G

Gaal, Franciska – (1904 – 1972)
Hungarian stage and film actress
Born Fanny Zilveritch (Feb 1, 1904) in Budapest, she began her stage career in cabaret. She appeared in Hungarian and German films such as, Fraulein Paprika (1932) and, Skandal in Budapest (1933). Gaal was engaged by the great US film maker, Cecil B. De Mille, who brought her from Europe to Hollywood, and she starred in films such as The Buccaneer (1938) and, Paris Honeymoon (1939). Returning to Budapest during WW II, she was forced to remain there for the duration, though she later returned to the USA to appear in plays on Broadway (1951).

Gabain, Ethel Leontine – (1883 – 1950)
British painter and printmaker
Gabain was born in Le Havre, France, and studied at the Slade School of Art in London, and at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Paris. She was married (1913) to the noted artist, John Copley. Gabain was best known for her portraits, and that of Dame Flora Robson in the character of Lady Audley, for which she was awarded the De Laszlo Silver Medal (1933), is preserved in the Manchester City Art Gallery in Lancashire. Appointed as an official war artist during WWII, she was particularly noted for her depictions of women fulfilling jobs formerly performed by men. Ethel Gabain was a member of the Royal Society of British artists and of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

Gabashvili, Irina – (1960 – 2009)
Georgian-American sportswoman
Gabashvili was born (Aug 15, 1960) in Georgia. She began a career in rhythmic gymnastics and was trained by Nelli Saladze winning the gold and bronze medals at the World Championshops in London (1979). She worked as the coach of the Malaysian gymnastic teams which won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games (1998) and then went to reside in the USA (2000) where she was employed as a coach at the Westside Gymnastics Academy in Portland, Oregon. Gabashvili was diagnosed as suffering from breast cancer and died (March 24, 2009) aged forty-eight.

Gabe, Dora Petrova – (1886 – 1983)
Bulgarian poet, children’s writer, critic and memoirist
Gabe was born (Aug 28, 1886) in Dubrovnik, the daughter of a journalist and was raised in Dobrud’a. Dora attended school in Varna and then studied French literature at the University of Grenoble in France. She was married to the noted Bulgarian literary critic and academic Bojan Penev. Her earliest published collections of verse included Temenugi (Violets) (1908), Zemen put (Earthly Way) (1928), and, Lunaticka (The Sleepwalker) (1932).
Dora Gabe’s works for children included, Malki pesni (Little Songs) (1923), Malka Bogorodica (Little Mother of God) (1937), and, Naiobicam zalugalki (I Like Toys the Best) (1955). Some of her best poetry was written during the later part of her writing career, and included the collections, Nevidimi oci (Invisible Eyes) (1971) and Svetut e taina (The World Is a Mystery) (1982), many of which have been translated into various European languages. Dora Gabe died (Feb 18, 1983) aged ninety-six, in Sofia.

Gabor, Eva – (1921 – 1995)
Hungarian-American stage, film and television actress
Eva Gabor was born in Budapest into a wealthy family, the daughter of Jolie Gabor, and was the younger sister to actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. As a young girl she trained as an ice-skater and was then employed as a café singer. With her mother and sisters Eva immigrated to the USA. Eva made her stage debut on Broadway in, The Happy Time (1950) and then hosted her own televison interview program, The Eva Gabor Show. Her movie credits included, A Royal Scandal (1945), The Wife of Monte Cristo (1946), The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), The Truth About Women (1956), My Man Godfrey (1957), Gigi (1958), and, A New Kind of Love (1963). However, platinum-haired, elegant, and with a heavy Hungarian accent, Gabor was best known for her appearances as Manhattan socialite Lisa Douglas in the popular television program Greenacres (1965 – 1971), which starred Eddie Albert (1908 – 2007) as her husband and Eleanor Audley as her mother-in-law. One of her last appearances was in You Can’t Take It With You on the Broadway stage (1983), where she replaced actress Colleen Dewhurst. Eva Gabor died (July 4, 1995) in Los Angeles, California, aged seventy-four.

