Amelia Osborne, Marchioness of Carmarthen

Amelia Osborne, Marchioness of Carmarthen, 12th Baroness Darcy de Knayth, 9th Baroness Conyers, 5th Countess of Mértola (née Darcy; 12 October 1754 – 27 January 1784), was a British peer and a Portuguese countess.

Amelia, Marchioness of Carmarthen
Amelia Osborne, painted by François-Hubert Drouais
Born	Lady Amelia Darcy (1754-10-12)12 October 1754
Died	27 January 1784(1784-01-27) (aged 29)
Spouses	Francis Osborne, Marquess of Carmarthen ​ ​ (m. 1773; div. 1779)​ John "Mad Jack" Byron ​ ​ (m. 1779)​
Children	George Osborne, 6th Duke of Leeds Mary Pelham, Countess of Chichester Francis Osborne, 1st Baron Godolphin Augusta Leigh
Parent(s)	Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness Mary Doublet

Life

She was the only surviving child of Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, and his wife, the former Mary Doublet. Her portrait was painted in about 1764 by François-Hubert Drouais.^[1] On 29 November 1773, she married Francis Osborne, Marquess of Carmarthen, in London,^[2] and they had three children:

• Lord George William Frederick Osborne (21 July 1775 – 10 July 1838), later 6th Duke of Leeds; married Lady Charlotte Townshend, daughter of the 1st Marquess Townshend, on 17 August 1797 and had issue.
• Lady Mary Henrietta Juliana Osborne (7 September 1776 – 21 October 1862); married Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester (28 April 1756 – 4 July 1826) in 1801 and had issue.
• Lord Francis Osborne (18 October 1777 – 15 February 1850), later 1st Baron Godolphin; married The Hon. Elizabeth Eden, third daughter of the 1st Baron Auckland, on 31 March 1800 and had issue.

In early 1777 Amelia's mother Lady Holderness broke off relations with her daughter after the Carmarthens gave shelter to Richard Glover (son of the poet), a friend of Lord Carmarthen, when he eloped with one of the daughters of Solomon Dayrolles.^[3]

Portrait of the Duke of Leeds by Thomas Lawrence. Her marriage to her first husband ended when she eloped with Captain Jack Byron

On 16 May 1778, as the only surviving child of her father, Amelia succeeded de jure to the titles of 12th Baroness Darcy de Knayth and 9th Baroness Conyers in her own right, and to the Portuguese countship of Mértola. Her right to the baronies of Darcy de Knayth and Conyers was eventually confirmed in 1798, long after her death.

In December 1778 Lady Carmarthen's marriage ended when she ran off with Captain John "Mad Jack" Byron.^[4] Byron had been visiting her at home in Grosvenor Square when her husband was absent, and they had been having an affair.^[5][6] Lord and Lady Carmarthen were divorced on 31 May 1779.^[4] Almost immediately after the divorce, she married Byron. They had three children:

• Sophia Georgina Byron (July 1779 – died aged two months; buried at Twickenham on 18 September 1779).^[7]
• Unnamed son (died at birth, ca. 1780/81).^[7]
• Augusta Maria Byron (26 January 1783 – 12 October 1851).^[7]

A year after the birth of the last child, Amelia died^[8] and the titles were inherited by her eldest son, George. By his second wife, her widower became the father of the poet, Lord Byron.

References

1. "Portrait of Lady Amelia Darcy". artnet. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
2. L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 174.
3. Horace Walpole to William Mason, 27 February 1777. W. P. Courtney was unable to identify which of Dayrolles' three daughters was the fugitive for his article in the Dictionary of National Biography.
4. "Osborne, Francis, fifth duke of Leeds". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20876. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. Lawbook Exchange Ltd (1779). Trials for Adultery, Or, The History of Divorces. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-58477-468-6.
6. George Gordon Byron Baron Byron (2015). Byron's Letters and Journals: A New Selection. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-872255-7.
7. Emily Brand (2020). The Fall of the House of Byron: Scandal and Seduction in Georgian England. John Murray. pp. 189, 200. ISBN 9781473664302.
8. The International Monthly Magazine of Literature, Science, and Art. Stringer & Townsend. 1852. p. 142.

Portuguese nobility
Preceded by Robert Darcy	Countess of Mértola 1778–1784	Succeeded by George Osborne
Peerage of England
Preceded by Robert Darcy	Baroness Darcy de Knayth 1778–1784	Succeeded by George Osborne
	Baroness Conyers 1778–1784