Marguerite Gardiner, the Countess of Blessington, was an Irish novelist, journalist, and literary hostess. She met Lord Byron in Genoa and later published a book about their chats. Margaret Power was born near Clonmel in County Tipperary, Ireland, as the daughter of Edmund Power and Ellen Sheehy, both small landowners. She described herself as "haphazardly educated by her own reading and by her mother's friend Ann Dwyer." Marguerite later relocated to Hampshire to reside for five years with the family of Captain Thomas Jenkins of the 11th Light Dragoons, a kind and erudite military officer. Jenkins presented her to Irishman Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington, a widower with four children (two legitimate), seven years her senior. They married on February 16, 1818, at St Mary's in Bryanston Square, Marylebone, just four months after her first husband died. She was noted by her remarkable beauty, charm, and wit, as well as her generosity and lavish preferences, which she shared with her second husband. On August 25, 1822, they embarked on a continental journey with Marguerite's younger sister, Mary Anne, 21 years old, and servants.
