Had Ada not been involved with John Crosse, it’s possible that she would have taken up a generous offer made by her mother in 1845 of a long, large and interest-free loan. Instead, fearful of discovery (Ada always had difficulty in hiding secrets from the sharp-eyed Lady Byron), she chose to struggle on.
In 1848, a year in which the intensity of Ada’s relationship with the newly married Crosse was matched by his growing demands upon her purse, Lady Lovelace undertook a secret negotiation. Woronzow Greig was asked to approach Henry Currie, the former owner of Horsley Towers, and request a loan of £500. Although puzzled that the countess had not applied for help to her own family, the banker agreed. On 1 May – writing from the house on Cumberland Street into which the Lovelaces had moved after a year’s sojourn at Grosvenor Place – Ada explained that she could not borrow from a husband already burdened by ‘heavy expenses’. Promising that the debt would be paid off, with interest set at 5 per cent, within three years (it took four), her chief concern was that William should remain in the dark. He must not know about this loan.
Greig, like Henry Currie, was puzzled that Ada did not simply apply to her apparently wealthy and affectionate husband for aid. When Ada finally decided to do so in December 1848, William refused. He did, however, promise to cover the cost of his wife’s new ballgowns. This pledge was less bizarre than it sounds. In December 1848, the elderly Duke of Wellington was being courted and entertained at Brighton, where Ada was visiting her mother. The duke had been an early supporter of the Babbage project for which the Lovelaces were still quietly seeking investment. A beguiling, persuasive and exquisitely dressed Ada might yet help to restore the Lovelace family fortunes.
Two elegant dresses, brought to Brighton by her daughter’s new maid (Mary Wilson, who shared Ada’s passion for dogs, had been caring for Babbage’s mother until the old lady’s recent death), aroused Lady Byron’s suspicion that something was afoot. Struggling to avoid the steely blue stare which had once subdued her father, Ada floundered, evaded and finally stumbled into deceit. Greig was expected to visit Brighton within the month; on 5 January 1849, Ada dashed him off a frantic note of warning. Her request for an increased allowance had been confessed to Lady Byron, as had William’s refusal. All else that she had told him about her debts was secret – and must remain so. Greig kept his word. No trace of these mysterious confidences survives.
Henry Currie’s loan of £500 did not go far towards meeting John Crosse’s financial requirements and Ada’s own debts. In March 1849, the countess made a second urgent application for financial help to her husband from Moore Place, where Ralph and Annabella were living under the care of Lady Byron. While William’s response was cool, he promised to drive over to Moore Place from East Horsley, to discuss what could be done. The meeting was unsatisfactory; shortly afterwards, Ada borrowed an additional £300 from Wharton and Ford, the solicitors who had always looked after Milbanke and Noel affairs. Neither William nor her mother was informed of the loan.
It remains unclear to what degree Lady Byron was aware of the Lovelaces’ financial problems. (Two years later, Annabella would bitterly reproach Ada for not having come to her with a direct appeal for help.) In 1849, however, Lady Byron sensed enough to propose lavishly underwriting the purchase for her daughter and son-in-law of a new London home in the crescent of Great Cumberland Place. Little Lady Annabella was thrilled by the fact that their new home had speaking tubes and a comfortable schoolroom (there were many complaints about the spartan one at Horsley Towers). William’s delighted response (Such spacious rooms! Such elegance! Such health-giving air!) suggests that the Lovelaces’ previous accommodations must have been of a very inferior quality. It’s unlikely, however, that Lady Byron understood why the possession of a grand London address was considered to be of such significance.
A handsome home in the capital was immensely helpful to the commercial and diplomatic strategy upon which both Ada and Lovelace were already embarked. In 1843, Ada had put forward a business proposal to raise investment for Babbage’s unbuilt machine. That project was one that – despite Babbage’s initial refusal – the Lovelaces had never abandoned.
Simply stated, the earl and his wife wanted to loan Babbage their name and social influence in exchange for control of the finished machine and a satisfactory return from its future use. By 1846, an attentive Babbage was being promised an introduction to the banker-owner of Albury. (Ada repeatedly emphasised Henry Drummond’s great wealth.) The following May, Babbage dined privately at Grosvenor Place, for the sole purpose of conducting a business talk with Lord Lovelace. A month later, Ada described a second and similar discussion as having been of ‘real importance’. On 6 February 1849, as Ada prepared to array herself in her new silk ballgown for the purpose of charming the Iron Duke into supporting their scheme, Lovelace cautioned her that they owed it to Babbage ‘not to promote his cause by inferior means’. Sadly, there is no sign that Ada’s persuasive skills bore fruit.
Ada loved the ingenious and unexpected mind of Charles Babbage, the fatherly friend to whom she now often playfully signed her letters ‘yours filially’. While the project for the unbuilt Analytical Engine’s future proceeded with frustrating slowness, other and slightly less respectable plans for raising funds were being hatched. A pet one was discussed in 1847, when Babbage visited the Lovelaces at the same time that William Nightingale first brought his daughter Florence to stay.
Florence Nightingale’s visit was a bit of a coup for Ada, who knew how much the younger woman idolised Lady Byron.* She had already heard about Florence’s own mathematical skills