Gabriak, Cherubina de – (1887 – 1928)
Russian poet
Born Elizaveta Ivanovna Dmitrieva, her earliest attempt to have her work published failed, and when she met the poet Maximilian Voloshin, he persuaded her to adopt the exotic pseudonym ‘Cherubina de Gabriak.’ A selection of her work and an autobiography were published by the modern literary journal, Apollo (1909), who then published works under her own name, and Gabriak joined the staff of this publication as a translator. She became involved with the Anthroposophy Society (1908), and towards the end of WW I, she and the children’s author, Samuil Marshak established a theatre for children in Krasnodar, and collaborated on several plays for children which were performed there. This was later moved to Petrograd and was known as the Theatre for Young Spectators (1922). Gabriak’s last collection of verse The Little House Under the Pear Tree (1927), was published under the pseudonym ‘Li Sian Tszy.’ Soon afterwards she was arrested by the authorities because of her connections with anthroposophy, and was sent into exile to Tashkent, where she died.

Gabriel, Ethel Florence – (1889 – 1967)
Anglo-Australian stage, film, radio and television actress
Born Ethel McConnell in Kent, England, after the death of her husband she came to live in Australia. There she established herself as Mabel in the highly popular radio program Dad & Dave, and also played the character of Emma in the film The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1961) with British actress Angela Lansbury. Ethel Gabriel died (May 23, 1967) in Sydney, New South Wales.

Gabriel, Mary Ann Virginia – (1825 – 1877)
British pianist composer
Mary Ann Gabriel was born (Feb 7, 1825) at Banstead in Surrey, the daughter of a major-general. She studied the piano under Johann Peter Pixis (1788 – 1874) and musical composition under Wilhelm Bernhard Molique (1802 – 1869). She was married (1874) to George March. Gabriel published several hundred songs which included such popular ballads as, ’When Sparrows build,’ ‘The Forsaken,’ and, ‘The Skipper and his Boy.’ She also composed the operetta, Widows Bewitched, which was staged in London (1867), and the cantatas, Dreamland (1870) and, Evangeline, which was performed at Brighton (1873). Mary Ann Gabriel died (Aug 7, 1877) aged fifty-two, from injuries sustained in a carriage accident.

Gabriele Maria Theresia – (1887 – 1954)
Hapsburg archduchess of Austria
HII (Her Imperial Highness) Archduchess Gabriele was born (Sept 4, 1887) at Pressburg, Hungary, the sixth daughter of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen (1856 – 1936), and his wife Isabelle, the daughter of Rudolf, Duc de Croy. She bore the additional titles of Princess of Hungary and Bohemia. Archduchess Gabriele never married. She survived the fall of the Imperial house (1918) and the horrors of WW II. Archduchess Gabriele died in Budapest (Nov 15, 1954) aged sixty-seven.

Gabrielli, Adriana    see    Ferrarese, Adriana

Gabrielli, Castora – (c1340 – 1391)
Italian nun and saint
Castora Gabrielli was the daughter of Petruccio Gabrielli, a leading citizen of Gubbio, and became the wife of Santuccio Sanfonerio, Conte di Castello. The couple resided at St Angelo in Vado after their marriage, which proved to be uncongenial. They had one son, whom Castora raised devotedly and piously. During her husband’s lifetime she devoted almost all of her time to works of charity, but with his death she joined the Third Order of St Francis. At her death she was buried in the habit of her order in the church at Vado. The church venerated her as a saint (June 14 or 15).

Gabrielli, Caterina – (1730 – 1796)
Italian soprano
Caterina Gabrielli was born (Nov 12, 1730) in Rome the daughter of Prince Gabrielli’s cook, hence her nickname of ‘La Cochetta’ or ‘Cochettina.’She was sister to Francesca Gabrielli. Considered one of the most beautiful and brilliant performers of her age, her voice possessed an exceptionally flexible quality, and contemporaries such as the novelist Fanny Burney, and the antiquarian Horace Walpole commented on the beauty of her vocal range. Her talent was combined with an extraordinarily capricious nature, and the often high-handed treatment she accorded to enamoured royalty and members of the nobility, all added to make her an extremely picturesque public celebrity. Her career was one of great success, and Catterina sang and performed throughout all the major courts and capitals in Europe. Also an able business manager, she was able to retire an extremely wealthy woman. Caterina Gabrielli died (Feb 16, 1796) aged sixty-five.

