William Gosling

William Gosling

Portrayed by Tom Sturridge
Full Name	William Augustus Gosling
Associated Noble House(s)	Dukedom of Leighton
Date of Birth	August 29, 1782
Father	Andrew Gosling
Father's Rank	Duke of Leighton
Mother	Sophia Gosling
Mother's Rank	Duchess of Leighton
Town Residence	Gosling House, Park Street
School	{{{school}}}
University	{{{university}}}
Profession	Gentleman of Leisure

History

1811

Week of 6 May

On Tuesday Will attends the theatre and glimpses Kate Steele who is being chatted up by Nathaniel Scarborough. . Wednesday finds him at Almacks with his brother. He stands up with Miss Lazenby. They trade barbs. . He also, perversely, snatches Annabelle Beacham away from his brother for a set . The next day, William is chuffed to receive a note from Kate Steele inviting him to join her for a game of backgammon. . Naturally, he answers her summons. They finally 'play backgammon' (spawning a treasured euphamism on the board.)

Week of 13 May

On Tuesday evening William and Nick (and the whole rest of London) attend the ridotto at Vauxhall. There he runs into a girl who will not give her name and then his cousin Catherine . Though he was meant to dine with Lord and Lady Coke, he instead follows Catherine to greet the Duke and Duchess of Leicester, interrupting their dinner with the Mulhollands . Afterwards, he gets very drunk and ends up roaring up at the bedroom window of a lover,Eliza Atwood, at 5 in the morning.

By the time they arrive at the Fitzgerald Ball, he Gosling brothers are barely on speaking terms. Will dances the first with Camille Thornton, a widow and an ex-lover, largely because he imagines it will irritate his brother . He has the second dance with Jemima Palmer -- who reminds him far too much of Kate . After the second dance he see and requests an introduction to the Russian Lady Avreya Voronstova. They flirt outrageously and he ends up promising to fetch her a red rose from the house's gardens, despite the rain and then asks her to meet him after the 7th dance, in the library . Her chaperone having tried and failed to arrange for her to stand up with the Duke of Leighton, Lunete d'Aubin dances the third with William .

Relationships

Romantic entanglements

A brief history of William Gosling's more material lovers. A work in progress, naturally.
Marion Swift (summer 1808), Cassie's sister, a closely-held secret.
Cecily _____
Diana Harper
Camille Thornton (winter 1810/1811), widowed, heartbroken countess encountered at a hunting party weekend
Clare Satchwell (summer, 1811), his landlord's wife.
Eliza Atwood (summer 1811), very freshly widowed baroness, needy lover, laudanum addict.
Sarah Bainbridge (summer 1811), a debutante whose parents really ought to have chaperoned her better.
Katharine Steele (summer, 1811) another widowed countess, and a feisty one.