#Women’s History Month – Part Four Ishbel, Lady Aberdeen

Hello again!

In addition to making the headlines with regard to their fraternizing with the servants in hosting the Annual garden party for them, the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen (Ishbel and Johnny) did other things which set them apart from many of their aristocratic peers. Some of these were continuations, or re-starting,  of what Johnny’s father George had set up – great philanthropic ideas but which had slipped into decline.

Fairly soon after arriving at Haddo House, Ishbel realized a number of things. The general population of their part of Aberdeenshire attended school from roughly aged five to twelve if their parents paid the Dominie’s (schoolmaster) fees, and they were educated to some extent. For many this was a basic standard of reading skills, maybe a bit of counting (so that they could handle their meagre wages), and some could write more than just signing their name on an official document. What Ishbel noticed was that many of the younger estate servants, in particular, desired to learn much more than this and were frustrated by the current situation.

Johnny’s father George had also made the same observations and had in fact set about doing something to change the status quo at Haddo Estate. George had set up ‘evening schools’ during the previous decade, in 1862. The women met once-a-week during the summer and studied scripture; needlework; reading and writing under supervision, mainly undertaken by the wives of the principal farmers. Men paid a penny a week to learn from tutors employed by George. All of this was wonderful progress except it gradually went into decline. The ten minutes of compulsory Bible study didn’t seem to go down well. I imagine that many of those men and women knew they had to spend most of their Sunday on religious observations and therefore wanted every precious moment of their evening class to be on subjects of their choice.

Young women/girls leaving school at the age of approximately twelve were destined to enter into service in a ‘big house’ (not all as grand as Haddo) where they were given further instruction beyond the rudimentary dame school, or parochial school, education that they’d received. In a household with a number of staff, there was a pecking order stepping-up that could be achieved through hard work and exemplary behaviour- e.g. kitchen scullery maid to chamber maid and eventually on to housekeeper. The downside was that it often took years to be promoted. If not in service, many estate-living girls became dairy maids or farm labourers. There were few other choices for a female in the late 1870s. Those girls/ women didn’t generally travel far to gain employment but were expected to send on the bulk of the wages earned to their family, often to help feed younger siblings. Home visits for them were rare, and often depended on the distance travelled. If they could get home and return when on an afternoon off (e.g. on a Sunday) they were the lucky ones. The ‘free to choose’ hours off weren’t plentiful!

For males, it mainly differed in as much as they were not always expected to stay close to home. It was often the case that they returned home very infrequently though the expectations of adding to the family coffers was a responsibility many took very seriously. Males, offspring of estate servants, also had more choices of occupation which meant a possibility of living in the small towns near where they were born.

Ishbel decided to try again with the ‘evening classes’ and in her determined way made a much better job of it.

Haddo House became a place of part-time study again. Ishbel was wise enough to see that setting it up was her function and that, once done, success was more assured when she didn’t intervene in the day-to-day running of it. Many of the men of the estate happily engaged themselves in bettering themselves, often their sessions being undertaken by the butler or senior staff. However, it was much harder to set up classes for the women of the estate. They could only attend if given permission from their ‘mistress’, generally a farmer’s wife who set a nine p.m. curfew which made it difficult for the women to get to classes and back to their place of employment. The curfew was mostly in place to prevent any illicit meetings between young women and men who were all alone and out and about in the countryside. Ishbel put her brain to the task and came up with what is effectively an initial distance-learning situation. If women could not attend her classes then she took the classes to them. The educated ladies of the county, gentlewomen, farmer’s wives etc were encouraged to become tutors who set assignments for their tutor group according to a prescribed syllabus and set books for the particular course. The tutors collected the completed assignments and assessed them giving useful feedback to their ‘students’. It was an ingenious way to extend the possibility of the evening education to more people. The Haddo House Association was born!

After a remarkably short time the success of the system was recognised and the scheme was extended beyond the Haddo environs - thus the ONWARD AND UPWARD Association was created to reach many more potential students.

In 1883, she founded the Aberdeen Ladies' Union which helped woman all across Scotland. She also became head of the Women’s Liberal Federation which advocated for women’s suffrage though she wasn’t quite activist enough to chain herself to railings as some later suffrage activists did.

