Editing Arthur Sullivan (section)

===Romantic life===
[[File:fanny ronalds 2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Fanny Ronalds]]|alt=Photo of Ronalds from the waist up, facing the camera. She is handsome and well-dressed, with a fur collar and an "up" hairdo.]]
Sullivan never married, but he had serious love affairs with several women. The first was with Rachel Scott Russell (1845–1882), the daughter of the engineer [[John Scott Russell]]. Sullivan was a frequent visitor at the Scott Russell home in the mid-1860s, and by 1865 the affair was in full bloom. Rachel's parents did not approve of a possible union with a young composer of uncertain financial prospects, but the two continued to see each other covertly. At some point in 1868 Sullivan started a simultaneous (and secret) affair with Rachel's sister Louise (1841–1878). Both relationships ended by early 1869.<ref>Ainger, p. 87; and Jacobs, pp. 53–55.</ref>{{refn| Some two hundred love letters from the two Scott Russell women survive and are excerpted in detail in Wolfson.<ref>Wolfson, ''passim''</ref>|group= n}}

Sullivan's longest love affair was with the American socialite [[Fanny Ronalds]], a woman three years his senior, who had two children.<ref name=ainger128>Ainger, pp. 128–129</ref> He met her in Paris around 1867, and the affair began in earnest soon after she moved to London in 1871.<ref name=ainger128/> According to a contemporary description of Ronalds, "Her face was perfectly divine in its loveliness, her features small and exquisitely regular. Her hair was a dark shade of brown – ''châtain foncé'' [deep chestnut] – and very abundant&nbsp;... a lovely woman, with the most generous smile one could possibly imagine, and the most beautiful teeth."<ref>Quoted in Jacobs, p. 88</ref> Sullivan called her "the best amateur singer in London".<ref>Ainger, p. 167</ref> She often performed Sullivan's songs at her famous Sunday soirées.<ref name=ainger128/> She became particularly associated with "The Lost Chord", singing it both in private and in public, often with Sullivan accompanying her.<ref>Ainger, p. 135</ref> When Sullivan died, he left her the autograph manuscript of that song, along with other bequests.<ref>Ainger, p. 390</ref>

Ronalds was separated from her American husband, but they never divorced. Social conventions of the time compelled Sullivan and Ronalds to keep their relationship private.{{refn|In Sullivan's diary, she appears as "Mrs. Ronalds" when he refers to their meetings in public, and "L. W." (for "Little Woman") or "D. H." (possibly "Dear Heart") for when they were alone together. When noting their private meetings, Sullivan indicated with tick marks the number of sexual acts completed. After the relationship with Ronalds had ceased to be sexual the tick marks no longer appeared alongside mentions of her, but continued to be used for his relationships with other women who have not been identified, and who were always referred to by their initials.<ref>Jacobs, p. 161; and Ainger, p. 177</ref>|group= n}} She apparently became pregnant at least twice and procured abortions in 1882 and 1884.<ref>Jacobs, pp. 178, 203–204; and Ainger, pp. 210 and 237–238</ref> Sullivan had a roving eye, and his diary records the occasional quarrels when Ronalds discovered his other liaisons, but he always returned to her.{{refn|One such flirtation was with "Anna", whom he met in Paris in 1878.<ref>Jacobs, p. 20</ref>|group= n}} Around 1889 or 1890 the sexual relationship evidently ended – he started to refer to her in his diary as "Auntie"<ref>Jacobs, p. 295</ref> – but she remained a constant companion for the rest of his life.<ref>Ainger, pp. 306 and 342</ref>

In 1896 the 54-year-old Sullivan proposed marriage to the 22-year-old Violet Beddington (1874–1962), but she refused him.<ref>Ainger, pp. 364–365</ref>{{refn|Beddington later married [[Sydney Schiff]], who used elements of her relationship with Sullivan in his 1925 novel ''Myrtle''. She was the younger sister of [[Ada Leverson|Ada Beddington]].<ref>Whitworth, Michael H. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/40728 "Schiff, Sydney Alfred (1868–1944)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, January 2008, accessed 26 October 2012 {{ODNBsub}}; and Usher, David A. "In Search of Miss Violet: The Personal Journey of a Gilbert & Sullivan Devotee", ''GASBAG'', Friends of the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Volume XLIV, No. 1, Issue 259, Summer 2013, pp. 24–29</ref><ref name="Jacobs">Jacobs, p. 371</ref>|group= n}}