Hortense was the wife of the Viscount, Lord Reginald Marmaduke Bracegirdle-Penwallow, who was the East India Trading Company Director of African affairs. She raised two children, Anna and Frederick in England. Her husband spent much of his life traveling for the EITC. Her husband bought a large plantation in New Avalon, in the Bahamas. However, it is never agreed that she will live there year-round. She suffered rheumatics during the winter so the temperature of the Caribbean would fit her better than London.