The Onward and Upwards success led Ishbel to set up many more similar arrangements in the other locations that she and Johnny stayed at.

Ishbel was, from the early 1880s, firmly established as a campaigner for further education and against moral and physical injustice (re: men and women). She was a dedicated political campaigner, an activist for social reform, her devout evangelical nature making her a tireless candidate for this. Johnny’s political leanings effectively matched hers which meant as a couple they achieved success for various good causes, at the huge detriment of Johnny’s legacy and her dowry which was also quite considerable.

As a Liberal Member of the House of Lords (via his hereditary title of the Earl of Aberdeen) Johnny accepted some very prestigious positions. For a time (1881-1885) he was the Lord High Commissioner of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and as such stayed at the Palace of Holyrood House, Edinburgh, an abode which neither he nor Ishbel seemed to like staying in. However, Ishbel’s job was to host dinners at Holyrood for the good and worthy, and probably many who felt exalted but were morally less so.

Dinner at Haddo House by A E Emslie
National Portrait Gallery

When possible, they retired to Haddo during this tenure, where they hosted some very important dinners, the chairs often filled with political activists like themselves. One famous painting highlights Gladstone as the most honoured guest sitting at Ishbel’s side. The painting isn’t of a single moment in time but exemplifies the many dinners she hosted.

By 1886, Johnny was the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. They moved to Dublin where Ishbel found herself ev3n more constrained than in Edinburgh. Her function in supporting Johnny was to host many more official occasions (the etiquette of them often detested) but the idea of security being an issue was horrifying, that she was unable to walk by herself in Dublin didn't sit well. She equated herself to being a prisoner, escorted by a guard. However, she grew to love the country and threw herself into situations where she was able to promote Ireland and its many quality products. The issue of Irish Home Rule was dominant but Ishbel and Johnny overcame challenging situations.

Over the ensuing decades, Ishbel and Johnny continued in the same vein doing many good works in various countries. Not long after their arrival in Canada, Johnny being appointed the Viceroy of Canada, Ishbel was appointed as first President of the International Council of Women, a global institution. Wherever she went for short or long stays, Ishbel seemed to leave her stamp. She was also the first woman to receive an Honorary Degree in Canada, seen here wearing robes of Queen's University, Ontario..

The list of Ishbel's achievements far exceeds what I can cover in a few short posts. It’s quite clear that her general only four-hours-of-sleep per night left her many hours to keep up with what was an immense correspondence. Johnny was no slouch either and I’d love to have been a fly on the wall in their study at Haddo, their desks overflowing with communications.

The Haddo connection with worthy women of Ishbel's time continues. Around 1905, Ishbel took on the task of gaining information about women she regarded as constructive in the lives of women across Scotland. not content to just write a paragraph or tow about them she set about gaining images of her target women. Some were paintings, lithographs, or drawings and others are photographs. She sent her collection along with her explanatory information to a studio in London to have them individually set into matching wooden frames. The frames she then had hung on the ground floor south quadrant, a mainly servant area of Haddo House. On the facing wall, Johnny did much the same adding portraits of influential Members of Parliament and men he also deemed worthy. 

Ground floor Corridor Gallery
Courtesy of The National Trust for Scotland 
Haddo House Estate

This area is not on the regular Haddo House visitor tour but I was granted permission by the National Trust of Scotland's representative, Caitlin Greig, to visit. A couple of hours with Caitlin sped by during which I learned an amazing amount about Haddo and Ishbel and Johnny Aberdeen. My thanks go to Caitlin.

My thanks also go to Moira Minty at Haddo Estate Archives, where I was able to read some of Ishbel's diaries and see the paintings she added to her Honeymoon diary, particularly when they were in Egypt. she was a very busy lady even on that extended honeymoon. 

I look forward to vising the interior of Haddo House again where I'll be looking at the artefacts with a different eye and appreciation of the many exploits of Ishbel, Lady Aberdeen.

Slainte!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_album_of_who%27s_who_at_the_International_Congress_of_Women_-_Countess_of_Aberdeen.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:THE_RIGHT_HONOURABLE_THE_COUNTESS_OF_ABERDEEN,_LL.D.jpg