Anna Jameson's Visit to Port Talbot

 

"A brother of that Mademoiselle Talbot we saw at Vienna is residing and has resided for 30 years upon Lake Erie … I am going to visit him" - Anna Jameson in an 1837 letter to Ottilie von Goethe. 

 

After she departed from London, Anna spent eight days at Port Talbot with the "hermit-lord of the forest," as she termed Colonel Tom. "I'd heard he was a woman-hater, but found him ... charming," Anna writes about the Colonel. "He says he is very happy, but he sighs as he says it."

Both Colonel Tom and Anna were impressed by each other's intelligence and no doubt, enjoyed their conversations during Anna's visit.