# Lady Pomona Longestaffe — The Way We Live Now character guide

> Lady Pomona Longestaffe in The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Lady Pomona, Pomona, poor Lady Pomona

**First appearance:** 0012-xiii-the-longestaffes

## Snapshot

The proud mistress of Caversham, who measures her family's standing in invitations and considers the Melmottes her particular friends at precisely the wrong moment.

## Who they are

Lady Pomona Longestaffe is one of the proudest women in England, a country gentlewoman whose sense of rank is so finely tuned that she can persuade herself the arriviste Melmottes are quite her particular friends when it suits her daughter's prospects. She presides over Caversham and over the marriage ambitions of Georgiana and the fecklessness of Dolly with equal anxiety, forever scheming to keep the family's position intact. Her snobbery and her financial innocence make her a perfect mark for Melmotte's dealings, and her household becomes one of the stages on which the novel's social comedy of climbing and falling is played out.

## In the story

### [XIII: The Longestaffes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/chapters/xiii-the-longestaffes)

Discusses the Melmotte visit with her daughters, hoping Dolly might marry Marie Melmotte for money.

### [Marie Melmotte Hears a Love Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/chapters/xvii-marie-melmotte-hears-a-love-tale)

Hosts the gathering at Caversham, performing her part in the social treaty with the Melmottes.

### [Everybody Goes to Them](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/chapters/xxi-everybody-goes-to-them)

Lady Pomona mediates between her husband and daughters, conveying the invitation from the Melmottes and worrying about the family's social standing.

### [Miss Longestaffe's Lover](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/chapters/lx-miss-longestaffe-s-lover)

Georgiana's mother, old-fashioned and prejudiced against Jews; Georgiana fears telling her.

### [Miss Longestaffe Again at Caversham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/chapters/lxxviii-miss-longestaffe-again-at-caversham)

Deeply distressed by Georgiana's engagement to a Jew; withdraws from her daughter and supports Sophia's wedding preparations.

### [The Brehgert Correspondence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/chapters/lxxix-the-brehgert-correspondence)

Georgiana's mother, unsympathetic to her daughter's plight and dismissive of the idea of going abroad.

### [The Longestaffe Marriages](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/chapters/xcv-the-longestaffe-marriages)

Struggles to manage Georgiana's ill-humour and the tension in the household; learns of Georgiana's walks with Mr. Batherbolt but postpones telling her husband.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/characters/lady_pomona_longestaffe
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_we_live_now_se/characters