{{Infobox noble , honorific_prefix =

Lady The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inf ...

, name = Isobel Constance Mary {{no-wrap, Gathorne-Hardy , honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals, country=GBR, size=100%, DCVO , title = , image = File:Lady Isobel Constance Mary Gathorne-Hardy.jpg , caption = Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy (1897) , alt = , CoA = , more = no , spouse = Francis Gathorne-Hardy , spouse-type = , issue = Elizabeth Constance Mary Gathorne-Hardy , issue-link = , issue-pipe = , full name = , native_name = , styles = , other_titles = Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order , noble family = Stanley , house-type = , father =

Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908) styled as Hon. Frederick Stanley from 1844 to 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United K ...

, mother = Constance Villiers , birth_name = Isobel Constance Mary Stanley , birth_date = {{Birth date, 1875, 9, 2 , birth_place = , christening_date = , christening_place = , death_date = {{Death date and age, 1963, 12, 30, 1875, 9, 2 , death_place =

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England , burial_date = , burial_place = , religion = , occupation = , memorials = , website = , module = Lady Isobel Constance Mary Gathorne-Hardy {{post-nominals, country=GBR, DCVO ({{Nee, Stanley; September 2, 1875 – December 30, 1963) was a British

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...

, best known for helping to popularize

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

in the early days of the sport in Canada. The daughter of

Lord Stanley of Preston Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908) styled as Hon. Frederick Stanley from 1844 to 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party po ...

, former

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm ...

, and Lady Constance Villiers, she was one of the earliest European women known to have played the sport. Today, she is celebrated as an early pioneer of women's ice hockey and the championship trophy of the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and h ...

(PHF) is called the

Isobel Cup The Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Cup, often shortened to Isobel Cup, is the championship trophy awarded annually to the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) playoff winner. It is named after Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy, one of the first known women to ...

in her honor.

Personal life

Lady Isobel Stanley was the second-youngest of ten children born to Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby and Constance Villiers. Two of her siblings died before Isobel was born: Geoffrey,

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

's twin, died on 16 March 1871 and her elder sister, Katherine Mary, died young in October of the same year. Isobel Stanley grew up in an active environment with her seven brothers. In 1897, she married General Sir (John) Francis Gathorne-Hardy, a younger son of

John Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook (22 March 1839 – 13 July 1911), known as Lord Medway from 1892 to 1906, was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament. Born John Stewart Hardy, Cranbrook was the eldest son of the Co ...

and Cicely Ridgway. She retained her title upon marriage as the daughter of an earl and took on the family name of her husband, being styled Lady Gathorne-Hardy. They had one child, a daughter named Elizabeth Constance Mary Gathorne-Hardy (1904–1953). Lady Gathorne-Hardy served in the Royal Household as a

Woman of the Bedchamber In the Royal Household of the United Kingdom the term Woman of the Bedchamber is used to describe a woman (usually a daughter of a peer) attending either a queen regnant or queen consort, in the role of lady-in-waiting. Historically the term 'Ge ...

to Queen Mary during 1914 to 1920. In 1945,

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

appointed her Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for her service to the royal family.

Ice hockey

Stanley shared her father's and brothers' love of the game of ice hockey and was instrumental in convincing her father to create the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

. Stanley played hockey while she was in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, playing on the outdoor rink at Rideau Hall. After the opening of the

Rideau Skating Rink The Rideau Skating Rink was an indoor skating and curling facility located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Consisting of a curling rink and a skating rink, it was one of the first indoor rinks in Canada. The Rideau Rink was scheduled to open on Janu ...

, she organized one of the first games of women's hockey on record in 1890. Rideau-rink-1904

Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Award

Lady Isobel Stanley Gathorne-Hardy's role as a pioneer of women's ice hockey in Canada is acknowledged with the Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Award. The award is presented by

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

to an active player (at any level) whose values, leadership and personal traits are representative of all female athletes. {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - style="background:#d00c27; color:#fff;" , Year , , Winner, , Province , - , 2000, , Linda Irving, , Prince Edward Island , - , 2001, , Julie Foster, , Saskatchewan , - , 2002 , ,

Andria Hunter Andria Hunter (born December 22, 1967) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and former member of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team and national inline hockey team. In 1994, she created the websitwhockey.com one of the earliest s ...

