A Shattered Idol: The Lord Chief Justice and his Troublesome Women

We are delighted to welcome Tom Hughes from the USA to talk about two domestic crises that impacted the prominent Coleridge family from Ottery St Mary in the late 19th century. Tom recently published a book, A Shattered Idol, about his research and will discuss his findings with Sir Paul Coleridge K.C.The Coleridge family of Ottery St Mary is known around the world in part because of the poetic genius of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but also because of his nephew Sir John Taylor Coleridge and great-nephew, Lord Chief Justice John Duke Coleridge, the first Baron Coleridge (1820–94).Tom Hughes has written the first complete account of the separate but nearly simultaneous domestic crises that overshadowed the last decade-plus of his lordship's life. First, with Mildred Coleridge, his eldest child and only daughter, and then with Amy Lawford, the woman who became the second Baroness. A remarkable story told with the assistance of the still-prominent Coleridge family.Tom Hughes was, for forty years, a radio journalist in the Unites States of America, retired since 2006. He has an undergraduate history degree and a longstanding interest in Victorian Britain.
The Coleridges lived in Ottery, at Heath's Court, now Chanter's House. For more than a decade Tom met and worked with several members of the Coleridge family who were quite unaware of these family dramas. Sir Paul Coleridge, retired High Court judge, wrote the foreword to the book and will join us for tonight's conversation.