Defiance: The Extraordinary Life of Lady Anne Barnard

by Stephen Taylor

Overview

The first major biography of eighteenth-century writer and socialite Lady Anne Barnard.

Born in Scotland in 1750, Lady Anne Barnard lived at the heart of Georgian society. She wrote one of the most popular ballads of her day, captivated Sir Walter Scott with her poetry, rubbed shoulders with the Prince of Wales, and dazzled Samuel Johnson with her repartee. Lady Anne’s charisma and talent were undeniable; she was well known as both a beauty and a wit. However, she was also seen as an eccentric—an artist defined by her defiance of convention.

Lady Anne had romantic affairs with several prominent men, but she married none of them. She preferred to live independently—even traveling alone to Paris during the upheaval of the French Revolution. When she did marry, it was to an impoverished army officer many years her junior. The pairing scandalized polite society. Hounded by gossip, the couple escaped to the Cape Colony—England’s first African possession—where Lady Anne painted the vibrant landscapes and penned her memoirs. An indefatigable diarist, she proved herself one of the extraordinary chroniclers of the era.

Stephen Taylor draws on Lady Anne’s private papers, including six volumes of her never-before-published memoirs, to construct a vivid biography of her remarkable life. Illustrated with Lady Anne’s own drawings as well as portraits by her contemporaries, Defiance offers a lively and wholly absorbing portrayal of a woman far ahead of her time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393248180
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/25/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	948,692
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Stephen Taylor, a former journalist working at The Times in London, is the author of Storm and Conquest and Commander. He lives in Windsor, England.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Part 1

1 The Black Broth 9

2 Edinburgh's Coquette 26

3 Auld Robin Grey 40

4 The Great Crash 55

5 Return to Sparta 73

6 'Folly, Folly. But in Character!' 89

7 'The Devil in Scarlet' 105

Part 2

8 Escape to France 119

9 Royal Go-between 141

10 The Weathercock 157

11 A Captive in Paris 174

12 'A Blackguard Lover' 190

Part 3

13 A Cape of Hope 211

14 A While in Paradise 230

15 Paradise Lost 248

16 The Court of Lilliput 263

17 Home and Away 276

18 Alone 291

19 A 'Protégée of a Darker Complexion' 302

20 Legacies 316

Epilogue 335

Appendix 343

Bibliography 345

Notes 349

Acknowledgements 375

Index 377

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2017
Anne Barnard knew everybody worth knowing in late-18th-century England, turned down a literal dozen marriage proposals, and wed for love in her early 40s after having become a very wealthy woman with the help of former suitors. She lived for a time in South Africa; adopted, raised, and provided for her husband’s biracial daughter; wrote a famous ballad beloved of Walter Scott; painted; and became an accomplished hostess. Her full and compelling life leaves the biographer with a puzzle: how to compress a story that could easily fill three volumes into a single book. Taylor (Commander: The Life and Exploits of Britain’s Greatest Frigate Captain) solves this conundrum admirably, focusing on a chronological retelling of the highlights of Barnard’s life. His work is enriched by his access to private unpublished source material. Taylor doesn’t fail to entertain, and his book is a fine, easily readable introduction to Barnard that does the work of leaving readers wanting more—more on navigating the difficulties of raising a biracial child in 19th-century London, more on Barnard’s relationship with the Prince of Wales, more on her interiority. This is a page-turning introduction to a fascinating life. 8 color illus. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Stephen Taylor’s biography is scrupulous, affectionate and well-written… [Anne’s] appetite for life speaks to us across the centuries, and she wears her affections irresistibly on her sleeve, so that her loves are our loves, and likewise her losses."

The Times (London) - Virginia Nicholson

"Shrewd and wonderfully vivid."

Miranda Seymour

"Taylor’s biography gives a sense of both the richness of the life Anne created for herself and the melancholy that came with not conforming to expectations… [A] captivating portrait of a woman of huge courage, talent, and warmth."

Literary Review - Lucy Moore

"An eccentric life, wonderfully told. Lady Anne Barnard was a brave traveler, artist and observer. Stephen Taylor brings her brilliantly out of the shadows."

Stella Tillyard

"Captivating… [A] sparkling portrait of a woman unapologetically ahead of her time."

Booklist - Margaret Flanagan

08/01/2017
Taylor (Storm and Conquest) has crafted an intricate and cozy biography of Lady Anne Barnard (1750–1825) that illustrates the strength and vivacity that lit her from within. Barnard was an accomplished Scottish woman of letters who was both of her time and beyond it. Born Lady Anne Lindsay, she had many suitors and lovers but remained single until her 40s, vacillating often in her affections. In London, Barnard's gift of social intercourse allowed her to count many of the most influential men of the times among her circle, including the Prince Regent. It was considered a scandal when she married Andrew Barnard, a young officer with no title or wealth. She accompanied him to his post in South Africa, hiked mountains, reported expertly on the state of the colony to her political friends, and, after Andrew's death, adopted a daughter he had fathered by a slave. Infused with sections from her letters and an unpublished multivolume memoir, this work brings Lady Anne's own voice to life. VERDICT Taylor's book will appeal to biography and history lovers alike with its approachable style.—Stacy Shaw, Orange, CA

Library Journal

2017-04-30
An exhaustive biography of a clever, convivial Regency woman who was "dangerously unconventional, a character too colourful for propriety."In an age of enlightenment, upheaval, and revolution, Lady Anne Lindsay (1750-1825) was a prolific letter writer and a dedicated chronicler of current events. Taylor (Commander: The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain, 2012, etc.) sifted through mountains of material at her family's Scottish home, including her multivolume memoir. Anne charmed all who met her, and it's easy to see how, with her upbringing in Scotland amid one of Britain's greatest literary collections, the Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Her broad education was the product of that collection, as she and her sister read voraciously. She met the age's most eminent thinkers, including David Hume, Alison Cockburn, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Edmund Burke. After moving to London, she found intelligent stimulation greater even than Edinburgh but without the small-town constraints. She was labeled a coquette because she was unconventional, preferring to befriend men rather than marry them. Her letters and journals are detailed, if somewhat prolix, but they give a wonderful picture of her times. She met London's literati and politicians through her sister's husband, who was a banker and gambler—never a good mix. It was his short selling that brought down his bank and caused one of the biggest financial crises of the century. Of all the men who wooed her, William Windham and Henry Dundas, both destined for high office, played the largest parts. When she finally married Irishman Andrew Barnard, it was Dundas who found him a position at the new colony in South Africa. Their years there were idyllic until her husband's death, and she ably chronicled and drew the scenery and people. At the same time, she used her talents as a hostess to win over the defeated Dutch and to entertain passengers stopping on their way to India. An edifying, uncluttered, and enjoyable picture of life in Regency England.

Kirkus Reviews