Lady Whitworth

**The Right Honourable Lady Whitworth** (née **Gadolphin**) was a formidable and snobbish woman who married into the upper class Whitworth family. She and her late husband had a child, Osbourne Whitworth and through him she had three grandchildren: Sarah, Anne and John Conan Whitworth.

She took control of raising John Conan when his father died, and his abused mother later left him in her care.

## Biography

### Early life

Lady Whitworth married into a rich and powerful family. She had a child, Osbourne in 1764. Her husband died before 1798.

She later gained two granddaughters through Osbourne's first wife, called Sarah and Anne. She took her granddaughters into her care and helped raise them when their mother died. She eventually gained a grandson through his second wife, Morwenna, called John Conan.

### Taking control

Osbourne was abusive towards Morwenna and couldn't have cared less for her. He wanted her to be taken to an asylum, and John Conan to be taken from her and raised by Lady Whitworth instead. He soon sent for her help in educating John Conan, and she began taking control from her daughter-in-law. She was cold and demanding and had a very low opinion of Morwenna.

Lady Whitworth soon hired a new governess for John Conan. She and her son told Miss Kane of Morwenna's aggressive and unstable behaviour, and how she had threatened to kill John Conan. They thought Miss Kane should be John Conan's governess because of her experience in handling delusional and dangerous mothers. They had her take John Conan from her in the garden.

She later learned of the death of Osbourne in what was thought to be a riding accident. She was confused because she knew he was an excellent horse rider. She had Morwenna and John Conan live at her home, and began taking an even greater control of John Conan because she thought Morwenna was incapable of caring for him.

Morwenna was docile and broken due to years of abuse at her husband's hands. Lady Whitworth continued to behave ignorant towards her daughter-in-law's fragile health and mind, and thought she was a nuisance. At Osbourne's funeral reception, she spoke loudly of her intention to take charge of John Conan because he was her grandson and Heir. She was going to ensure he was educated and told people she thought Morwenna was wholly incapable.

Morwenna fainted at her words, but Lady Whitworth spoke in despair at what she thought was foolish behaviour and had someone fetch salt to wake her. Elizabeth Warleggan looked at Lady Whitworth when she was helping Morwenna, who rolled her eyes and continued to drink. She was later unhappy to find Drake Carne speaking to her. She asked who he was and threatened to have Drake horsewhipped to get him to leave.

She isolated Morwenna in her home and wouldn't let her have any say in John Conan's upbringing. She was contemplating suicide, because she was expecting a second child by her late husband. She feared having a second connection to Lady Whitworth but she soon had a miscarriage. Lady Whitworth told Morwenna of her intention to have her committed to an aslyum, but she run away before she could. In doing so, she had no choice but to leave John Conan in Lady Whitworth's care.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Poldark, Season 4, Episode 3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "4Ep3" defined multiple times with different content
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Poldark, Season 4, Episode 5
3. ↑ Poldark, Season 4, Episode 6