Carlyle, Jane (Baillie) (1801–1866)

Scottish letter-writer, wife of the essayist and social historian Thomas Carlyle from 1826. She resented her husband's preoccupation with his books, and their relationship became increasingly strained. However, her affection for her husband is apparent in her voluminous correspondence, which also illustrates her natural vivacity and wit.

She was born near Haddington, Scotland, and was a pupil of the Scottish cleric Edward Irving (1792–1834), who in 1821 introduced her to Carlyle. After a troubled courtship they were married in 1826, moving to Chelsea, London, in 1834. Jane was a woman of great intelligence and charm, but both she and Carlyle were highly strung and sensitive, and the fact that the marriage was childless may have increased Jane's morbid introspection. It seems probable that his conduct towards her was the result of thoughtlessness rather than the calculated sadism sometimes ascribed to him. When Jane died suddenly, Carlyle was heartbroken.