Ladies of Llangollen’s ‘symbol of love’ cutlery goes to auction

A cutlery set that belonged to the Ladies of Llangollen will go under the hammer on the open market for the first time.

Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby spent 50 years together in their Plas Newydd manor in Llangollen, Denbighshire, during the 18th Century, and have become one of Wales’ most famous lesbian couples.

The auction, which will take place on 21 August in Cambridge, is expected to attract widespread interest, according to Steve Collins of Cheffins auction house.

He said it was a “privilege to be able to offer these important pieces to the market”, adding the sale represented “a powerful symbol of love, legacy, and defiance that continues to resonate”.

The lives of the pair, also simply known as the Ladies, partially inspired the hit BBC television show Gentlemen Jack, starring Suranne Jones and Sophie Rundle.

Engraved with the initials of the couple, the 23-piece Harlequin cutlery set with 10 additional pieces has been given a pre-sale price of between £800 and £1,200.

Following the couple’s deaths, Richard Jebb bought the silver at a Plas Newydd estate auction in 1832.

He was a land agent of Brynkinalt Estate in Wrexham, where the Ladies were tenants before moving to Plas Newydd.

Nearly 200 years later, his descendant has brought the cutlery back to auction.

Norena Shopland, Welsh historian and director at Draig Enfys, an organisation which collects artefacts around LGBTQ+ people and issues in Wales, stressed the importance of the historical silverware.

“One of the difficulties, and the reason this collection is so important, is we have little amount of things to prove same-sex relationships throughout history,” she said.

“There is a lot of lesbian history that is written away which portrays them as ‘romantic friends’, and the Ladies have suffered through that for a long time.

“Diversity, sexual orientation and gender identity has always been there.”

The historian added she would “love” to see the cutlery set returned to Plas Newydd, adding “I think it belongs there”.

“If somebody is planning to buy it and donate it to the house that would be great.”

Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby met in 1768 in Ireland and later formed a romantic relationship.

They both belonged to influential Anglo-Irish families and were highly educated and well connected, but despite their traditional aristocratic background their characters were anything but so.

The two repeatedly broke societal norms, Ms Shopland said, dressing in male clothes and in top hats, riding astride on horseback throughout the countryside and refusing expected traditions and practices like marriage.

“People were a bit confused as to why they were doing this, they didn’t understand same-sex relationships,” Ms Shopland said.

“With women there was much more bewilderment about it but it was generally seen as ‘unnatural’ and thoroughly disapproved of.”

According to Ms Shopland, lesbians were understood at the time as “sapphists”, an outdated term derived from the Greek poet Sappho and his depictions of same-sex relationships between women.

The term reflected the negative attitudes towards lesbians at the time, where it was heavily frowned upon, the historian said.

After negotiations with their families, both women finally left Ireland for Wales in 1778, and in 1780 purchased they Plas Newydd.

“As they travelled through Wales, they stopped at Llangollen, loved it and decided to stay there for 50 years,” Ms Shopland said.

During their half a century at the town their notoriety grew among locals and Georgian high society, receiving visits from esteemed figures such as Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, the Duke of Wellington, English potter Josiah Wedgwood, and William Wordsworth.

“They were very well-loved in the area. Everyone knew they lived together and probably suspected they were ‘sapphists’ but people were very fond of them.”

Amid their colourful life, the Ladies’ lifelong love for each other remained. They lived together, exchanged gifts of affection and wrote to each other often.

“You only have to read their letters. They talk about ‘my beloved’ and they were very, very affectionate towards each other,” Ms Shopland said.

On 2 June 1829, Eleanor Butler died at the age of 90. Sarah Ponsonby died two years later aged 76. They are buried together in Llangollen at St Collen’s Church, along with their housekeeper and friend, Mary Carryl.