Mary "Molly" Katherine, Lady Trevelyan, (née Bell; 12 October 1881 – 1966) was a political hostess and voluntary worker. She was an active member of several organisations and she was on the founding committee of the

Council for the Preservation of Rural England CPRE, The Countryside Charity, formerly known by names such as the ''Council for the Preservation of Rural England'' and the ''Council for the Protection of Rural England'', is a charity in England with over 40,000 members and supporters. Forme ...

Life

Trevelyan was born in

Kirkleatham Kirkleatham is an area of Redcar in the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north-northwest of Guisborough, and south of Redcar centre. It was listed in the Domesday Book. The area has a collectio ...

in 1881. She was the last child of Sir (Thomas) Hugh Bell, second baronet and his second wife, Florence Bell (born Oliffe). Her father who was an

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

had been married before and he had two children including the explorer and diplomat

Gertrude Bell Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly ...

. Her mother was a playwright and writer who wrote for adults and children including the children's "Cat and Fiddle Book". left, Elsa and Mary Bell (later Lady Trevelyan) by Caroline Grosvenor In 1899

Caroline Grosvenor Caroline Susan Theodora Grosvenor CBE (née Stuart-Wortley; 15 June 1858 – 7 August 1940) was a British novelist, administrator and artist. She founded the Colonial Intelligence League for Educated Women and led the Women's Farm and Gard ...

created a portrait of her and her younger sister Florence (Elsa). The watercolour is still at Wallington Hall. In 1904 she became the President of the Northumberland Women's Liberal Association. She was a supporter of women's suffrage, and involved with the

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

and the

Associated Country Women of the World The Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) is the largest international organization for both rural and urban women, with a membership of nine million in over 70 countries. ACWW holds a triennial conference and publishes a magazine, ''The Cou ...

. She began a diary in 1898 and she kept these until 1917 as these are extant. In 1904 she recorded her marriage to Charles Trevelyan including an itemised list of gifts and givers that was published in the newspaper. When the

was created in 1926. She joined the CPRE's first committee helping to create descriptions of the organisations aims and objectives. The CPRE had been formed by a number of groups and this included the W.I. Trevelyan sat on the National Federation of Women's Institutes committee and she became their representative and a CPRE founding committee member. In 1928 her father in law died and they moved into

Wallington Hall Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated complete with the estate and farms by Sir Char ...

. In 1938 she had terrace created at the west end of the hall's garden. She recorded in her diary in 1939 that the tradition at Christmas was that the whole family would begin the day in their double bed at Wallingham before going to the main hall where simple presents would be laid out in age order. The Christmas lunch was prepared by the servants with her husband carving the turkey. In 1942, her socialist husband donated Wallington Hall, complete with its large estate of farm land, to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Death and legacy

She died in 1966. The Trevelyan papers are held by Newcastle University including her diaries and her extensive photograph albums.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevelyan, Mary 1881 births 1966 deaths People from North Yorkshire British environmentalists Wives of baronets Daughters of baronets