Katharine Russell, Viscountess Amberley
British suffragist and birth control advocate (1842–1874)
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Key Takeaways
- Katharine " Kate " Louisa Russell, Viscountess Amberley ( née Stanley ; 3 April 1842 – 28 June 1874) was a British suffragist and an early advocate of birth control in the United Kingdom.
- Early life Viscountess Amberley was born in Grosvenor Crescent, the eighth child of the politician Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, and the women's education campaigner Henrietta Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley.
- Marriage On 8 November 1864, she married John Russell, Viscount Amberley, the son of the former prime minister John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, and his wife Frances.
- The couple's last child, Bertrand Arthur William, was born in 1872.
- Spalding was encouraged to do research in the Amberleys' home, Cleddon Hall, Monmouthshire, with Lady Amberley as his assistant.
Katharine "Kate" Louisa Russell, Viscountess Amberley (née Stanley; 3 April 1842 – 28 June 1874) was a British suffragist and an early advocate of birth control in the United Kingdom. A member of the Stanley and Russell families, she was the mother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Early life
Viscountess Amberley was born in Grosvenor Crescent, the eighth child of the politician Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, and the women's education campaigner Henrietta Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley.
Her nine siblings included Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle, another suffragist, and Maude Stanley, a youth work pioneer.
Marriage
On 8 November 1864, she married John Russell, Viscount Amberley, the son of the former prime minister John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, and his wife Frances. Their first child, John Francis Stanley, was born the next year and followed by twins, Rachel Lucretia and her stillborn sister, in 1868. The couple's last child, Bertrand Arthur William, was born in 1872.
Lady Amberley had a sexual relationship with the biologist Douglas Spalding, her children's tutor, with her husband's consent. Spalding was encouraged to do research in the Amberleys' home, Cleddon Hall, Monmouthshire, with Lady Amberley as his assistant. He suffered from tuberculosis and was not fit for marriage. According to their younger son, the Amberleys were concerned for his celibacy and "allowed him to live with her", though Bertrand Russell wrote that he knew of "no evidence that she derived any pleasure from doing so". The exact nature of Lady Amberley's relationship with Spalding afterwards is unknown, as her mother-in-law found out about it and destroyed their journals and most of their correspondence shortly after Lord Amberley's death.
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