Louisa Caroline Baring, Lady Ashburton (; 5 March 1827 – 2 February 1903), was a Scottish art collector and philanthropist who had close connections with several artistic and literary figures of the period.

Early life

Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie was born on 5 March 1827 at Seaforth Lodge,

Stornoway Stornoway (; gd, Steòrnabhagh; sco, Stornowa) is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it by far the largest town in the Outer Hebrides, as well a ...

, on the

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis ( gd, Eilean Leòdhais) or simply Lewis ( gd, Leòdhas, ) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as ...

, Scotland, the youngest daughter and sixth child of

James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie (23 September 1784 – 24 September 1843) was a Scottish politician and British colonial administrator. Early life He was born James Alexander Stewart on 23 September 1784. James was the son of the former Geor ...

(1784–1843), a Scottish politician and British colonial administrator, and his wife

Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie (27 March 1783 – 28 November 1862) was the eldest daughter and heiress of Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth. Also known as "Lady Hood Mackenzie", or by the sobriquet "The Hooded Lassie", she was married i ...

(1783–1862), known as "The Hooded Lassie". Her name Louisa honoured the isle of her birth. Her early childhood was spent at Brahan Castle near

Dingwall Dingwall ( sco, Dingwal, gd, Inbhir Pheofharain ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest cast ...

, which her mother had inherited from the Seaforth family. In adolescence, she lived in Ceylon (now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

), while her father was governor and then in 1841, the family moved to

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, Greece, when he became

Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands The Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands was the local representative of the British government in the United States of the Ionian Islands between 1816 and 1864, succeeding the earlier office of the Civil Commissioner of the Ionian Island ...

. Upon his death in 1843 the family returned to Brahan Castle, where Louisa lived until her marriage. Of fiery temper, insatiable restlessness, and socially ambitious, she collected paintings and important friends with an almost manic need. In her youth, Louisa studied drawing with

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

, who saw her as a romantic young girl, with a desperate desire to marry. Among her notable friends were

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

, to whom she at one time unsuccessfully proposed marriage,

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...

, whose attentions she rejected,

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

and

Pauline, Lady Trevelyan Pauline, Lady Trevelyan (''née'' Paulina Jermyn; Trevelyan, Raleigh (1978); ''A Pre-Raphaelite Circle'', p.7; Chatto & Windus, London; 1st edition. 25 January 1816, Hawkedon, Suffolk13 May 1866, Neuchâtel, Switzerland) was an English painter ...

Art collection

Lady Ashburton was known for amassing a large collection of art works and distributing them among her residences at Seaforth Lodge, Melchet Court in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, and Kent House in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

, London. Though no inventory existed, among the known works were sketches,

watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

and sculptures by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

, Mantegna,

Rossetti The House of Rossetti is an Italian noble, and Boyar Princely family appearing in the 14th-15th century, originating among the patrician families, during the Republic of Genoa, with branches of the family establishing themselves in the Kingdom o ...

, W. L. Leitch,

Harriet Hosmer Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (October 9, 1830 – February 21, 1908) was a neoclassical sculptor, considered the most distinguished female sculptor in America during the 19th century. She is known as the first female professional sculptor. Among other ...

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

G. F. Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...

Marochetti Baron Pietro Carlo Giovanni Battista Marochetti (14 January 1805 – 29 December 1867) was an Italian-born French sculptor who worked in France, Italy and Britain. He completed many public sculptures, often in a neo-classical style, plus re ...

and

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

. When she tired of collecting, Lady Ashburton became an advocate for

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

and a benefactor to several noted charities, including the Ashburton Home of Rest and the

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

Mission to Seamen, as well as several clean water initiatives and charitable societies affiliated with religious organizations. The collection was bought by a syndicate of London art dealers in 1907 to be further sold.

Personal life

On 17 November 1858 Louisa married the widowed

Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton William Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton, (June 1799 – 23 March 1864) was a British businessman and a Whig politician who later became a Tory. Background and education William Bingham Baring was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June ...

(1799–1864), a member of the

Baring family The Baring family is a German and British family of merchants and bankers. In Germany, the family belongs to the ''Bildungsbürgertum'', and in England, it belongs to the aristocracy. History The family's earliest known ancestor is Peter Baring ...

of merchants and bankers. His first wife,

Lady Harriet Mary Montagu Harriet Mary Baring, Baroness Ashburton (née Lady Harriet Montagu) (14 May 1805 – 4 May 1857) was a socialite and hostess. She was born in 1805 to George Montagu, 6th Earl of Sandwich and Louisa Montagu, Countess of Sandwich. She married W ...

(eldest daughter of

George Montagu, 6th Earl of Sandwich George John Montagu, 6th Earl of Sandwich (4 February 1773 – 21 May 1818) was the son of John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich and Lady Mary Henrietta Powlett. He was styled Viscount Hinchingbrooke from 1790 until in 1814 when, his elder ha ...

), had died the previous year. Together, they were the parents of: * Mary Florence Baring (1860–1902), who was named after

, a close friend of Louisa. She was married to

William Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton William George Spencer Scott Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton, KG (23 April 1851 – 15 June 1913), known as Lord William Compton from 1877 to 1887 and as Earl Compton from 1887 to 1897, was a British peer and Liberal politician. Early li ...

, in 1884, becoming the Marchioness of Northampton. After a year of ill health, Lord Ashburton died in 1864. Lady Ashburton subsequently had an intimate relationship with the American sculptor

, whose studio she first came to in the spring of 1867. Hosmer recalled being immediately smitten by Lady Ashburton's "statuesque beauty" and compared her to a goddess, writing, "There was the same square-cut and grandiose features, whose classic beauty was humanized by a pair of keen dark eyes." Lady Ashburton ordered several pieces of Hosmer's work and soon became a patron. The relationship changed from friendship to romance in the spring of 1868 when the two took a trip to

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

, Italy. The apparent exclusivity Harriet longed for was threatened by several relationships Louisa had, notably by an approximately three-year involvement with the poet

, and by a complicated relationship she had with her daughter's tutor, Margaret Trotter. And no matter how much Harriet liked to consider herself Louisa's "hubby", she, too, had occasional extra-relational involvements.

Philanthropy

In later life, Lady Ashburton funded a number of buildings with a Christian or social welfare function, including in 1899 Landford Wood Mission Hall, in the village of

Landford __NOTOC__ Landford is a village and civil parish southeast of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. To the south and east of the parish is the county of Hampshire and the New Forest National Park. The parish includes the small village of Nomansland a ...

on the edge of her Melchet Court estate.

Death and legacy

Lady Ashburton died of breast cancer on 2 February 1903, aged 75, at Kent House, Rutland Gardens,

Knightsbridge, London Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

. She is buried at Kinlochluichart Church,

Garve Garve () is a village on the Black Water river, in Ross-shire, and is in the Highland Council area of Scotland. It is situated northwest of Contin, on the A835, the main road to Ullapool on the west coast, close to where the A832 branches off ...

, Highland, Scotland. Her papers, along with those of other members of the Ashburton family have been deposited at the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. Due to her extensive correspondence with other notable figures, the archive is an important historic collection.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

(William) Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton (1799-1864), Statesman
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashburton, Louisa Baring, Lady 1827 births 1903 deaths 19th-century art collectors 19th-century Scottish women Louisa Bisexual women British baronesses British patrons of the arts Deaths from breast cancer Scottish LGBT people People from Stornoway Scottish philanthropists Scottish temperance activists Women art collectors Women of the Victorian era Women philanthropists 19th-century LGBT people 20th-century LGBT people