiding them with relatives in Scotland and later in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
, refusing to tell Caroline their whereabouts.
[Kertzer, pp. 125–126.] George accused Caroline of involvement in an ongoing affair with a close friend,
Lord Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first prem ...
, then
Whig Prime Minister.
Initially, George demanded £10,000 from Melbourne, but Melbourne refused to be blackmailed and George instead took the Prime Minister to court.
Lord Melbourne wrote to
Lord Holland, "The fact is
eorgea stupid brute, and
arolinehad not temper nor dissimulation enough to enable her to manage him."
Despite this admission, hoping to avert an even worse scandal, he pleaded with Caroline to return to George, insisting that "a woman should never part from her husband whilst she can remain with him."
Lord Melbourne relented a few days later, stating that he understood her decision to leave:
This conduct upon his part seems perfectly unaccountable...You know that I have always counselled you to bear everything and remain to the last. I thought it for the best. I am afraid it is no longer possible. Open breaches of this kind are always to be lamented, but you have the consolation that you have done your utmost to stave this extremity off as long as possible.
At the end of a nine-day trial, the jury threw out George's claim, siding with Melbourne, but the publicity almost brought down the government. The scandal eventually died, but not before Caroline's reputation was ruined and her friendship with Melbourne destroyed. George continued to keep Caroline from seeing her three sons and blocked her from receiving a divorce.
Under English law in 1836, children were the legal property of their father and there was little Caroline could do to regain custody.
Political activity

Caroline soon faced an additional tragedy; the death of her youngest son, William, in 1842.
[Perkins, p. 166.] The child, out riding alone, fell from his horse and was injured.
According to Caroline, the child's wounds were minor, but they were not properly treated and blood-poisoning set in.
George, realising that the child was near death, sent for Caroline. Unfortunately, William died before she arrived in Scotland.
Caroline blamed George for the child's death, accusing him of neglect.
After William's death, George allowed Caroline to visit their sons, but he retained full custody and all of her visits were supervised.
Due to her dismal domestic situation, Caroline became deeply involved in the passage of laws promoting social justice, especially those granting rights to married and divorced women.
Her poems "A Voice from the Factories" (1836) and "The Child of the Islands" (1845) centred on her political views.
When Parliament debated divorce reform in 1855, Caroline submitted to members a detailed account of her own marriage, and described the difficulties faced by women as the result of existing laws.
An English wife may not leave her husband's house. Not only can he sue her for restitution of "conjugal rights," but he has a right to enter the house of any friend or relation with whom she may take refuge...and carry her away by force...
If her husband take proceedings for a divorce, she is not, in the first instance, allowed to defend herself...She is not represented by attorney, nor permitted to be considered a party to the suit between him and her supposed lover, for "damages."
If an English wife be guilty of infidelity, her husband can divorce her so as to marry again; but she cannot divorce the husband, a vinculo, however profligate he may be....
Those dear children, the loss of whose pattering steps and sweet occasional voices made the silence of ynew home intolerable as the anguish of death...what I suffered respecting those children, God knows ... under the evil law which suffered any man, for vengeance or for interest, to take baby children from the mother.[Stone, p. 178]
Mainly through Caroline's intense campaigning, which included a letter to Queen Victoria, Parliament passed the
Custody of Infants Act 1839, the
Matrimonial Causes Act 1857
The Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act reformed the law on divorce, moving litigation from the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts to the civil courts, establishing a model of marriage ...
and the
Married Women's Property Act 1870
The Married Women's Property Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 93) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed married women to be the legal owners of the money they earned and to inherit property.
Background
Before 1870, any money made b ...
,
which she worked on with the suffragist
Barbara Bodichon. One recent biographer,
Diane Atkinson, notes that unlike in 1839 and 1857, Caroline played no part in campaigning for the 1870 Act.
[Atkinson, p. 415.] Under the Custody of Children Act, legally separated or divorced wives, provided they were not found guilty of criminal conversation, were granted the custody of their children up to the age of seven, and periodic access thereafter. The Act applied in England, Wales and Ireland only. While Caroline could have hoped for custody of her youngest son, and access to her older sons who were seven and ten when the Act was passed into law, her husband insisted that they stay in Scotland.
