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British philanthropist, Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, used much of her inherited wealth to promote charitable works in her nation and abroad. She gave financial support to schools, churches, and housing development throughout the Great Britain and gave aid to those overseas.
Angela was born to Sir Francis Burdett, Baronet, but her great wealth came from her grandfather, Thomas Coutts, the noted banker. She joined the name of both her father and grandfather and became known as Burdett-Coutts. In 1881 she married William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett, who by royal license took the name of Burdett-Coutts.
The Baroness had always been a remarkable administrator. She possessed discernment and upon finding out the needs of individuals or groups, she took the initiative to improve their conditions. One of her first great works was to establish a home for young women who had turned aside from a path of virtue. Nearly half of those who came to the home permanently left their life of vice.
Spitalfields in London was a section of destitution. To help improve the situation for those living there, the baroness established a sewing school for women where they could be taught, fed, and provided with work. From this place nurses were sent out to the sick of that community. In 1859, several hundred impoverished boys were fitted out for the Royal Navy or placed in industrial homes.
One of the immoral, disease-ridden spots in London was Nova Scotia Gardens. Angela purchased this section and upon what was a literal dumping ground of the city she erected model dwellings for about two hundred families, to be rented out at a moderate price.
When the cry came from suffering humanity in Ireland, Scotland, Turkey, and different parts of the world, Baroness Burdett-Coutts was among the first to respond. For needy fishermen she provided both temporary and permanent relief by furnishing them with food, clothing, tackle, and boats. In Australia she founded an organization to aid the aborigines and she began a relief fund for refugees of the 1877 Russo-Turkish War.
Baroness Angelina Georgina Burdett-Coutts was certainly a princess of philanthropy and charity. In 1871 she became the first woman to be honored with a baronage for public achievement. She died in 1906 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
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