Nostr

Pam,

Her father was indeed a Poet, one of Britain's finest. He was also a scoundrel who married for money, was violent with his wife, drunken, constantly in debt, and a horrible womanizer. He had several illegitimate children including one with his half-sister. He was, at the time in Victoria's England, infamous.

Ada's mother, Annabella was a math whiz. Byron derided her by calling her his "Princess of Parallellograms". Annabella decided early on to keep Ada away from poetry. She feared that her father's insanity would infect he daughter. So Ada was tutored in math from a very young age.

This worked out well in the end. Indeed one of her later tutors, recommended by Babbage, was none other than Augustus De Morgan. But the early tutoring wasn't always about math. At 17 Ada had an affair with one of her tutors. This was discovered and quickly covered up. Victorian society was a voracious rumor mill, and the daugher of the infamous Byron was always under scrutiny.

pam 2y ago

I did not know Lord Byron was that famous - his poems are really good. Don Juan satire is quite funny (I named my first car Don Juan, after the real charmer). I particularly liked The Isle of Greece :

The isles of Greece! the isles of Greece

Where burning Sappho loved and sung,

Where grew the arts of war and peace,

Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!

Eternal summer gilds them yet,

But all, except their sun, is set …

He was Cambridge educated too. Its too bad he had a messed up life. Though he died as a war hero fighting against the Ottomans. It's also interesting that the English back then fought for Greece.

This century was probably the phase of major innovations of that time - with steam engine, trains, bridges, buildings, manufacturing - i can imagine the surge of maths and science. It was also a major fashion revolution phase, where noble women started wearing heels and fancy dresses, and women came out to the society at the young age of 14/15 I'd reckon (age of marriage was very young back then).

I can imagine her momma's worry but Ada did eventually somehow followed her dad's footsteps ? Maybe curiosity kills the cat. Irony, both Ada and her dad died around the same age.

Thank you for sharing. This has been the most interesting version of life of Ada I've ever read!

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