GILBERT, MARIE DOLORES ELIZA ROSANNA ["LoLA MoNTEZ"] (1818-1861), dancer and adventuress, the daughter of a British army officer, was born at Limerick, Ireland, in 1818. Her father dying in India when she was seven years old, and her mother marrying again, the child was sent to Europe to be educated, subsequently joining her mother at Bath. In she made a runaway match with a Captain James of the Indian army, and accompanied him to India. In 1842 she returned to England, and shortly afterwards her husband obtained a decree nisi for divorce. She studied dancing, making an unsuccessful first appearance at Her Majesty's theatre, London, in 1843, billed as "Lola Montez, Spanish dancer." Subsequently she appeared with considerable success in Germany, Poland and Russia. Thence she went to Paris, and in 1847 appeared at Munich, where she became the mistress of the old king of Bavaria, Ludwig I. She was naturalized, created comtesse de Landsfeld, and given an income of £2,000 a year. She soon proved herself the real ruler of Bavaria, adopting a liberal and anti-Jesuit policy. Her political opponents proved, however, too strong for her, and in 1848 she was banished. In 1849 she came to England, and in the same year was married to George Heald, a young officer in the Guards. In 1851 she appeared in America, and in 1853 Heald was drowned at Lisbon. Subsequently she appeared in Australia, but returned in 1857 to America, where she died on Jan. 17, 1861.
See E. B. D'Auvergne, Lola Montez (New York, 2909).