Katharine Russell, Viscountess Amberley
Viscountess Amberley | |
---|---|
Born | Katharine Louisa Stanley 3 April 1842 |
Died | 28 June 1874 | (aged 32)
Nationality | British |
Spouse | |
Children | 4, including Frank · Bertrand |
Parent(s) | Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley Henrietta Dillon-Lee |
Katharine Louisa Russell, Viscountess Amberley (née Stanley; 3 April 1842 – 28 June 1874),[1] often referred to as Kate, was a British suffragist and an early advocate of birth control in the United Kingdom. She was the mother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Family
Viscountess Amberley was the penultimate child of the politician
Lady Amberley had a sexual relationship with the biologist Douglas Spalding, her children's tutor, with her husband's consent. Spalding was encouraged to do research in the Amberleys' home, Cleddon Hall, Monmouthshire, with Lady Amberley as his assistant.[4] He suffered from tuberculosis and was not fit for marriage. According to their younger son, the Amberleys were concerned for his celibacy and "allowed him to live with her", though Russell wrote that he knew of "no evidence that she derived any pleasure from doing so". The exact nature of Lady Amberley's relationship with Spalding afterwards is unknown, as her mother-in-law found out about it and destroyed their journals and most of their correspondence shortly after Lord Amberley's death.[5]
Views
Lady Amberley was a suffragist and an early proponent of women's rights. She encouraged women to study medicine, providing a scholarship for the medicine student
Following a suffrage meeting held in Hanover Square Rooms in 1870, the Countess Russell told her son that she appreciated the fact that his wife had not taken part in it. The relief was unwarranted; Viscountess Amberley spoke out at the Mechanics Institute at Stroud on 25 May, prompting Queen Victoria to exclaim that "Lady Amberley ought to get a good whipping".[6][7]
Death
In 1874, Viscountess Amberley died of diphtheria caught from her daughter, who died five days later. Their deaths greatly affected Lord Amberley, whose decision to have their bodies cremated without religious ceremony shocked English society.[3][6] Lady Amberley's ashes were originally deposited in the grounds of their Wye Valley home along with those of her daughter. Shortly after her husband's death two years later, all three sets of remains were moved to the Russell family vault at St Michael's, Chenies.
References
- ^ Cracroft's Peerage — Russell, Earl (UK, 1861) (Accessed 23 February 2016)
- ISBN 1858215781.
- ^ a b c British Women's Emancipation since the Renaissance
- ISBN 978-0199586967.
- ISBN 0224030264.
- ^ ISBN 0415239265.
- ISBN 074480003X.
External links
- Media related to Katharine Russell, Viscountess Amberley at Wikimedia Commons
- Photographs of Lady Amberley
- Parents and grandparents of Bertrand Russell
- Lady Amberley's Ten Point Plan January 1871