Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

Abstract is: Elizabeth Georgiana Campbell, Duchess of Argyll CI VA (née Leveson-Gower; 30 May 1824 – 25 May 1878) was a British noblewoman and abolitionist. Born into the wealthy Sutherland-Leveson-Gower family, she was the eldest daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland by his wife, the political hostess Lady Harriet Howard. In 1844 Elizabeth married George Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, eldest son and heir to the 7th Duke of Argyll. She became the Duchess of Argyll in 1847 when her husband succeeded his father. Like her mother, the Duchess of Argyll was a prominent opponent of slavery. The pair helped write a letter titled An Affectionate and Christian Address of Many Thousands of Women of Great Britain and Ireland to Their Sisters, the Women of the United States of America, calling for an end of slavery; it attracted signatures from 562,848 British women. The two often hosted the American abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe when she visited England. The Duchess and Beecher Stowe were friends and maintained a correspondence. In 1868, the Duchess of Argyll succeeded the Duchess of Wellington as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria, holding the position until 1870, when she resigned due to ill health. Soon after being appointed a member of the newly created Order of the Crown of India, she died in 1878 whilst eating with William Ewart Gladstone in London.