In 1824 Georgiana ‘came out’ by being presented at Court to the King and Queen. During her debutantes’ ball at Arlington Street she met Sir William Chatterton, many years her senior, whom she married when she was just 17. The couple spent the early years of their marriage at his home at Castle Mahon, County Cork, Ireland and Winchester with Georgiana’s parents, spending winter months abroad.
After the death of Georgiana’s father, the couple moved to Seamore Place in Mayfair along with her mother. When in town the Chatterton’s were regular guests of King William IV and when in the country Georgiana frequently visited Princess Victoria at Tunbridge Wells. In 1837, Georgiana anonymously published her first novel Aunt Dorothy’s Tales. This was followed by her second novel, Rambles in South Ireland, in 1839, the first edition receiving great acclaim and selling out within weeks.
Georgiana, now in her mid-thirties and having no children of her own, took great joy in having Sir William’s niece, the 12-year-old Rebecca Orpen, to stay with them regularly. The potato blight, or ‘Great Famine’, which hit Ireland meant financial ruin for Sir William and the couple moved back to England and finally settled in Rolls Park in Essex. Rebecca was now living with them and the watercolours she painted depict this as a very grand house. Three years later, when Georgiana was 49, her husband Sir William died. They had been married for 31 years.
Two years later the worst of Georgiana’s grief had now passed, and she began to entertain again. She and Rebecca attended many parties, concerts and other social occasions together. It was at a private concert that Georgiana first met Edward Heneage Dering and they continued to meet at other events accompanied by Rebecca.
Georgiana was now 53, Rebecca 29 and Edward Dering 33. Edward went to Georgiana and it is said that his intention was to ask her permission to marry Rebecca. Georgiana, being supposedly hard of hearing, misheard and thinking it was herself being proposed to, accepted. Edward, being an honourable man, accepted the situation and married her. The pair now became a trio which Rebecca christened the ‘Three Little Bears’. They travelled widely round the country and abroad.
During this time Georgiana became interested in Roman Catholic doctrine to the extent that she started a correspondence with Doctor, later Cardinal Newman. All three of them were received into the Catholic church in 1865 in the presence of Newman.
The trio became the Quartet in 1867 when Rebecca married one of Edward’s military friends, Marmion Ferrers. The two couples moved to Wooton Wawen Hall in Warwickshire, as Marmion’s home, Baddesley Clinton, which he had inherited in an impoverished state, was undergoing repair works, which were probably paid for out of Georgiana’s considerable literary earnings.