Julia Rausing (11 February 1961 – 18 April 2024) was a British philanthropist. She co-founded the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust with her husband in 2014, which became one of the largest philanthropic funds in the UK.

Early life

Julia Helen Delves Broughton was born in 1961 to Sir Evelyn Delves Broughton and Helen Delves Broughton (née Shore). She had an older sister,

Isabella Blow Isabella Blow (née Delves Broughton; 19 November 1958 – 7 May 2007) was an English magazine editor. She was mentor to Philip Treacy, and is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl, and fashion designer Alexander ...

, a younger brother, John, and a younger sister, Lavinia. Julia and her sisters grew up at Doddington Hall in Cheshire and studied at Heathfield School.

Early career

Broughton, like her sisters, was left £5000 by her father on his death. The majority of his wealth was left to his third wife. Broughton worked as a personal assistant and then as a secretary at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

. She became a senior director there. Broughton met

Hans Rausing Hans Anders Rausing, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, KBE (25 March 1926 – 30 August 2019) was a Swedish industrialist and philanthropist based in the United Kingdom. He made his fortune from his co-inheritance of Tetra Pak ...

in the early 2000s at Christie's. She supported him after the death of his first wife and psychiatric hospitalisation, and they married at

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...

in July 2014.

Philanthropic work

Rausing co-founded the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust with her husband in 2014 to support charities in the UK. The Trust became one of the largest charitable grant-makers in the country. In 2019, the Rausings donated the largest donation that

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

had received at that point, to fund a new bridge to

Tintagel Castle Tintagel Castle () is a England in the Middle Ages, medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel (Trevena), North Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Ro ...

. Rausing led an initiative, the Charity Survival Fund, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

to provide £35 million to charities struggling to raise funds during

lockdowns A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

. This was the single biggest donation to

NHS Charities Together The Association of NHS Charities, operating as NHS Charities Together, is a network of over 230 charitable organisations that support the devolved National Health Service (NHS), their staff, patients, and communities in the United Kingdom. It ...

. In 2023, the Trust identified hospices at critically low funding levels and provided £8.7million to 27 at financial risk.

Death and legacy

Rausing died on 18 April 2024, at the age of 63, after an extended period of living with cancer. The National Gallery has a room named for Rausing and her spouse, the Julia and Hans Rausing Room (Room 32). A former Moravian Church in Malmesbury was renamed the Julia and Hans Rausing Building in 2018, with funding to support its use for education, heritage, culture and the arts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rausing, Julia 1961 births 2024 deaths British women philanthropists Delves Broughton family