Georgina Cowper-Temple, Lady Mount Temple

Georgina Elizabeth Cowper-Temple, Lady Mount Temple (née Tollemache; 1822 – 17 October 1901) was an English religious enthusiast, humanitarian, and animal welfare campaigner. She was the second wife of William Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple. Lady Mount Temple was active in the Temperance Movement and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and was a co-founder of the Plumage League.

The Lady Mount Temple
Lady Mount Temple and her adopted daughter Juliet in 1887
Personal details
Born
Georgina Elizabeth Tollemache

1822
Died17 October 1901
NationalityBritish
SpouseWilliam Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple
Children1
Parent(s)John Richard Delap Tollemache
Lady Elizabeth Stratford

Early life and family

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Lady Mount Temple was born Georgina Elizabeth Tollemache on 8 November to Admiral John Richard Delap Tollemache and Lady Elizabeth Stratford. One source says she was probably born in 1821.[1] Her father, whose original surname was Halliday, assumed by royal license the surname and arms of his mother, Lady Jane Tollemache, who was the daughter and co-heiress of Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart.[2] Her mother was the daughter of John Stratford, 3rd Earl of Aldborough.[3] She was the sister of John Tollemache, 1st Baron Tollemache.[3] Lady Mount Temple was a close friend and distant cousin of Constance Lloyd, the wife of Oscar Wilde.[4]

Humanitarianism and animal welfare

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Bronze statue of Lady Mount Temple in Babbacombe

Lady Mount Temple was one of the leaders of the Torquay Anti-Vivisection Society.[4] She also co-founded the Plumage League.

She was active in the Band of Mercy, whose first president was her husband, and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[4] Lady Mount Temple was also involved in the Temperance Movement.[4]

In 1903, a birdbath with a bronze statue of Lady Mount Temple, designed by Arthur George Walker, was erected in Babbacombe.[4][5] A horse trough near the Torre railway station is also dedicated to her.[4]

Lady Mount Temple became a vegetarian in 1876 and a vice-president of the Vegetarian Society in 1884.[6]

Personal life

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On 22 November 1848, she married The Honourable William Cowper, son of the 5th Earl Cowper.[3] She and her husband had no natural children, but adopted a daughter named Juliet Latour Temple, in 1869.[7][3] In 1880, her husband was elevated to the peerage as Baron Mount Temple.

Lady Mount Temple was a friend of the writer John Ruskin, the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the suffragist Frances Power Cobbe.[3]

She lived at Babbacombe Cliff and also owned properties in Ireland.[4][3] She died in 1901.[4] After her death, part of her estate was bequeathed to the Church Army and to the Victoria Street Society of Protection of Animals from Vivisection.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/53965. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53965. Retrieved 17 February 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "John Tollemache (formerly Halliday)". Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Georgina Cowper & Margueritte Tollemache, ca. 1850s". Costume Cocktail. 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Dixon, Kevin (28 December 2022). "Babbacombe's Georgina and Torquay's animal welfare campaigners". We Are South Devon. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Birdbath Commemorating Baroness Mount Temple". Geograph Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  6. ^ Gregory, James. (2009). Reformers, Patrons and Philanthropists: The Cowper-Temples and High Politics in Victorian Britain. p. 162, pp. 192-193. ISBN 978-1848851115
  7. ^ "Broadlands Archives BR51-100". University of Southampton. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2023.