Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-19
NO. IL,
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THE LADY WHO FINDS IT DIFFICULT TO MAX
PEOPLE BELIEVE SHE HASN'T OWEN AwAl
81, 500, 600.

THE LADY WHO FINDS 1T DIFFICULT TO MAKE
PEOPLE BELIEVE SHE HASN'T GIVEN AWAY
81, 500, 900.
The Baroness Coutts is probably the only
person living who would have found it ne
cessary to deny more than once that she had
given 81, 800, 600 for the relief of the distress
in Ireland but when the story was told of
her the largeness of her heart and her for
tune alike made it easily credible. Her an
nual income as the owner of half interest
in the historic banking house Of Coutts q Co.
was given at SG0O 900 several years ago, and
1t is scarcely likely that il is less now. while
the record of her charity is simply maenif.
cent. She has endowed three bishoprics, Gn
Africa, Australia and British Columbia, } at
cost it is stated, little less than the sum she
was said to have given to the Irish. The
magnificent church Of st. Stephen, Westmin-
ster, with parsonage and three adjoining
schools, was built and endowed at her sole
expense, and several other churches and
schools, notably a Magdalen reformatory
would not now be in existence but for her ef-
forts. She supplied the funds for Sir Henry
Jamess typographical survey of Jerusalem
and it is quite certain that she would have
made good her offer TO supply the city with
water by rebuilding the aqueducts of Solo
mon, had not the work been undertaken
(though afterward abandoned) by the GOV.
ernment. She endowed the geological pro
fessorship at Cambridge she has erected
more drinking fountains in more cities than
can be catalogued here she assisted DR.. Liy
ingstone when he was in his greatest need
and square Of model dwellings was built by
her around the Columbia market, which also
she built and presented to the corporation of
London. Even this list does not exhaust her
public charities, and in private she is reputed
to be not less munifcent. But little can be
added to complete the life-story of this Ia
dy Bountiful of our age. She was born in
1874, and is the youngest daughter of the
late Sir Francis Burdett baronet. Her for.
tune comes to her from her maternal grand
father, Sir Thomas Coutts, and she assumtd
his name when she inherited his property.
That was in 1887 upon the termination of
the life-interest of his widow, who was Miss
Mellon, the actress, before he married her az
his second wife, and who died the duchess Of
st. Albans. Sir Thomas Coutts's first wife.
the grandmother of the subject of this sketch,
was Elizabeth Starkey, the daughter of a
Lancashire peasant, who was servant in
the employment of the bankers brother until
her marriage made her one of the first ladies'
of the kingdom. The baroness received her
title in 1871. She received the freedom of
the city of London in 1872, and, IS months
later, the city of Edinburgh similarly honored
her. AT the end of the last Russo Turkish
war the sultan decorated her with the grand
Gordon of the order of Medjidie in recogni-
tion of her services to the wounded. The es-
timation in which she is held by the people
of England is shown by the fact that when,
in 1865, the reform procession passed her
house and she was recognized at the window,
a shout was raised, and for over two hours
the air rang with the cries of the thousands
who filed the street.-N. Y. Times.