Lady Charlotte Guest: The Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist

Lady Charlotte Guest: The Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist

By Victoria Owens

When impoverished aristocrat Lady Charlotte Bertie married wealthy Welsh ironmaster John Guest of Dowlais in 1833, her relatives looked on with dismay. Yet despite their vast difference of background and age, over their nineteen-year long marriage, husband and wife enjoyed great happiness and much adventure.

READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Quantity Price Discount
List Price $49.95  

Quick Quote

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit

Non-returnable discount pricing

$49.95


Book Information

Publisher: Pen and Sword History
Publish Date: 11/23/2020
Pages: 224
ISBN-13: 9781526768810
ISBN-10: 152676881X
Language: English

Full Description

When impoverished aristocrat Lady Charlotte Bertie married wealthy Welsh ironmaster John Guest of Dowlais in 1833, her relatives looked on with dismay. Yet despite their vast difference of background and age, over their nineteen-year long marriage, husband and wife enjoyed great happiness and much adventure. There would be ten children and while John built up an immense commercial empire, Charlotte championed Welsh culture.

Crucially, she taught herself John's business from the inside. Over the years, she made the keenest observation of iron production, the fluctuations of the trade and the engineering innovations that touched upon its developments. When John died in 1852, she was therefore uniquely well-placed to succeed him as head of the works - a remarkable position for a Victorian woman. Not only did she endeavor to introduce reforms, but also - rather to her dismay - had to weather a potentially destructive strike.

But success came at a price. With her star to all sight in the ascendant, Lady Charlotte suddenly chose to abandon all, leave Wales and marry her sons' tutor. This book traces the ardent, creative years of her first marriage, explores her determination - widowed - to preserve John's legacy, and observes her growing devotion to the scholarly Charles Schreiber.

About the Author

Winner of the inaugural 2009 Jane Austen short story competition, Victoria Owens is a published writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her novel 'Drawn to Perfection' was published by Hookline in 2013; Amberley Publishing brought out her study 'James Brindley and the Duke of Bridgewater - Canal Visionaries' in 2015; and her 'Aqueducts and Viaducts of Britain' appeared in March 2019.

Learn More

We have updated our privacy policy. Click here to read our full policy.