Charlotte Butler (1787–1834)
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 298.
Born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, she was the fifth child and third daughter of John and Arabella Graham-Clarke. Church records tell of her baptism on 28 August 1787. She was often called “Lotte.” She reached adulthood at Fenham Hall, the luxurious family home. Niece EBB wrote to Charlotte’s sister Bummy (letter 62), mentioning various members of the Fenham household, and she spoke of imagining “Charlotte with a grave face & a pair of spectacles painting or at that much admired loom.” On 13 June 1822 she married the Rev. Richard Pierce Butler (1784–1855), whose eldest brother, Sir Thomas Butler, had previously married Charlotte’s sister Frances. Richard was Vicar of Trim, in Ireland, and their home was the Garryhundon estate, near Carlow. They had two daughters: Charlotte Mary (“Arlette”), who married Army Captain Charles William Reynolds on 24 June 1847; and Cissy, who died while in her teens. Charlotte died at Dieppe in August 1834 during a family sojourn in France. Her husband, Richard, lived until 1855, spending much time on the Continent.
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