Biography
Lady Charlotte Guest
Translator of the Mabinogion, Industrialist, Philanthropist, and Renowned Collector of Art and Porcelain
The Mapping Merthyr Through Women’s Histories workshop brought together staff from across the Libraries and Museum service and partner sectors to uncover, honour, and amplify the stories of women who shaped Merthyr. Informed by insights from the valley‑wide Heritage and Herstories community drop‑ins, participants each chose and reflected on a woman’s story that deserves recognition, creating a collective map of Merthyr’s past through diverse female perspectives. This project marks only the beginning — with hopes to continue these workshops and collaborate with more communities across the valley, further enriching and expanding the narrative of local women’s history.
Written by Chloe England, former Museum Assistant at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Art Historian:
While Lady Charlotte Guest (nee. Bertie) (1812- 1895) certainly hasn’t been lost to the annals of history, I decided to focus on her because her story tells us a lot about female passion, resilience, and pride. Yes, Lady Charlotte was born to an aristocratic family; however, the early loss of her father and the proceeding illness of her mother meant she spent much of her childhood alone, self-educating herself in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Latin, Italian, French and Greek. Later in life, when married to MP John Josiah Guest, Lady Charlotte also taught herself Welsh, both modern and medieval.
It was with this language that she undertook the extensive project of translating the Red Book of Hergest (more commonly known as The Mabinogion) into English. Guest was the first person to ever translate The Mabinogion into English, a hugely significant contribution to the history of Wales and Britain more broadly. Nevertheless, her work has been disregarded and criticised by her contemporaries and more modern academics alike. Even with a huge corpus of skills and the undertaking of a nationally significant project, Lady Charlotte still faced pushback. It is nice to know, though, that she remained steadfast in her pursuits. When her contemporary Comte Hersart de la Villemarque insinuated that she had not written her own translations, she refused to give it attention, stating that ‘the man is too contemptible to be noticed’. This was a particularly powerful way to think – to not allow the opinions of men to discredit you - especially as a woman in the 19th century. Lady Charlotte was particularly revolutionary in this way.
It must be noted that, as with many histories of women who broke through the bonds, there were those hidden women behind her that allowed her to dedicate such meticulous attention to her work. Lady Charlotte would have had a household of help: a maid to care for her children, another to clean her home, another to make the food. It was the toil of these unacknowledged women that allowed Lady Charlotte to leave her legacy behind, so they must be mentioned too.
P.S. You can see a painting gifted to Lady Charlotte Guest by her husband in the Round Room at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery - legend has it that she used to have it above her desk as she wrote!