Louise Ernestine Howard, Lady Howard (''née'' Matthaei; 26 December 1880 – 11 March 1969) was a classics scholar, international civil servant and supporter of

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

Early life and career

Born at

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, she was the fourth daughter and the youngest of five children of the commission merchant Carl Hermann Ernst Matthaei and the musician Louise Henriette Elizabeth Sueur. Her eldest sister was the botanist

Gabrielle Howard Gabrielle Louise Caroline Howard (née Matthaei; 3 October 1876 – 18 August 1930), usually cited as G. L. C. Matthaei, was an English plant physiologist and economic botanist who advocated organic farming. Education and photosynthesis ...

. The family was of German, French and Swiss ancestry. Howard attended

South Hampstead High School ) , established = as St. Johns Wood School , closed = , type = Independent day school , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , head ...

and

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

. After obtaining a number of scholarships and prizes, she graduated with

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in both parts of the classical

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

and eventually obtained a research fellowship. Howard was seen as a strict but encouraging and sympathetic teacher, having been appointed lecturer and director of studies in classics at Newnham College in 1909. Following the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the half-German Howard, a supporter of the

Spartacus League The Spartacus League (German: ''Spartakusbund'') was a Marxism, Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the "International Group" by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, ...

, attempted to procure an understanding of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and fight against collective paranoia. She was dismissed by the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

because her father was German. In 1918, Howard became an assistant to

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own work ...

. She is alleged to have been the historical model for Miss Kilman, the repulsive and over-educated woman in Virginia Woolfe's famous novel

Mrs Dalloway ''Mrs. Dalloway'' is a novel by Virginia Woolf, published on 14 May 1925, that details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional upper-class woman in post-First World War England. It is one of Woolf's best-known novels. The working ...

. Two years later, in Geneva, she successfully completed examination and joined the agricultural section of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

. In 1924, she became its chief.

Marriage

In 1931, she married her brother-in-law,

Albert Howard Sir Albert Howard (8 December 187320 October 1947) was an English botanist. His academic background might have been botany. While working in India he was generally considered a Pathologist; this more than likely being the reason for his consist ...

, a botanist and widower of her sister Gabrielle who had died the previous year. Albert Howard had no children by either wife By getting involved in her husband's campaign against the use of chemicals in agriculture, she continued her sister's support for his work, becoming known as Lady Howard when he received a knighthood in 1934. In the 1930s and 1940s, Lady Howard helped Germans fleeing from the Nazi regime. After her husband's death in 1947, she founded the Albert Howard Foundation, which merged with the

Soil Association The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods. It was establis ...

in 1953. Lady Howard was honorary vice president of the latter until her death in

Blackheath, London Blackheath is an area in Southeast London, straddling the border of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located northeast of Lewisham, south of Greenwich and southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional ce ...

, in 1969.

Publications

* ''The Lover of the Nations'', 1915. * ''Studies in Greek Tragedy'', 1918. * ''Labour in Agriculture, an International Survey'', 1935. * ''What Country Women Use'', 1939 (together with

Beryl Hearnden Beryl "Beb" Hearnden (1897 – 22 January 1978) was an English progressive farmer, journalist and author. Biography From 1919 to about 1951, Beryl Hearnden lived with Lady Eve Balfour in a farming cooperative. They met through Balfour's sister, ...

) * ''Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease'', 1945 (together with Sir Albert). * ''The Earth's Green Carpet'', 1947. * ''Sir Albert Howard in India'', 1953.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Louise 1880 births 1959 deaths English people of German descent People from Kensington Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge Classics educators English agronomists Wives of knights