Women of Belton
This section is devoted to women either related to the Brownlow/Cust family or associated with Belton. Listed by year of birth.
Eileen Davies provides background history on Katherine Hariot Kinloch before she became the wife of the 6th Baron Brownlow. Based on her diaries.
Janet Roworth recounts ‘A Copper in Petticoats’ the first female constable with powers of arrest. A former nurse and midwife, Edith patrolled the streets in WW1 Grantham following the influx of thousands of solders training at Belton Park.
Edith submitted a report that detailed the cases that she had dealt with during 1916.
Unexpectedly, Baroness Brownlow from 1921, Dawn Bowskill has transcribed her diaries from the 1920s.
Discover how, aristocratic-born Aleen flouted convention to enter the New Veterinary College Edinburgh in 1894. How, as a woman she was refused permission to sit her final exams for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. How, despite that obstruction she provided valuable veterinary care in WWI. How, the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 permitted her to finally qualify decades later in 1922.
Emmeline 'Nina' Cust, a writer, editor, translator, painter, sculptor and a member of The Souls. Eileen Davies reflects on her sculptural skills.
Her residence before marriage. Additional views here.
Florence Helen Woolward was a freelance botanical artist par excellence specialising in orchids. Born the daughter of the Rector to Belton she was brought up at Belton's rectory, now called Bridgwater House. Her father's friendship with the 3rd Earl Brownlow gave her access to Belton's gardens and other aristocrats. Countess Adelaide Brownlow's first cousin, Schomberg Kerr, 9th Marquess of Lothian, commissioned Florence to paint his orchid collection at Newbattle Abbey. The result is her opus magnum The Genus Masdevallia of 1896. Currently, it retails at ~£10,000. Florence went on to work for the Natural History Museum cataloguing and illustrating botanical specimens. Her work is seen at Kew Gardens.
The village schoolmistress at Belton for 50 years until 1916. The school was built in 1838 by the architect Anthony Salvin for the workers on the Belton estate. Annie's obituary described her as ‘well loved and respected by all she knew and taught’. Janet Roworth describes the school and its interaction with the Brownlows. Image Belton schoolmistress & pupil 1896, unconfirmed as Annie Lort.
The Belton school logbook, which covers the years from 1894 to 1907, shows that the children celebrated May Day with a Garland procession that would take in Belton House.
She was the daughter of John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow (1779-1853) & Amelia Sophia Hume (1787/8-1814). She married Christopher Theron Tower 1836.
Her exquisite watercolour paintings depict Belton in the days before photography. Her two stately homes at Huntsmoor Park, Iver, Buckinghamshire & South Weald Park, Essex demolished 1946 & 1950 respectively.
Queen of the United Kingdom and Hanover from June 1830 to June 1837 as the wife of King William IV. Her namesake is Adelaide, Australia founded 1836.
Later Queen Dowager to her niece Queen Victoria. The widowed Adelaide came to stay at Belton. A bedchamber was redecorated for the occasion and duly renamed the Queen's Bedroom. She was the first Royal to travel by train in July 1840 with her own carriage.
Authoress. She has spent her youth trailing around Europe with her uncle Lord Castlereagh, on his official visits as Foreign Secretary. She held the office of Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Adelaide between 1830 and 1849 and formed a close relationship with her. Lady Emma wrote Slight Reminiscences of a Septuagenarian from 1802 to 1815.
Letters of the unmarried fourth daughter of Sir Richard Cust, 2nd Bt (168-1734) and Anne Brownlow (1694-1779). She lived at Grantham House. Her letters to her nephew Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow describe the goings-on in Grantham.
Eileen Davies provides details on Lucy's family.
Lady Adelaide Chetwynd-Talbot, Countess Brownlow (1844-1917)
Preparatory sketch for an oil painting on canvas by Sir Frederic Leighton, Lord Leighton PRA (1830-1896), circa 1879-80. A full-length portrait of a young woman, standing, turned slightly to proper left, gazing to bottom left, wearing a voluminous draped ivory gown and holding a posy of pink roses to her right shoulder in her right hand. Against blue sky, with large white cumulus and cirrus clouds, and parkland at Ashridge, Hertfordshire.
Learn more about Leighton's technique and why he produced this sketch from Ian Ross's article Spot the differences.