First marriage
After the brief flirtation with Disraeli, she escaped her unhappy home life through marriage in 1833, at the age of twenty-one. Her husband, John Josiah Guest, was a prominent industrialist and ironmaster (owner of the Dowlais Iron Company, the largest of its day) and the first member of parliament from the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. He was much older than she was; 49 to her 21. The couple married on 29 July 1833 and moved to a newly built mansion in Dowlais in Merthyr Tydfil. Though Guest was member of parliament for Merthyr, extremely wealthy, and of good family, he was much lower in status than his aristocratic wife, which caused her significant social strain. Despite this they remained married until his death in 1852, and Charlotte was mainly very happy in her marriage. She bore ten children:
Charlotte Maria Guest (1834–1902), who married Richard Du Cane (d. 1904), brother of Edmund Frederick Du Cane.
Ivor Bertie Guest (1835–1914), who married Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill (1847–1927), daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough
Katharine Gwladys Guest (1837–1926), who married the Reverend Frederick Cecil Alderson (d. 1907), son of Sir Edward Hall Alderson
Thomas Merthyr Guest (1838–1904), who married the writer and philanthropist Lady Theodora Grosvenor (1840–1924), daughter of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster
Montague John Guest (1839–1909), a Liberal politician, who never married.
Augustus Frederick Guest (1840–1862), who died aged 21.
Arthur Edward Guest (1841–1898), a Conservative politician, who married Adeline Mary Chapman (d. 1931)
Mary Enid Evelyn Guest (1843–1912), who married Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894).
Constance Rhiannon Guest (1844–1916), who married Hon. Charles George Cornwallis Eliot (1839–1901), youngest son of Edward Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans
Blanche Vere Guest (1847–1919), who married Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough (1851–1920).
She took an enthusiastic interest in her husband's philanthropic activities on behalf of the local community, and they built pioneering schools for their workers, as well as piping in clean water for their cottages when this was still a very new technology. She was increasingly trusted by her husband as his assistant at the ironworks, and she acted as his representative for the company. She translated technical documents from French. John Guest was created a baronet in 1838, due in no small part to his wife's social engineering. The decline of Josiah's health meant that Charlotte spent more time administering the business and took it over completely following his death in 1852. She negotiated strikes and a slump, and stood up to other foundry owners, stabilising the business until in 1855 she could hand on the business to her eldest son, Ivor, and the manager G. T. Clark.
Guest, with her contemporary and friend Lady Llanover, was a patron of the arts in Wales. Her Enid was a literary influence on Tennyson, and her theories and sources influenced European artists, poets and writers. She published, promoted and translated of the books of The Mabinogion, with her 1877 single volume edition of the English translation being adopted as part of the Everyman series in 1902. Further editions were published during the 20th century. In 2004 the work was published online by the Gutenberg project, and in 2008 Colin Jones published recordings with music. Modern translations of The Mabinogion include John Bollard's series (2007–2010) and that of Sioned Davies (2008).
