Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)

The love story of Elizabeth Barrett, one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era from a young age, and the poet and playwright Robert Browning, has itself inspired many works of fiction and biography. Their courtship had to be conducted in secret as her domineering father did not want his children to marry. After much planning, in 1846 the couple married in a private ceremony in London and then eloped to Paris. They went on to Italy, which became their home almost continuously until Elizabeth's death. In 1849, at the age of 43, between four miscarriages, she gave birth to a son, Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, whom they called Pen.