Jane Carlyle moved to Cheyne Row in Chelsea, west London, in 1834 with her husband Thomas, the essayist, historian and biographer. Carlyle’s House became well known as a literary salon and was visited by many writers and thinkers. Amongst them was the novelist Geraldine Jewsbury. She and Jane struck up what has since been described (not least by Virginia Woolf) as a passionate romantic friendship which lasted until Jane’s death in 1866.
Love letters
Letters between Jane and Geraldine reveal the depth of their affection – and also the points of tension. Jewsbury was more radical – often wearing men’s clothes, smoking and espousing the controversial view that men and women should be equal in marriage. Jane meanwhile took a relatively conventional role in her marriage, which was affectionate but also fraught with argument and jealousy on both sides.
There is no evidence, however, that the relationship between Jane and Geraldine was ever consummated. Their romantic friendship was perhaps more acceptable because of that, especially since Jane did not destroy or hide her letters from Geraldine, whereas same-sex lovers or their families often did.