LANDON

In October 1836, Landon met George Maclean, governor of the Gold Coast, and the two began a relationship. Maclean, however, moved to Scotland early the following year, to the surprise and distress of Landon and her friends. After much prodding, Maclean returned to England and he and Landon were married shortly thereafter, on 7th June 1838. The marriage was kept secret, and Landon spent the first month of it living with friends. In early July, the couple sailed for Cape Coast, where they arrived on 16th August. Two months later, on 15th October, Landon was found dead, a bottle of prussic acid in her hand. However, it is not fair to assume that she was poisoned. There is ample evidence that she showed symptoms of Stokes-Adams syndrome for which the dilute acid was the standard remedy. No autopsy was carried out and from the eye-witness accounts it seems, in retrospect, almost certain that Landon suffered a fatal convulsion.Among the poets of her time to recognise and admire her were Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who wrote L.E.L.'s Last Question in homage; and Christina Rossetti, who published a tribute poem entitled L.E.L in her 1866 volume The Prince's Progress and Other Poems.