The Act gave married women, for the first time, a right to their children. However, because women needed to petition in the Court of Chancery, in practice few women had the financial means to exert their rights. The Matrimonial Causes Act reformed the law on divorce, among others making divorce more affordable, and established a model of marriage based on contract. The Married Women's Property Act 1870 allowed married women to inherit property and take court action on their own behalf. The Act granted married women in the UK, for the first time, a separate legal identity from their husband.
In 1849
Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise (25 January 180625 April 1870) was an Irish history painter, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.
Early life
Maclise was born in Cork, Ireland, the son of Alex ...
finished his fresco of ''Justice'' in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...
, for which Caroline had modelled. He chose her as one seen by many as a famous victim of injustice. Caroline's old friend Lord Melbourne opposed the reforms she fought for.
[Mitchell, p. 226.] He was scolded for his opposition by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
; the Queen wrote that he defended his actions, stating: "I don't think you should give a woman too much right... there should not be two conflicting powers... a man ought to have the right in a family."
While Caroline fought to extend women's legal rights, she eschewed further social activism and had no interest in the 19th-century women's movement on issues such as
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...
. In fact, in an article published in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'' in 1838, she countered a claim that she was a "radical": "The natural position of woman is inferiority to man. Amen! That is a thing of God's appointing, not of man's devising. I believe it sincerely, as part of my religion. I never pretended to the wild and ridiculous doctrine of equality."
Later life
Caroline is said to have had a five-year affair with a prominent
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
politician
Sidney Herbert in the early 1840s, but Herbert married another woman in 1846.
[Woodham-Smith, p. 221] In middle age, she befriended the author
George Meredith. She served as the inspiration for Diana Warwick, the intelligent, fiery-tempered heroine of Meredith's novel ''
Diana of the Crossways'', published in 1885.
Caroline finally became free with George's death in 1875. She married an old friend, the Scottish historical writer and politician
Sir W. Stirling Maxwell in March 1877. Caroline died in London three months later.
[Barron, p. 5.]
Family and descendants
Caroline's eldest son, Fletcher Norton, died of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...
in Paris at the age of 30. She was devastated by the loss.
In 1854, her remaining son, Thomas Brinsley Norton, married a young Italian, Maria Chiara Elisa Federigo, whom he met in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
.
[Perkins, p. 253.] Thomas also suffered from poor health, and spent much of his life as an invalid, reliant upon his mother for financial assistance.
Despite this, he lived long enough to succeed his uncle as 4th Baron Grantley of Markenfield.
Lord Grantley also predeceased his mother, dying in 1877.
Thomas' son,
John, inherited the title and estates. The 5th Lord Grantley was a
numismatist
A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
, and a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
, the
Royal Numismatic Society and the
British Numismatic Society
The British Numismatic Society (BNS) is an organisation for promoting and realization of the study of United Kingdom, British coins and medals. It was founded in 1903.
Publications
Its principal publication is the ''British Numismatic Journal'', ...
. He assembled a large collection of coins and grew orchids. John caused a scandal in 1879 by running off with another man's wife, the former Katharine McVickar, daughter of a wealthy American stockbroker. The jilted husband was the 5th Lord Grantley's older cousin, Major Charles Grantley Campbell Norton. Katharine's marriage to Charles was annulled, and Katharine and John were married that November, five days before the birth of their first child. Despite her scandalous introduction to British society, Katharine went on to become a successful London hostess.
Commemoration
In April 2021
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
announced that Caroline was one of six women to be honoured that year with a
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
marking her central London home for over 30 years. It was unveiled on 3 Chesterfield Street, Mayfair by
Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and ...
.
