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Elizabeth Medora Leigh

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493: 183:. 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 placed 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. 1127: 210:, 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. 227:
Medora had an affair with a French officer, who then abandoned her. She ultimately ended up partnered 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
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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
244:, 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. 202:
Medora became a Catholic and declared her intention of entering a convent, however, she was pregnant again. The Abbess found Medora lodgings outside the convent, where a daughter was born on 19 May 1834. She was baptised Marie Violette Trevanion on 21 May 1834.
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She was born the middle child of seven. 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
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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".
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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
857: 142:; this is supported by comments from his widow, even though her mother's husband, Colonel George Leigh, was her legal father. 439: 139: 118: 166:, rumours surrounding his relationship with Augusta, and mounting debts forced Byron to leave England. He never returned. 1176: 1161: 507: 639: 551: 525: 346: 946: 290:"Leigh, (Elizabeth) Medora (1814–1849), alleged daughter of Lord Byron | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". 922: 817: 390: 492: 1096: 647: 206:
Due to poverty and illness, the pair eventually had to beg their families for money. Henry's father, Major
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Medora and her daughter were supported financially and emotionally for a number of years by Byron's widow,
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in France, living under the surname Aubin. By 1833 Henry and Medora were living in Brittany, at the Breton
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and if it is – that must be my fault." The child's middle name was taken from the heroine of Byron's poem
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McGann, Jerome (23 September 2004). "Byron, George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron (1788–1824), poet".
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Henry Trevanion and Medora set up in an ancient, tumble-down chateau near
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Georgiana. She had accompanied the couple when they took up residence in
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Byron's Daughter- A biography of Elizabeth Medora Leigh
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New Haven: Yale University Press. pp.  372: 220:, and by Byron's only legitimate daughter, 16:Third daughter of Augusta Leigh (1814–1849) 440: 426: 330:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 325:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 293:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 1144: 405: 377:Byron and the Honourable Augusta Leigh 322: 421: 368: 366: 285: 283: 281: 279: 179:in a house belonging to their aunt, 119:George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron 236:Medora died on 28 August 1849 from 13: 640:English Bards and Scotch Reviewers 14: 1188: 363: 276: 1126: 1125: 491: 31: 923:The Destruction of Sennacherib 447: 399: 373:John Stewart, Chapman (1976). 316: 1: 947:So, we'll go no more a roving 269: 169: 357:UK public library membership 310:UK public library membership 7: 901:Maid of Athens, ere we part 247: 187:Marriage and life in France 10: 1193: 1177:Women of the Victorian era 1162:19th-century English women 648:Childe Harold's Pilgrimage 406:Turney, Catherine (1975). 208:John Bettesworth Trevanion 1121: 1105: 1002:The Bride of Frankenstein 985: 956: 876: 801: 621: 508:Anne Isabella, Lady Byron 500: 489: 455: 112: 106:Marie Violette Trevanion 102: 94: 86: 76: 57: 42: 30: 23: 866:The Deformed Transformed 231: 145: 704:The Prisoner of Chillon 775:The Vision of Judgment 569:(maternal half-sister) 483:Timeline of Lord Byron 302:10.1093/ref:odnb/45787 132:Elizabeth Medora Leigh 116:George Leigh (legally) 37:Elizabeth Medora Leigh 25:Elizabeth Medora Leigh 767:The Prophecy of Dante 593:John William Polidori 526:John "Mad Jack" Byron 339:10.1093/ref:odnb/4279 1066:Rowing with the Wind 688:The Siege of Corinth 608:Edward John Trelawny 598:Percy Bysshe Shelley 90:Jean-Louis Taillefer 965:Fragment of a Novel 916:She Walks in Beauty 735:The Lament of Tasso 664:The Bride of Abydos 1034:Lady Caroline Lamb 1010:The Bad Lord Byron 613:Michael C. Burgess 562:Lady Caroline Lamb 542:Contessa Guiccioli 259:Annabella Milbanke 242:Versols-et-Lapeyre 218:Annabella Milbanke 81:Versols-et-Lapeyre 69:Versols-et-Lapeyre 1139: 1138: 783:The Age of Bronze 632:Hours of Idleness 552:John Cam Hobhouse 355:(Subscription or 308:(Subscription or 129: 128: 1184: 1129: 1128: 894:Epitaph to a Dog 850:Heaven and Earth 557:Douglas Kinnaird 532:Claire Clairmont 495: 442: 435: 428: 419: 418: 412: 411: 403: 397: 396: 380: 370: 361: 360: 352: 320: 314: 313: 305: 287: 64: 52: 50: 35: 21: 20: 1192: 1191: 1187: 1186: 1185: 1183: 1182: 1181: 1142: 1141: 1140: 1135: 1117: 1101: 981: 952: 908:Hebrew Melodies 878: 872: 834:The Two Foscari 797: 623: 617: 496: 487: 463:Barony of Byron 451: 446: 416: 415: 404: 400: 393: 371: 364: 354: 349: 321: 317: 307: 289: 288: 277: 272: 250: 234: 189: 172: 148: 122: 117: 107: 98:Henry Trevanion 72: 66: 62: 48: 46: 38: 26: 17: 12: 11: 5: 1190: 1180: 1179: 1174: 1169: 1164: 1159: 1154: 1137: 1136: 1134: 1133: 1122: 1119: 1118: 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Index


Versols-et-Lapeyre
Versols-et-Lapeyre
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
Augusta Leigh
Augusta Leigh
Lord Byron
The Corsair
Annabella
Canterbury
Lady Byron
Morlaix
Carhaix
John Bettesworth Trevanion
Annabella Milbanke
Ada Lovelace
smallpox
Versols-et-Lapeyre
Allegra Byron
Annabella Milbanke
Ada Lovelace




Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
doi
10.1093/ref:odnb/45787
UK public library membership
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

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