Jane Carlyle was born on July 14 1801, in Haddington, near Edinburgh, the only child of a prosperous doctor, and was a precociously clever but charming child.
When she was 10, her father recruited Edward Irving, later to become a charismatic preacher, to give her extra tuition. At 16, she moved to Edinburgh to attend Miss Hall's school, where Edward Irving began to visit her and court her in earnest. Then her father died, and distraught at his death, she returned to Haddington and took in pupils to pay her way.
It was Edward Irving who introduced Jane to his close friend Thomas Carlyle.
He found her 'beautiful, bright and earnest'; she was captivated by his intellect and his offer to teach her German, but found him uncouth and clumsy.
Mrs Welsh was even less enthusiastic, worried about his manners and, more urgently, his apparent lack of prospects. Jane also made it clear that while she admired him, she did not love him. It took five years of mainly courtship by correspondence before they secured Jane's mother's blessing, and they married on October 17 1826.
Jane threw herself into marriage and devoted herself to widening their social circle, for although Carlyle enjoyed company, he was by nature solitary. Jane was also his greatest literary champion, constantly encouraging him to write.
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