Lady Charlotte Guest
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest, (nee Bertie) (
May 19,
1812 â€"
January 15,
1895), was an important figure in the history of the study of
Welsh literature and
language. She is best known for her pioneering translation of the major medieval work, the
Mabinogion.
Born at Uffington House,
Lincolnshire, she was daughter of the
Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey by his second wife. Her father died when she was aged six and her mother remarried Rev. Peter Pegus, whoM Charlotte disliked. She showed a great talent for study and taught herself
Arabic,
Hebrew, and
Persian.
After what may have been a brief flirtation with the future
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, she escaped her unhappy home life through marriage in
1833, which was, however, not a conventional one for her age. Her husband,
John Josiah Guest, was an
industrialist in
Wales, the owner of the
Dowlais Iron Company and rather older than her (he was 49 years old); they moved to
Dowlais in
Merthyr Tydfil after he was elected
MP for the constituency in 1832. Lady Charlotte was very happy in her marriage having ten children. She took an enthusiastic interest in her husband's
philanthropic activities on behalf of the local community but also became involved in the business of the iron works; translating technical documents into
French. Guest eventually obtained a baronetcy in
1838.
During her time in Wales, Lady Charlotte learned
Welsh and aided by native scholars translated (and censored) several medieval songs and poems from Middle Welsh and eventually the
Mabinogion. She also prepared a
Boys Mabinogion containing the earliest Welsh tales of
King Arthur.
The decline of her husband's health meant that she spent more time administering the business and took over completely following his death in
1852. She stood up to both her workers and other foundry owners until she relinquished her position in
1855 upon her marriage to
Charles Schreiber.
Schreiber was a classical scholar and a Member of Parliament for
Cheltenham and later
Poole. They left Wales and spent many years travelling in
Europe collecting ceramics which she bequeathed to the
Victoria and Albert Museum. She also collected fans, board games and playing cards, on which subjects she wrote several volumes.
Lady Charlotte's eldest son Sir Ivor Guest, 2nd Bt, eventually became First
Baron Wimborne and married Lady Cornelia Spencer-Churchill, eldest daughter of the Seventh
Duke of Marlborough and thus aunt to
Winston Churchill. They were parents of the First
Viscount Wimborne. Among her other descendants are the American Guests (the late socialite
C. Z. Guest was wife of one of these), the Earls of Bessborough, the Viscounts Chelmsford, and others.
Lady Charlotte Guest was a "foreigner" (non-Welsh person) who helped revive Welsh culture. She is remembered, along with her near-contemporary
Lady Llanover, as a great patron of the arts in Wales. A public house, built as part of the regeneration of Dowlais in the
1980s, was named the Lady Charlotte in her honour.
*
Schreiber, Lady Charlotte Guest. Biography from British Authors of the 19th Century; H. W. Wilson Company. 1936