, , Ontario , - , 2003, , Tanya Leone, , British Columbia , - , 2004, , Jane Legacé , , - , 2005, ,

Cathy Phillips Cathy Phillips (born August 7, 1960) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and coach. A seventeen-season goaltender in the Central Ontario Women's Hockey League (COWHL), she also played with the Canadian women's national ice hockey team. Phi ...

, Ontario , - , 2006, , Melanie McFarlane , , - , 2007, , Karen Mamchuk , , - , 2009 , , Charla Currie , , - , 2011 , , Nancy MacMillan , , Prince Edward Island , - , 2012 , ,

Jordan Krause Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River ...

, , British Columbia , - , 2013 , ,

Caroline Ouellette Caroline Ouellette (born May 25, 1979) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and current associate head coach of the Concordia Stingers women's ice hockey program. She was a member of the Canadian national women's ice hockey team and a member ...

, , Québec , - , 2014 , ,

Lisa-Marie Breton Lisa-Marie Breton (born August 3, 1977) is an assistant coach with Les Canadiennes de Montréal (formerly Montreal Stars). For the 2010–11 Montreal CWHL season, Breton is the team captain. Breton has also competed for the Canada women's natio ...

, , Québec , - , 2015 , ,

Mallory Deluce Mallory Deluce (born April 13, 1989) is a Canadian ice hockey forward for the Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey program. She was drafted 11th overall by Toronto CWHL in the 2011 CWHL Draft. She was named to the Canadian National Wome ...

, , Ontario , - , 2016, , Toni Ross, , Saskatchewan , - , 2017 , , Natasha Esquivel, , Manitoba , - , 2018, , MacKenna Parker, , Saskatchewan , - , 2019, , , , , - , 2020, , Ève Gascon, , Québec , - , 2021, ,

Marie-Philip Poulin Marie-Philip Poulin-Nadeau (born March 28, 1991) is a Canadian ice hockey forward, currently with the PWHPA and who serves as captain of the Canadian national team. A three-time Olympic and three-time World champion with the Canadian national ...

, , Québec

Isobel Cup

The championship trophy of the

(PHF) is called the

in her honor.{{Cite web, url=https://www.nwhl.zone/icp, title=Isobel Cup, website=National Women's Hockey League, language=en-us, access-date=2018-05-17, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517152949/https://www.nwhl.zone/icp, archive-date=May 17, 2018, url-status=dead {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - style="background:#D00C27; color:#fff;" , Year , , Winner, , MVP , - , 2016, , Boston Pride, ,

Brianna Decker Brianna Decker (born May 13, 1991) is an American women's ice hockey player who plays for the Calgary section of the PWHPA and the United States women's national ice hockey team. She won the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Award while playing for the Univer ...

, - , 2017, ,

Buffalo Beauts The Buffalo Beauts are a professional ice hockey team based in Amherst, New York, United States. The team was established in 2015 as one of the four founding franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), originally named the National Women ...

, ,

Brianne McLaughlin Brianne Lea McLaughlin (born June 20, 1987) is an American ice hockey goaltender. During her career, she played for the United States women's national ice hockey team and the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). Playing ...

, - , 2018, ,

Metropolitan Riveters The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) are a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink. They were one of the four charter franchi ...

, ,

Alexa Gruschow Alexa Gruschow is an American-born women's ice hockey player that won the scoring title during the 2017-18 NWHL season. She was also a member of the Metropolitan Riveters franchise that won the 2018 Isobel Cup. Playing career NCAA With the Rens ...

, - , 2019, ,

Minnesota Whitecaps The Minnesota Whitecaps are a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF; formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League). They play in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, a ...

, ,

Lee Stecklein Lee Ethel Stecklein (born April 23, 1994) is an American ice hockey defenseman and member of the US national team, currently playing in the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) with Team Harvey's. She has represented the Unit ...

, - , 2021, , Boston Pride, ,

Jillian Dempsey Jillian T. Dempsey (born January 19, 1991) is an American ice hockey player who currently captains the Boston Pride in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the all-time PHF records for games played, goals, assists, and point ...

References

{{Reflist {{DEFAULTSORT:Gathorne-Hardy, Isobel 1875 births 1963 deaths Canadian women's ice hockey players

Isobel Isobel, is the Scottish form of the female given name Isabel. It originates from the medieval form of the name Elisabeth (Hebrew Elisheba). Isobel is a feminine given name. People named Isobel include: * Isobel of Huntingdon (1199-1251), Scottish ...

Daughters of British earls Women of the Bedchamber Dames Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Wives of knights