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| Angela Burdett-Coutts |
One of her more successful ventures
was the ‘ragged’ schools that she helped set up in order for the countries poor
to better their prospects. Miss
Burdett-Coutts believed that every child in England, no matter how poor their
background may be, had the right to at least a basic education. She also helped to fund better housing for
some of the poorer people who were struggling to survive in the squalid
conditions of London’s East End.
In 1847, with the help of Mr Charles
Dickens, she set up Urania Cottage in order to help rehabilitate the ‘fallen
women’ of the East End. It gave them a
chance to learn the trade of silk-weaving, very popular in the area at the time,
so that they may at least have the chance for more respectable employment.
Miss Burdett-Coutts was a firm
supporter of cancer research at what was then Brompton Cancer Hospital, (now
known as London’s Royal Marsden Hospital).
She was also president of the RSPCA when the meetings were first held to
establish the NSPCC.
During the Crimean War, Angela
helped to support the families of soldiers who were away fighting. She also sent over a linen drier to aid
Florence Nightingale in her work. A device
that she had herself designed for use in the hospital laundry.
Angela Burdett-Coutts became a
Baroness in 1871, when she was also given the freedom of the cities of both
London and Edinburgh.
It was rumoured that she once
proposed to the Duke of Wellington, who was a close friend. Whether this was true or not, she certainly
managed to shock ‘polite society’ at the age of 67, when she married her
29-year-old secretary.
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