Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair: Difference between revisions
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Lord Aberdeen was a Liberal and a member of the [[House of Lords]], and Lady Aberdeen supported him by hosting social events. An intelligent and determined woman, she soon established her own political life as an activist. Because of political obligations, the family divided their time between London and their Scottish estate in [[Aberdeenshire]]. They called their home [[Haddo House]], and it was here that Lady Aberdeen began her involvement with social reforms. She organized a Household Club that held classes for servants to learn singing, carving, reading, and other activities. The Aberdeens often attended their servants’ evening socials and meetings, and in London society it was rumoured that they had even dined together. They also funded a local school and hospital—healthcare was a cause that Lady Aberdeen supported throughout her life.<ref>Slater, "The Noble Patroness Lady Aberdeen," 166.</ref>
Lady Aberdeen's influence also extended beyond her country estate. She established the Onwards and Upward Association, which provided servant girls with postal courses on topics ranging from geography to literature to domestic science. This program spread from Aberdeenshire to include thousands of servants.<ref>Slater, "The Noble Patroness Lady Aberdeen," 167.</ref> Lady Aberdeen founded the Aberdeen Ladies' Union, an institution to help young women in Scotland<ref>https://ottawa1.one/uk/eternal/rivni-prava-ta-mozhlyvosti-yak-naczionalna-rada-zhinok-v-ottavi-zminyla-stavlennya-do-slabkoyi-stati-2177</ref>. In 1883 she became the first president of the Ladies’ Union of Aberdeen, an organization that focused on the well-being of young women living in cities. An Emigration Committee chose suitable women and sponsored them to move to the colonies, especially [[Canada]].<ref>Shackleton, ''Ishbel and the Empire'', 99.</ref> Lady Aberdeen was also the head of the Women's Liberal Federation, which advocated for women's suffrage.<ref>Val McLeish, "Sunshine and sorrows: Canada, Ireland and Lady Aberdeen," in ''Colonial Lives Across the British Empire: Imperial careering in the long nineteenth century'', David Lambert and Alan Lester (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 261. {{ISBN|9780521612371}}</ref>
Her commitment to housing improvement and fascination with the work of [[Octavia Hill]] is recorded by her daughter Baroness Pentland who wrote in a 1952 biography of her mother: 'In February 1939 she presided at the showing (for the first time outside London) of a centenary exhibition illustrating the life of Hill's work which had been brought north and explained by [[Lupton family|Miss Anne Lupton]]'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pentland |first1=Baroness |title= A Bonnie Fechter: The Illustrated Life of Ishbel Marjoribanks, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair |date=1952 |publisher=Batsford |page=231 |url=https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/A_Bonnie_Fechter/fHYKAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=London+Housing+Centre++Anne+Lupton&dq=London+Housing+Centre++Anne+Lupton&printsec=frontcover |access-date=29 September 2022|quote=[Ishbel] presided at the showing (for the first time outside London) of a centenary exhibition illustrating the life of Hill's work which had been brought north and explained by Miss Anne Lupton. Ishbel presided at its opening on March 2nd...}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Octavia Hill Exhibition To Visit Aberdeen |url=https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/results?memberlastsubclass=none&searchhistorykey=0&keywords=octavia%20hill%20%20%20lady%20aberdeen%20lupton&from=1935&to=1939 |access-date=29 September 2022 |publisher=Aberdeen Press and Journal |date=9 February 1939 |quote=OCTAVIA HILL EXHIBITION TO VISIT ABERDEEN ...yesterday... Lady Aberdeen opened the proceedings. which were carried on... [Also – The Scotsman Midlothian, Scotland 8 Mar 1939 OCTAVIA HILL – Edinburgh Exhibition HOUSING PIONEER ...In many ways Miss Octavia Hill was far ahead of us, even to-day, said Miss A. M. Lupton, vice-chairman of the Housing Centre, London, when yesterday morning she outlined the career of Octavia...]}}</ref>
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