Elizabeth Herbert, Baroness Herbert of Lea
Mary Elizabeth Herbert, Baroness Herbert of Lea (née Ashe à Court-Repington; 21 July 1822 – 30 October 1911), known simply as Elizabeth Herbert, was an English Roman Catholic writer, translator, philanthropist, and influential social figure.
Life[]
1st Baron Herbert
Born in 1822 at Richmond, Surrey, she was the daughter of Mary Elizabeth Gibbs (d. 1878), daughter of a West Indies planter,[1] and Charles Ashe à Court-Repington. In August 1846, aged 24, she married the young politician, Sidney Herbert, second son of the 11th Earl of Pembroke. Herbert is said to have had a five-year affair in the early 1840s, with author and social reformer Caroline Norton, but they separated since she was unable to obtain a divorce.[2] Elizabeth adopted her husband's politics and became a Peelite.
The Herberts first met Florence Nightingale whilst traveling in Italy in 1848.[3] When Sidney was made Secretary at War during the Crimean War, Elizabeth became an ally of Nightingale.[4]
In 1861 Sidney Herbert died, shortly after being created Baron Herbert of Lea, leaving her a widow with three daughter and four sons. Lady Herbert of Lea became a Roman Catholic convert at Palermo in 1866, practising as an "ardent Ultramontane", under the influence of her intimate friend, Cardinal Manning. Only her eldest daughter, Mary, followed her into the Catholic faith; in 1873, Lady Mary married Friedrich von Hügel.[5]
She disliked "of Lea" as an addition to her title, and never used it, becoming known as "Lady Lightning" for her efficiency and ardour working for Catholic charities and interests. She worked in partnership with Cardinal Vaughan for St Joseph's Foreign Missionary College, Mill Hill Park, London, which was opened in 1869. The missionary students at Mill Hill became the focus of her life and work. When she died in London in 1911, she was buried along with Vaughan at Mill Hill, where her tomb bore the simple epitaph, 'The Mother of the Mill'.
Social figure[]
49 Belgrave Square
The Herberts lived at Number 49 in fashionable Belgrave Square, which Baron Herbert named "Belgrave Villa".[6]
Lady Herbert was the intimate friend and correspondent of many eminent Victorians, including politicians, such as Benjamin Disraeli, Palmerston and Gladstone; reformers, such as Florence Nightingale; and leaders in the Roman Catholic revival, such as Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Vaughan and Cardinal Manning. She figures as Lady Chiselhurst in William Hurrell Mallock's novel, The Old Order Changes (1886), and as Lady St Jerome in Disraeli's roman à clef, Lothair (1870). Disraeli described her as:
She was the daughter of a Protestant house, but, during a residence at Rome after her marriage, she had reverted to the ancient faith, which she professed with the enthusiastic convictions of a convert. Her whole life was dedicated to the triumph of the Catholic cause; and, being a woman of considerable intelligence and of an ardent mind, she had become a recognised power in the great confederacy which has so much influenced the human race, and which has yet to play perhaps a mighty part in the fortunes of the world.
Lady Herbert was a familiar figure in Rome, which she visited annually until almost the close of her long life.
Writings[]
- Impressions of Spain in 1866 (Richard Bentley, 1867)
- Cradle Lands (travels in Egypt and Palestine) (1867)
- Wives and Mothers of the Olden Time (1871)
- A Search after Sunshine, or Algeria in 1871 (Bentley, 1872)
- Wayside Tales (1880)
- Edith (autobiographical novel)
Besides these she wrote several stories, some of them autobiographical, articles (many contributed to the Dublin Review), and a number of biographies and biographical essays, mostly of religious figures, which were translated or paraphrased from French originals. The latter included biographies of St. Monica, St. John Baptist de Rossi, Bishop Félix Dupanloup, St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Garcia Moreno, Frédéric-François-Xavier Ghislain de Mérode, Sister Apolline Andreveau DC, etc.:[4]
- Three Phases of Christian Love (St Monica, Mlle Victorine de Galard Terraube, Ven. Mère Devos) (translated, 1866)
- Devin, A., Abyssinia and its Apostle (life of Saint Justin de Jacobis) (London: Burns and Oates, 1867)
- Berthe, P. Augustine, Garcia Moreno, President of Ecuador, 1821–1875, abridged edition translated from the French (London: Burns and Oates, 1889)
- Lagrange, F., Life of Monseigneur Dupanloup: Bishop of Orléans (translated)
References[]
- ↑ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
- ↑ "Florence Nightingale : 1820-1910 : Woodham Smith, Cecil, 1896-1977 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming" (in en). https://archive.org/details/florencenighting00wood.
- ↑ "Sir Sidney (1810-1861) and Elizabeth (1822-1911) Herbert", Florence Nightingale Museum
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Thurston, Herbert. "Lady Elizabeth Herbert of Lea." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 16 (Index). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1914. 13 June 2019
- ↑ Bedoyère, Michael de la (1951), The Life of Baron von Hügel, London: J. M. Dent & Sons. p. 9
- ↑ "Argentine Ambassador's Residence" (in en). https://www.timeout.com/london/museums/argentine-ambassadors-residence.
External links[]
Media related to Elizabeth Herbert, Baroness Herbert of Lea on Wikimedia Commons
This article incorporates text from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913, a publication now in the public domain.
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Elizabeth Herbert, Baroness Herbert of Lea. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. |