Chronicles the life of the Victorian philanthropist who became friend and patroness to the era's most famous political and intellectual figures and us her vast fortune to finance scientific research, expeditions, and public welfare projects.

Lady unknown: The life of Angela Burdett-Coutts

Biographies & Memoirs

EDNA HEALEY

Arts & Literature

SIDGWICK JACKSON

<p>This work presents a history of the building and inhabitants of Buckingham Palace, written with full co-operation of the Palace. The book describes the previous houses on the site and their owners, and the development of Buckingham Palace itself. It looks at the monarchs and their families, and takes the reader in to parts of the Palace that the public are never allowed to visit.</p>

The Queen's House : A Social History of Buckingham Palace

History

Europe

Michael, Joseph

<p>Much has been written about Charles Darwin but this is the first biography of his strong, intelligent wife. Emma Wedgwood, granddaughter of the famous Josiah, married Charles Darwin in 1839, three years after he returned from his extraordinary voyage on the Beagle. Their life together was intellectually exciting though overshadowed by personal tragedy. Edna Healey has discovered new, and hitherto unpublished, material and has had the full support of the Darwin family in writing this major biography.</p>

Emma Darwin : The Inspirational Wife of a Genius

Review

Much has been written about Charles Darwin but this is the first biography of his strong, intelligent wife whom he referred to as 'twice refined gold'. Emma Wedgwood, granddaughter of the famous Josiah, married Charles Darwin in 1839, three years after he returned from his extraordinary voyage on the Beagle. Their life together was intellectually exciting though overshadowed by personal tragedy. Edna Healey has discovered new, and hitherto unpublished material and has the full support of the Darwin family in writing this major biography.

Emma Darwin: The inspirational wife of a genius

Community & Culture

Headline Hardbacks

Queen's House : A Social History of Buckingham Palace

Avalon Publishing

Basic Books

In 1837, at the age of twenty-three, Angela Burdett-Coutts inherited a vast fortune from her banker grandfather, making her one of the richest and thus potentially powerful women in Victorian England. She moved in the highest social circles: entertaining the rising stars of the political scene, Disraeli and Gladstone; attending scientific lectures with Faraday; pursuing her philanthropic work with Dickens; and falling in love with the aged Duke of Wellington. Her acts of charity were enormous and wide-ranging-establishing a home for 'fallen women', pioneering model housing, battling for sanitary reform, supporting the NSPCC and the RSPCA, and promoting technical education and domestic science. A devout Anglican, she built churches, founded colonial bishoprics and encouraged the missionary work of Livingstone and others. Despite all this activity, Angela remained throughout her life a shy and supremely private person. The full range of her charity will probably never be known, for she often acted through intermediaries such as Dickens, describing herself only as 'lady unknown'. And a 'lady unknown' she has largely remained, her role in Victorian England strangely overlooked or forgotten. Edna Healey has uncovered much new material, including unpublished correspondence from Dickens, Livingstone, Gladstone, Wellington, Faraday and Henry Irving, to provide a fascinating insight into this most remarkable lady.

Lady Unknown: The Life of Angela Burdett-Coutts

Bloomsbury Reader

Here are portraits of three very different Victorian women, all of whom married men of exceptional talent, energy and genius. To be the wife of such frenetic, explosive characters as David Livingstone, Karl Marx or Charles Darwin, especially at this period in history, demanded rare qualities. Yet the late twentieth-century view of these women is perhaps best summed up in the frequently heard comment: 'I didn't know he had a wife.' The mid-nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented movement and upheaval. The revolutions of 1848 set Europe ablaze and sent swarms of political dissidents to seek freedom outside their homelands. Britain and her Empire were ruled by a young Queen Victoria, inspired by her enterprising, vigorous consort, Albert; it was a climate in which invention and discovery were encouraged. Men were creating new frontiers, both geographically and intellectually, and where they went their wives and families accompanied them. Edna May Edmunds was born in the Forest of Dean and educated at Bell's Grammar School, Coleford, Gloucestershire, where she was the first pupil to gain a place at Oxford University. While studying English at St Hugh's College she met Denis Healey, who was studying at Balliol College. She then trained as a teacher and married Healey in 1945 after his military service in World War II. She became Baroness Healey in 1992 when her husband received a life peerage. Though she began her writing career relatively late in life, her books were critically acclaimed and sometimes best-sellers. She wrote non-fiction books, often biographies of successful women in powerful positions. Lady Healey also made two award-winning television documentaries. She was elected in 1993 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Wives of Fame

World

Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio

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Books by EDNA HEALEY