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Robert Lytton, who had attended Elizabeth's funeral along with Isa, was the son of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, had published poetry under the name of 'Owen Meredith' and became Viceroy of India.

Elizabeth had hoped Lytton would marry Isa Blagden, for she had saved his life one summer in Bagni di Lucca, when the Brownings were also there, but Isa's mixed blood, part Jewish, part East Indian, prevented the match. They both wrote works about their romance: Lytton's Lucile, a kind of Aurora Leigh, in verse; Isa's Agnes Tremorne in prose. I am hoping someone will write a book about Isa and Lytton.  

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                                                                           Isa Blagden, portrait owned by Lilian White, reproduced in Jeanette Marks,
                                                                           The Family of the Barrett, 1938. Even her portrait is indistinct.

ISABELLA BLAGDEN (1818-1873), is buried near her friends Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Theodosia Trollope : a love of liberty and a passionate involvement in the vicissitudes of the Italian Risorgimento cemented the friendship of these women who lived and wrote in Florence. Born in the East Indies, Isa Blagden came to live on the Bellosguardo hill in 1843. Although a talented poet and narrator (publishing as 'Ivory Beryl'), she is remembered for those human qualities which made her the gentle helpmate of R. Bulwer Lytton (Owen Meredith, the poet), the patient hostess of the old eccentric Walter Savage Landor , and an attentive observer of the Tuscan society of her times. Exotic mysticism and romanticism are mixed in her writing, now all but forgotten, effaced like the inscription on her tombstone (No. 1194). Yet her personality remains that of a lively, strong, passionate woman faithful to the most precious gift, that of friendship. [She, with Theoodosia Trollope, is the model for Nathanael Hawthorne's Miriam in The Marble Faun. See also Giuliana Artom Treves, The Golden Ring: The Anglo-Florentines (London: Longmans, Green, 1956), passim.] LS

ROSE AYLMER AND WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) is the poets' poet, beloved by the Shelleys and the Brownings. He was impetuous, generous and difficult, a Romantic writer who had outlived that famous poetic generation of Keats, Shelley and Byron. He was born in Warwick, educated at Rugby and Trinity, and published Gebir at twenty-three, then again in 1803 in both English and in Latin. The idea for the Arabian tale of Gebir, set in Egypt, came from a book Rose Aylmer, the daughter of Lord Aylmer, had lent him. Gebir was Shelley's favourite poem. It was also admired by Southey. In 1799 the young and beloved Rose Aylmer sailed for Bengal with her aunt, Lady Russell, dying there of cholera.

This passage in Gebir where the sea-nymph offers a reward was admired by all, especially by Shelley.

Walter Savage Landor's quatrains are exquisite.

In 1909 the lines of his poem on Rose Aylmer were placed on her tomb in Calcutta.

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The beautiful iron railing to this tomb has now collpased and we seek funds to restore it.

^*°§ ELIZABETH MARGARET FOMBELLE/ ENGLAND/ Fombelle/ Elisabetta Margherita/ Giovanni/ Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 8 Gennaio/ 1865/ Anni 72/ 894/ Elisabeth Marguerite Fombelle, l'Angleterre, fille de John Fombelle/ GL23777/1 N° 351, widow, child of late Barris Crisp, Burial 10/01, age 73, Rev Pendleton/ SACRED/ TO THE/ MEMORY/ OF/ ELIZABETH MARGARET FOMBELLE/ WIDOW OF THE LATE JOHN FOMBELLE ESQ/ OF THE BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE/ SHE DEPARTED THIS LIFE UPON THE VIIITH DAY OF/ JANUARY MDCCCLXV/ HER KIND HEARTED AND LOVING DISPOSITION/ ENDEARED HER TO ALL WHO KNEW HER/ ROM XII.10/ E14H

^*°§ SIR WILLIAM HENRY SEWELL/ ENGLAND/ Sewell/ Gen. Giuseppe Enrico/ / Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 13 Marzo/ 1862/ Anni 72/ 778/ + / Sir W.H. Sewell, l'Angleterre, Géneral/ Association of Friends of the Waterloo Committee: SEWELL, William Henry/ Brevet Major, 16th (Queen's) Light Dragoons; Ensign 60th Foot 1806, Exchanged to 16th Light Dragoons 1806. Lt 1807. Capt 1812. Capt 6oth Foot 1813. Bt Major Mar 1814. Lt Colonel 1817. Colonel 1837. Major General 1846. Lt General 1854./ Served in the Peninsula Aug 1808 - Jan 1809 and Mar 1809 - May 1812. On the Staff of the Portuguese Army May 1812 - Apr 1814. Served throughout the campaign as ADC to Lord Beresford. Present at the Corunna campaign, Talavera, Coa, Agueda, Busaco, Cuidad Rodrigo, Badajoz, San Sebastian, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Bayonne and Toulouse. MGS , medal with ten clasps for Corunna, Talavera, Busaco, Cuidad Rodrigo, Badajoz, San Sebastian, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes and Toulouse. CB. Also in Maida and South America, 1807, on the staff of Lord Beresford. Commanded a Portuguese Cavalry regiment 1816. From 1828 - 54 served in India as Deputy Master General, then in command at Bangalore, then divisional commander at Madras and finally Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army. Returned to England in 1854 and became Colonel of the 79th Cameron Highlanders. Made KCB in 1861. Retired in 1856. Educated at Westminster and Eton, he was W.H. Robertson. On entering the army he took the name of Sewell. Reference: Jameson, Robert. Historical record of the 79th Regiment of Foot, or Cameron Highlanders. 1863. P. 136. Sewell descendants note he was godson and natural son of King William IV. GL23777/1 N° 309, Burial 15/03, Rev O'Neill/ Beneath this sacred symbol of salvation repose the mortal remains of/ General Sir William Henry Sewell, C.B., Colonel of 79 Highlanders/ who departed this life at Florence on/ the 13 March 1862// Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth/ Yea, saith the Saviour, . . . rest from their Labours And their Works do follow them./ Rev. 14. 13 verse/ B12O/ See also James Bansfield, Homan Mulock tomb entries.[°= Tom Sewell, Surrey, Jack Sewell, Dorset, England]

