Harriet Findlay

Dame Harriet Findlay
Oil painting of woman in Edwardian era, wearing pink dress
Lady Findlay, 1904, by Sir James Guthrie
Born
Harriet Jane Backhouse

(1880-03-12)12 March 1880[1]
Darlington, England[1]
Died24 July 1954(1954-07-24) (aged 74)
Edinburgh, Scotland[2]
Occupation(s)political activist, philanthropist
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1901; died 1930)​
ChildrenEdmund Findlay
FatherSir Jonathan Backhouse, 1st Baronet

Dame Harriet Jane Findlay, Lady Findlay, DBE (née Backhouse; 12 March 1880 – 24 July 1954) was a British political activist and philanthropist.[2]

Life

Harriet Jane Backhouse was born in County Durham, the only daughter of banker Sir Jonathan Backhouse, 1st Baronet (1849–1918) and Florence Salusbury-Trelawny (1845–1902), daughter of John Salusbury-Trelawny. She had five brothers; her eldest, Edmund Blackhouse, was a prominent scholar, and two others, Sir Roger Backhouse and Oliver Backhouse, had distinguished careers in the Royal Navy.[2]

She married Scottish newspaper proprietor Sir John Ritchie Findlay, 1st Baronet (son of John Ritchie Findlay and Susan Leslie) on 9 July 1901. They had three sons and two daughters.[2]

In 1919, Findlay joined Rosaline Masson, Ella Millar and Miss M.R. MacLeod as the first four women to become members of the Cockburn Association, Edinburgh's influential conservation organisation formed in 1875 to protect and preserve the built heritage, natural environment and civic amenity in the city.[3]

She was active in Scottish politics becoming a Justice of the Peace in Edinburgh in 1926 and being elected president of the Scottish Unionist Association in 1927. She chaired the management board of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary during the Depression. She died on 24 July 1954, aged 74.[4]

DBE

Lady Harriet Findlay was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1929 and was styled as Dame Harriet Findlay.

Family

With her husband Sir John Ritchie Findlay, 1st Baronet (13 January 1866 – 13 April 1930), she had two surviving sons and two daughters:


References

  1. ^ a b "Births". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 15 March 1880. p. 1.
  2. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Harriet, Lady Findlay – Many Public Services in Scotland". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 26 July 1954. p. 10.
  3. ^ "Historic Cockburn Association Office-Bearers".
  4. ^ "Findlay , Dame Harriet Jane, Lady Findlay (1881–1954)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51972. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Sources

  • Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd., 2003), volume 1, page 208.