My thanks to Arabella Pike, my fabulous commissioning editor at William Collins, and Damian Jones, producer of the motion picture Belle, for suggesting that I write this book. Also to Terry Karten and Jillian Verillo in New York and everybody on the team who saw the book through production so smoothly – Stephen Guise, Joseph Zigmond and especially my wonderful copy-editor Robert Lacey. Helen Ellis is the best of publicists.
Grateful thanks to the Earl of Mansfield, to Viscount Stormont, to William Murray (Master of Stormont), Sarah Adams (archivist) and Elspeth Bruce (administrator) for access to the Mansfield and Stormont Papers at Scone Palace; also to Caroline Brown in Special Collections, University of Dundee Library. Thanks also to the ever-helpful staff in the Public Record Office at Kew and the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich; also to Jenny Foot, from the curatorial team at Kenwood. Guy Holborn, Librarian at Lincoln’s Inn, kindly provided the image of Dido’s letter and explanatory information about it. Professor David Armitage, Chair of the History Department at Harvard University, provided me with some valuable references.
As always, I was superbly looked after by Andrew Wylie, Sarah Chalfant and James Pullen at the Wylie Agency.
Thanks to Oxford High School and Mrs Anne Brazel, for giving me the opportunity to try out material. The girls were fantastic, especially Phoebe Cole and Hildie Leyser. Thanks, Ellie Bate, for not being too embarrassed by my presence.
On a more personal level, I want to express heartfelt thanks to my friends here at Oxford, in particular Laura Ashe, Kate Cooper, Steven Methven, Jo Quinn and Kate Tunstall. It’s been an interesting year, and I’m not sure how I would have survived without your unstinting support, loyalty and friendship. Thanks also to Corinna Hilton.
Thank you Father Matthew Catterick for ‘foot -stepping’ Pimlico with me. Tom and Harry Bate, thank you for being so cheerful and low-maintenance. Grateful thanks to the delightful, hard-working and beautifully quiet Ewa Checinska.
As always I want to reserve very special thanks for Jonathan Bate. You’re simply brilliant. I couldn’t do this without you.
Paula Byrne
February 2014