English aristocrat and celebrity lesbian Sarah Ponsonby, also known as one of the Ladies of Llangollen, was born in 1755 and died on this day in 1831. In 1768, aged 13, she formed an intimate friendship with her 29 year-old neighbour Eleanor Butler, to the mutual consternation of their families. In 1777, Butler’s family despairing that she was too masculine and “satirical” to attract a husband, proposed to send her back to a convent. Butler and Ponsonby hatched a plan to disguise themselves as men and run away to England to find a cottage where they might live together. Their first attempt was intercepted by their families, who returned them home as virtual prisoners. Undaunted, Butler escaped and joined Ponsonby at her home, wearing their families down until they were permitted to leave together. Accompanied by Ponsonby’s maid Mary Carryll, they toured north Wales, finally settling at Plas Newydd, a rented cottage on the outskirts of the village of Llangollen. They lived there for the next 50 years, making improvements to the house in the Gothic style, dressing in black riding habits and men’s top hats when in public and keeping a series of pet dogs named Sappho. Christened the “Ladies of Llangollen,”, they became unlikely celebrities, receiving visits from the Duke of Wellington, William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, Anna Seward, Josiah Wedgwood and Lady Caroline Lamb. Landowning lesbian Anne Lister travelled from Yorkshire to visit them, and was sufficiently inspired to informally marry her girlfriend. Queen Charlotte became a regular correspondent, eventually persuading King George III to grant them a pension. In 1791, a magazine speculated that Butler and Ponsonby were in a sexual relationship, offending them to the point of taking legal advice about suing for libel. They lived together until Butler’s death in 1829, aged 90. Ponsonby died two years later, and they were buried together, with Carryll, at St Collen’s Church in Llangollen. Biographers continue to debate whether they had a sexual relationship, or were, as their friend Prince Pückler-Muskau described, “the most celebrated Virgins in Europe”. Now considered lesbian and queer icons, their relationship has inspired writings by Wordsworth, Sewell, Colette, Mary Gordon and Emma Donoghue.