Editing Ada Lovelace (section)

===Adult years===
[[File:Ada Lovelace portrait.jpg|thumb|Watercolour portrait of Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, {{Circa|1840}}, possibly by [[Alfred Edward Chalon]]|alt=Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. Watercolour portrait circa 1840]]

Lovelace became close friends with her tutor [[Mary Somerville]], who introduced her to Charles Babbage in 1833. She had a strong respect and affection for Somerville,{{Sfn|Woolley|1999|pp=138–40}} and they corresponded for many years. Other acquaintances included the scientists [[Andrew Crosse]], [[David Brewster|Sir David Brewster]], [[Charles Wheatstone]], [[Michael Faraday]] and the author [[Charles Dickens]]. She was [[debutante|presented at Court]] at the age of seventeen "and became a popular belle of the season" in part because of her "brilliant mind".{{Sfn|Turney|1972|p=138}} By 1834 Ada was a regular at Court and started attending various events. She danced often and was able to charm many people, and was described by most people as being dainty, although [[John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton|John Hobhouse]], Byron's friend, described her as "a large, coarse-skinned young woman but with something of my friend's features, particularly the mouth".{{Sfn|Turney|1972|pp=138–39}} This description followed their meeting on 24 February 1834 in which Ada made it clear to Hobhouse that she did not like him, probably due to her mother's influence, which led her to dislike all of her father's friends. This first impression was not to last, and they later became friends.{{Sfn|Turney|1972|p=139}}
[[File:Ada Lovelace's husband William King in uniform.webp|thumb|William King, 1st Earl of Lovelace in uniform]]
On 8 July 1835, she married [[William King, 1st Earl of Lovelace|William, 8th Baron King]], becoming Lady King. They had three homes: [[Ockham Park]], Surrey; a Scottish estate on [[Torridon|Loch Torridon]] in [[Ross-shire]]; and a house in London. They spent their honeymoon at Ashley Combe near [[Porlock Weir]], Somerset, which had been built as a hunting lodge in 1799 and was improved by King in preparation for their honeymoon. It later became their summer retreat and was further improved during this time. From 1845, the family's main house was [[Horsley Towers]], built in the [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudorbethan]] fashion by the architect of the Houses of Parliament, [[Charles Barry]],<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp349-352 |title=A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Parishes: East Horsley|access-date=26 February 2017 |quote=Horsley Towers is a large house standing in a park of 300 acres, the seat of the Earl of Lovelace. The old house was rebuilt about 1745. The present house was built by Sir Charles Barry for Mr. Currie on a new site, between 1820 and 1829, in Elizabethan style. Mr. Currie, who owned the combined manors, 1784–1829, rebuilt most of the houses in the village and restored the church.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Andrew Crosse and the mite that shocked the world: The life and work of an electrical pioneer |last=Wright |first=Brian |isbn=978-1-78462-438-5 |page=262 |year=2015 |publisher=Matador }}</ref> and later greatly enlarged to Lovelace's own designs.

They had three children: [[Byron King-Noel, Viscount Ockham|Byron]] (born 1836); [[Lady Anne Blunt|Anne Isabella]] (called Annabella, born 1837); and [[Ralph King-Milbanke, 2nd Earl of Lovelace|Ralph Gordon]] (born 1839). Immediately after the birth of Annabella, Lady King experienced "a tedious and suffering illness, which took months to cure".{{Sfn|Turney|1972|p=139}} Ada was a descendant of the extinct [[Baron Lovelace|Barons Lovelace]] and in 1838, her husband was made [[Earl of Lovelace]] and Viscount Ockham, meaning Ada became the Countess of Lovelace.<ref>{{cite news |via=[[NewspaperArchive.com]] |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-apr-09-1841-1422479/ |work=[[Macon Georgia Telegraph]] |location=[[Macon, Georgia|Macon]], Georgia |date=9 April 1841 |page=3 |title=New York Fifty Years Ago }}</ref> In 1843–44, Ada's mother assigned [[William Benjamin Carpenter]] to teach Ada's children and to act as a "moral" instructor for Ada.{{Sfn|Woolley|1999|pp=285–86}} He quickly fell for her and encouraged her to express any frustrated affections, claiming that his marriage meant he would never act in an "unbecoming" manner. When it became clear that Carpenter was trying to start an affair, Ada cut it off.{{Sfn|Woolley|1999|pp=289–96}}

In 1841, Lovelace and [[Elizabeth Medora Leigh|Medora Leigh]] (the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh) were told by Ada's mother that Ada's father was also Medora's father.{{Sfn|Turney|1972|p=159}} On 27 February 1841, Ada wrote to her mother: "I am not in the least ''astonished''. In fact, you merely ''confirm'' what I have for ''years and years'' felt scarcely a doubt about, but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected."{{Sfn|Turney|1972|p=160}} She did not blame the incestuous relationship on Byron, but instead blamed Augusta Leigh: "I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was."{{Sfn|Moore|1961|p=431}} In the 1840s, Ada flirted with scandals: firstly, from a relaxed approach to extra-marital relationships with men, leading to rumours of affairs;{{Sfn|Woolley|1999|p=302}} and secondly, from her love of gambling. She apparently lost more than £3,000 on the horses during the later 1840s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/theory-babbagesdancer-print.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030628211849/http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/theory-babbagesdancer-print.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 June 2003|title=Babbage's Dancer|first=Simon|last=Schaffer|publisher=the hypermedia research centre|access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref> The gambling led to her forming a syndicate with male friends, and an ambitious attempt in 1851 to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This went disastrously wrong, leaving her thousands of pounds in debt to the syndicate, forcing her to admit it all to her husband.{{Sfn|Woolley|1999|pp=340–42}} She had a shadowy relationship with Andrew Crosse's son John from 1844 onwards. John Crosse destroyed most of their correspondence after her death as part of a legal agreement. She bequeathed him the only heirlooms her father had personally left to her.{{Sfn|Woolley|1999|pp=336–37}} During her final illness, she would panic at the idea of the younger Crosse being kept from visiting her.{{Sfn|Woolley|1999|p=361}}