Her children, Anne's cousins, were: Her mother's only surviving sibling had no legitimate heirs, but he did have one son before his marriage, named after him, Thomas Noel; he became a clergyman.

To cultivate her obvious intelligence, her parents hired as her tutor a former Cambridge University professor by the name of William Frend.

Under his direction, her education proceeded much like that of a Cambridge student; her studies involved classical literature, philosophy, science and mathematics, in which she particularly delighted.

Often described as cold and prim, she seemed an unlikely match for the man who would become her ultimate obsession, the dramatically dark and "morally fractured" poet Lord Byron.

However, Byron was attracted to her modesty and intellect and in October 1812 he proposed marriage through her aunt, the well-connected political hostess Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne.

Although well aware of Byron's shortcomings, telling her mother "He is a very bad, very good man", she decided it was her religious obligation to support him and improve his behaviour.

The letters continued into the next year, some offering reassurance and support during times when public opinion of him was not favorable, others describing the "imperfect attachment" she felt for him.

During this time, he accepted an invitation from Sir Ralph Milbanke to visit Seaham Hall, the family home in County Durham.

He rejected payments offered for his written works, as he believed business was not appropriate for a gentleman, and gave copyrights to people who had helped him.

In a letter to his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, he stated his suspicions that his wife had broken the lock on his desk and searched it.

Later that year he began an affair with Susan Boyce, a London actress at Drury Lane Theatre, where he was a director.

In furtherance of the latter, Lady Byron attended the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention, where she was one of the few women included in its commemorative painting.

[6] As her daughter grew up, Lady Byron feared she might inherit her father's behaviours and dark moods.

She is also considered to have been the world's first computer programmer, having written the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine—Charles Babbage's analytical engine.

William was subsequently made the 1st Earl Lovelace, and the couple had three children, Byron King-Noel, Viscount Ockham and 12th Baron Wentworth; Anne Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth, who brought the Arabian horse to England; and Ralph King-Milbanke, 2nd Earl of Lovelace.

Ada amassed considerable gambling debts[citation needed] before dying from uterine cancer on 27 November 1852.

Augusta Leigh, who had remained with Byron at Piccadilly Terrace since his wife's departure, intercepted the letter, as she feared he would commit suicide if he knew of it.

She returned the letter to Kirkby Mallory and communicated her opinion that greater consideration should be taken in the matter of the Byrons' marriage.

She carefully documented their relationship, supposedly in preparation for any challenge Lord Byron might make for custody of their daughter.

Prior to her death, she shared the story of her marriage to Byron with Harriet Beecher Stowe, who encouraged her to remain silent.

[3] Initially biographers criticized Lady Byron as "small-minded;" more recent works have provided a fuller picture of her accomplishments.