Ladies of Llangollen
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The "Ladies of Llangollen", Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, were two upper-class Irish women who lived together as a couple. Their relationship scandalised and fascinated their contemporaries. The
Portrait of The Rt. Hon. Lady Eleanor Butler & Miss Ponsonby 'The Ladies of Llangollen'
Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler in their library
Portrait of Ladies of Llangollen 1819
Carved oak porch of Plas Newydd. The house did not look like this during the Ladies' tenure; the exterior woodwork on the walls postdates them, added by a later owner between 1861 and 1890.
Boston marriage
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A Boston marriage was, historically, the cohabitation of two women who were independent of financial support from a man. The term is said to have been in use in New England in the United States in the
Ladies of Llangollen
…nothing in their extensive correspondence or diaries that indicates a sexual relationship. Some consider Butler's and Ponsonby's relationship to be a Boston marriage, or a romantic relationship between two women who chose to live together and have "marriage-like relationships". Others conclude that the two had a…
Katharine Coman and Katharine Lee Bates lived together in a Wellesley marriage for 25 years.