Book Description

Three accounts of remarkable women who oversaw their own households, stamped their authority on the estates they managed, and overcame misfortune. This book tells the true stories of three gentile women who were born, raised, lived and died within the world of England’s Country Houses. This is not the story of ‘seen and not heard’ women, these are incredible women who endured tremendous tragedy and worked alongside their husbands to create a legacy that we are still benefitting from today. Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville—second-born child of the infamous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire—married her aunt’s lover, raised his illegitimate children and reigned supreme as Ambassadress over the Parisian elite. Lady Mary Isham lived at Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire with her family where, despite great tragedy, she was responsible for developing a house and estate while her husband remained ‘the silent Baronet.’ Elizabeth Manners, Duchess of Rutland, hailed from Castle Howard and used her upbringing to design and build a Castle and gardens at Belvoir suitable for a Duke and Duchess that inspired a generation of country house interiors. These women were expected simply to produce children, to be active members of society, to give handsomely to charity and to look the part. What these three remarkable women did instead is develop vast estates, oversee architectural changes, succeed in business, take a keen role in politics as well as successfully managing all the expectations of an aristocratic lady. “The book looks at both the lives of the women and the buildings that they transformed.” —The Creative Historian