With Sir William Henry Sewell we should add his two companions in their burial plot:

^*°§ JAMES BANSFIELD/ ENGLAND/ 71. Bansfield/ Giacomo/ / Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 11 Gennaio/ 1862/ Anni 49/ 771/ James Bansfield, l'Angleterre/ GL23777/1 N° 306/ cause of death, bronchitis Burial 13/01, Rev O'Neill/ "NOT NOW AS A SERVANT ABOVE A SERVANT A BROTHER BELOVED" PHILEMON 16 VERSE/ SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JAMES BANSFIELD PRIVATE IN THE 11TH HUSSARS/ WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 11TH OF JANUARY 1862/ HE WAS FOR 20 YEARS THE FAITHFUL AND DEVOTED SERVANT OF GENERAL SIR W.H. SEWELL K.C.B. BY WHOSE WIDOW THIS TOMB WAS RAISED/ B12O/ See Sewell tombs

^*°§  HOMAN MULOCK/ ENGLAND/ Mulock/ Homan/ Tommas H./ Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 21 Aprile/ 1861/ Anni 14/ 727/ Homan Mulock, l'Angleterre, fils de Homan Mulock et de Frances Sophia/ GL23777/1 N° 290 Burial 23/04, Rev O'Neill; Marriage relative, G20776 N° 144 01/06/58 Peter MacFarlane Syme to Elizabeth Georgina Mulock at HBM (Normanby) groom esq 1st lieut Bengal Artillery, 4 Mulocks as witnesses, Rev O'Neill/ B12O/ see Sewell tombs.

*°§ ANNIE JESSIE (MACKENZIE) SMITH/ SCOTLAND / Smith nata Mackenzie/ Anna/ / Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 1 Settembre/ 1862/ Anni 56/ 801/ Anna Smith, l'Angleterre, Ecosse/ GL23777/1 N° 316 Burial 05/09 Rev Ponton/ SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ANNIE JESSIE FOURTH DAUGHTER/ OF CAPT DONALD MACKENZIE OF HARTFIELDS ROSSHIRE AND WIFE/ OF CHRISTOPHER WEBB SMITH ESQ OF THE BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE/ [Below Casket] THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE SORROWING HUSBAND TO THE MEMORY OF THE FAITHFUL AND MOST AFFECTIONATE COMPANION AND PARTNER IN HIS EVERY JOY AND SORROW/ DURING A PERIOD OF XXXV YEARS. TO THE MEMORY OF THE CHRISTIAN WIFE AND MOTHER, THE KIND FRIEND OF ALL AROUND HER AND ESPECIALLY OF THE POOR AND DISTRESSED./ TO THE MEMORY OF HER WHO IN HER LAST AND PROTRACTED ILLNESS WAS AN EMINENT EXAMPLE OF THE POWER OF HOLY RELIGION./ IN THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH HOPE AND PATIENCE UNTIL WELCOMING DEATH AS THE PORTAL TO GLORY SHE FELL ASLEEP IN JESUS./ WRITE "BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD" REV. XIV.13/ [Coat of Arms]/ F6I/ Sculptor: Pietro Bazzanti, similar to Tennant tomb.

Tombs of Isabella and Grenville Temple. 

THEODOSIA TROLLOPE-GARROW (1825-1865), when an invalid child in Torquay, had known Elizabeth Barrett, likewise a child invalid. Theodosia Garrow arrived in Florence in 1845 with her father, Joseph Garrow (who is buried near her tomb), an able violinist, and her mother, who became friendly with their neighbours, the Trollopes, as a result of a visit by their mutual friend Charles Dickens. She married Thomas Adolphus Trollope and moved to the little house in Piazza Barbano in 1848. She was a talented writer with a wonderful mastery of Italian and translated works by Giusti and G.B. Nicolini. A fanatic supporter of the cause of Italian independence, she published a history of the Tuscan Revolution in the Athenaeum. LS