Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know
The phrase was used by Lady Caroline Lamb to describe the poet, Lord Byron. Note that as I write this, I’m watching Rupert Everett’s documentary on Channel 4.
My mother’s maiden name was Millbank and for this reason I’ve heard rumours in the family that I’m a direct descendant of Lord Byron. Sadly, or perhaps luckily, I don’t believe it to be true.
The connection of Millbank to Byron though is not tenuous. He married Anne Isabella “Annabella” Millbanke in 1815 and the marriage didn’t last long, although their daughter Ada, was later to gain her place in history as Charles Babbage‘s assistant on his difference engine or the first digital computer. If you want to read more about this read The Secret by Ashley Hay.
My researches into my family have led me to believe that most Millbanks, and remember spelling was a bit hit and miss before the early nineteenth century, are related in one way or other. But I’ve traced my Millbank line back to about 1800 and nowhere is any link to Byron, Annabella or Ada. At best he married one of my distant cousins.
But for me as a programmer, I would love to have any of them in my family tree!
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