Work
Political pamphlets
*''A Voice from the Factories'', 1836
*''Separation of Mother and Child by the Laws of Custody of Infants Considered'', 1837
*''A Plain Letter to the Lord Chancellor on the Infant Custody Bill'', 1839
*''Letters to the Mob'', 1848
*''
English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century'', 1854
*''A Letter to the Queen on Lord Chancellor Cranworth's Marriage & Divorce Bill'', 1855
*''A Review of the Divorce Bill of 1856, with propositions for an amendment of the laws affecting married persons'', 1857
Poetry collections
*''The Sorrows of Rosalie: A Tale with Other Poems'', 1829
*''I Do Not Love Thee'', 1829
*''The Cold Change'', 1829
*''The Undying One and Other Poems'', 1830
*''The Faithless Knight'', 1830
*''The Dream, and Other Poems'', 1840
*''The Child of the Islands'', 1845
*''Aunt Carry's Ballads for Children'', 1847
*''Bingen on the Rhine'', undated: "Copyrighted 1883 by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia"
*''The Centenary Festival'', 1859
*''The Lady of La Garaye'', 1862
*''We Have Been Friends Together''
Novels
*''The Dandies Rout'', 1825
*''The Wife, and Woman's Reward,'' 3 vols, 1835
*''Stuart of Dunleath'', 1851
*''Lost and Saved'', 3 vols, 1863
*''Old Sir Douglas.'' 3 vols, 1866
Plays
*''The Gypsy Father'', 1830
*''Vathek'', based on the novel by William Beckford, 1830. In the Notes & Queries issue of March 2017, 86–95 ("The Lost Manuscript of Caroline Norton's Vathek"), Robert J. Gemmett provides compelling evidence that Caroline's manuscript of this play may have survived.
See also
*"
We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet"
Notes
References
*
Alice Acland, ''Caroline Norton'', Constable, 1948
*Diane Atkinson, ''The Criminal Conversation is of Mrs Norton.'' London, Preface Publishing, 2012
*Barbara Caine, ''English Feminism, 1780–1980,'' Oxford University Press, 1997
*Alan Chedzoy, ''A Scandalous Woman, The Story of Caroline Norton''. London, 1992
*John William Cousin, ''A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature''. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton, 1910
*
Fanny Kemble,
The Records of a Girlhood'. New York, Holt, 1879
*
David I. Kertzer
David Israel Kertzer (born February 20, 1948) is an American anthropologist, historian, and academic, specializing in the political, demographic, and religious history of Italy. He is the Paul Dupee, Jr. University Professor of Social Science, P ...
, ''Family Life in the Nineteenth Century, 1789–1913: The History of the European family''. Volume 2. Yale University Press, 2002
*Gail MacColl and Carol M. Wallace, ''To Marry an English Lord: Or, How Anglomania Really Got Started''. New York, Workman Publishing, 1999
*L. G. Mitchell, ''Lord Melbourne, 1779–1848''. Oxford University Press, 1997
*Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Sheridan Norton, ''English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century.'' London
.n. 1854
*Joan Perkin, ''Women and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England''. Routledge, 1989
*Jane Gray Perkins,
The Life of the Honourable Mrs. Norton'. John Murray, 1909
*Diana Scott-Kilvert, ''The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814–1844. Volume: 2''. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1987
*Lawrence Stone, ''Road to Divorce: England 1530–1987''. Oxford University Press, 1990
*Sylvia Strauss, ''Traitors to the Masculine Cause: The Men's Campaigns for Women's Rights''. Greenwood Press, 1982
*Cecil Woodham-Smith,
Florence Nightingale, 1820–1910'. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1951
*
Marilyn Yalom, ''A History of the Wife''. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002
External links
*
*
*
"Caroline Norton"at British History > Women's Suffrage (Spartacus-Educational.com)
at ''A Celebration of Women Writers'', U. of Pennsylvania Library
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'', 12 June 2006
Discussion of Caroline Norton's lifeon
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
's ''
Great Lives'', September 2016
*
*
*
*
"Juanita: a Spanish ballad"(sheet music) at the Confederate Imprints Collection, U. of Alabama Library
"A Health to the Outward Bound"(sheet music) at the Wade Hall Sheet Music Collection, U. of Alabama Library
*
*
Caroline Sheridan Norton Collection. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah
1808 births
1877 deaths
English women novelists
English people of Scottish descent
British women composers
Feminism and history
Victorian women writers
Victorian writers
19th-century English dramatists and playwrights
English women poets
British women essayists
British women dramatists and playwrights
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British composers
19th-century English poets
19th-century English novelists
Wives of baronets
19th-century women composers