LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN
Letters and Journals of Lady Eleanor Butler (1739-1829) and Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831) from the National Library of Wales

In 1778 Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby eloped to set up a new life together in Plas Newydd in Llangollen Vale. The move met with strong opposition from their respective families but their new Gothic residence soon became a magnet for writers and intellectuals.

William Wordsworth, Anna Seward, Madame de Genlis, Edmund Burke and Hester Thrale all visited, and the ‘Ladies of Llangollen’ (as Butler and Ponsonby soon became known) established a widespread and vigorous correspondence network.

The papers of the Ladies of Llangollen held at the National Library of Wales are a vital source to study this important partnership and the literary circle that they created. Known as the Hamwood Papers, formerly in the possession of the Hamilton family of Hamwood, Dunboyne, co Meath, they include:

• Papers and Correspondence of Elinor Goddard including an account of attempts by Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby to escape from their homes in Ireland, and accounts of Elinor Goddard’s visits to the Ladies of Llangollen

• Sarah Ponsonby’s "Account of a Journey in Wales perform’d in May 1778 by Two Fugitive Ladies"

• Eleanor Butler’s Diary for 1784 including comments on letters received and books acquired and read

• Sarah Ponsonby’s Commonplace Book (with gardening and architectural notes and verse in French, Italian and English)

• Eleanor Butler’s famous Journals (six volumes in all, for 1788-1791, 1799, 1802, 1807 and 1821), which have been compared with Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journal, recording details of visitors, books read, medical recipes, correspondence and local events

• An apparently unpublished verse drama entitled "Loves Frenzy, or, the Garlands of the Faun", together with poems and watercolours, largely by Sarah Ponsonby

• A volume of manuscript poems compiled for Camilla Blackford

• A volume of manuscript poems dedicated to Caroline Hamilton

• A volume of manuscript poems composed by Mary Tighe

• Manuscript volumes concerning Geometry, Medicine, and Heraldry (and one on Napoleon)

• Two volumes of letters sent to the ladies including letters from Henrietta Bowdler, Edmund Burke, Lady Bury, George Canning, Jane Davey, Lady Fownes, Lady Sydney Morgan, Mrs O’Connell, Hester Piozzi, Sir Walter Scott, Anna Seward, Arthur Wellesley, William Wilberforce and William Wordsworth

• Two volumes of "Letters from a Traveller" dated recounting his experiences in Jerusalem and Paris, including a meeting with Napoleon

• The Plas Newydd Library Catalogue (137ff) comprising both a subject classification and a location list, provides insights into authors favoured and shows the considerable influence of continental literature.

• Autograph poetry by William Wordsworth (Sonnet ... composed in the grounds of Plas Newydd ), Felicia Hemans and Thomas Moore

This source will be valuable for anyone writing on female friendships, the Gothic Pastoral Ideal, 18th Century Literary Circles and the Romantic Movement. It will be of interest to libraries supporting the study of Literature and Gender Studies.

This microfilm project is accompanied by a paperback guide which provides full contents of reels information and also a detailed listing of all the letters and journals included in the project. This guide is also available in its entirety on this website.