Mary Gladstone

Nearly half a century before women in Britain had the vote Mary Gladstone, daughter of the eminent Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, had her own office in Downing Street. As private secretary to her father she was at the heart of world affairs. She also led the life of a privileged young woman of the Victorian era: one that revolved around ball gowns and dance cards, amours and house parties. A friend of Burne Jones and Ruskin, loved by Tennyson's elder son and no stranger to Queen Victoria or the royal household, she could take her pick of Victorian society; yet she spent many years working for her father and chose to marry a clergyman of modest means.