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Record Number: 8603

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I have been keeping rather different hours--though the Priory is far from a late place [...] Wm. [Lady Caroline's husband William Lamb] & I get up about ten or 1/2 after or later [...] have our breakfasts, talk a little, read Newton on the Prophecies with the Bible--having finished Sherlock [...] he goes to eat & walk--I finish dressing & take a drive or little walk [...] then come up stairs where William meets me, & we read Hume with Shakespear till ye dressing bell, then hurry & hardly get dressed by dinner time'.

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Nov 1805 and 9 Dec 1805

Country:

England

Time

afternoon

Place:

city: Stanmore
specific address: The Priory of Lord and Lady Abercorn

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Lady Caroline Lamb

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

13 Nov 1785

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy

Occupation:

socialite, novelist, influential member of the Whig political elite

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

William Lamb

Additional Comments:

(n?e Caroline Ponsonby)

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Text Being Read:

Author:

William Shakespeare

Title:

unknown

Genre:

Drama, Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

8603

Source:

Print

Author:

Lady Caroline Lamb (n?e Ponsonby)

Editor:

Paul Douglass

Title:

The Whole Disgraceful Truth: Selected Letters of Lady Caroline Lamb

Place of Publication:

New York

Date of Publication:

2006

Vol:

n/a

Page:

23-24

Additional Comments:

Letter to Lady Spencer, 9 December 1805

Citation:

Lady Caroline Lamb (n?e Ponsonby), Paul Douglass (ed.), The Whole Disgraceful Truth: Selected Letters of Lady Caroline Lamb, (New York, 2006), p. 23-24, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=8603, accessed: 04 February 2026

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Additional Comments:

Though Lamb's letter does not specify, it is likely William Lamb and Lady Caroline took turns reading aloud to each other, making them both readers and and listeners.