Gabrielli, Charlotte de Bonaparte, Princess – (1795 – 1865)
French Napoleonic princess
Christine Charlotte de Bonaparte was born (Feb 22, 1795) at St Maximin, the elder daughter of Lucien Bonaparte (1775 – 1840) the first Prince de Canino-Musignano and his first wife Christine Boyer (1773 – 1800), the daughter of Pierre Boyer. She was the granddaughter of Carlo Bonaparte and his wife Letizia di Ramolino, and was the niece of the Emperor Napoleon I. Charlotte was educated by nuns in Italy and her grandmother Madame Mere nicknamed her ‘Lolotte.’ Plans for her marriage to the Spanish prince Ferdinando of the Asturias (Ferdinand VII) were discarded by Napoleon due to the prince’s unsavoury reputation.
With Napoleon’s divorce from the Empress Josephine (1809), her father hoped that the emperor might marry Charlotte, thus making her empress, and also consolidating family power. Charlotte was sent to live with Madame Mere in Paris (March, 1810) but Napoleon did not favour a marriage with his niece. Charlotte, her father and stepmother Alexandrine, and her siblings and household were later captured by the British (Aug, 1810) whilst enroute for America, and were forced to reside in England until the fall of Napoleon (1814).
With his short return to power Charlotte was then granted the title of Princesse of France (March 22, 1815) with the qualification of Imperial Highness. Princess Charlotte was then married in Rome (Dec 27, 1815) to the Italian peer Prince Mario Gabrielli (1773 – 1841) and became the Princess Gabrielli (1815 – 1841). An outspoken and undevious woman the Italians referred to Princess Gabrielli as ‘a true Bonaparte.’ Her surviving letters were full of Imperial court gossip in Paris, and her own behaviour in society was sometimes a source of concern for the French Imperial family. Nevertheless, with the fall of Napoleon, her fortune and that of her own children was safe, but she always remained loyal to the Bonaparte family, particularly to her grandmother Madame Mere to whom she remained attached until her death (1839). Charlotte survived her husband as the Dowager Princess Gabrielli (1841 – 1865) and the the following year she quietly remarried to her faithful admirer the Cavaliere Settimio Centamori. With the rise of Emperor Napoleon III the princess was officially recognized as Princesse Bonaparte with the qualification of Highness (Feb 21, 1853). Princess Gabrielli died (May 6, 1865) aged seventy, in Rome. Her eight children were,

• Donna Letizia Gabrielli (1817 – 1827). She died young.
• Donna Cristina Gabrielli (1821 – 1898). She became the wife of the Marchese Antonio Stefanoni (1819 – 1883) and left issue.
• Donna Lavinia Gabrielli (1822 – 1888). She became the wife of Conte Ildefonso Aventi (1802 – 1857) and left issue.
• Don Angelo Gabrielli (1824 – 1826). He died in infancy.
• Donna Camilla Gabrielli (1828 – 1829). She died in infancy.
• Donna Emilia Gabrielli (1830 – 1911). She became the wife of Conte Guiseppe Parisani (1823 – 1887) and left issue.
• Don Placido Gabrielli (1832 – 1900). He was married to his cousin Princesse Augusta de Bonaparte (1836 – 1900).
• Donna Francesca Gabrielli (1837 – 1860). She became the wife of Conte Cesare Parisani (1828 – 1904) and left issue.

Gabrielli, Francesca – (fl. 1756 – 1776)
Italian soprano
Sister to the more famous Caterina Gabrielli, Francesca was born in Rome, the daughter of the cook in the household of Prince Gabrielli, hence their surname. She sometimes acted as her sister’s understudy, but was considered to possess only mediocre talent. Her last recorded appearance was at the King’s Theatre in London (May, 1776).

Gabrielli, Mary    see   Meeke, Mary

Gabryella    see   Zmichowska, Narcyza

Gabtina    see   Jabhthena

Gacon-Dufour, Marie Armande Jeanne – (1753 – 1835)
French novelist, polemicist, essayist and historian
Marie Gacon-Dufour was born in Paris and resided in Brie-Comte-Robert. She edited the personal correspondence of the Duchesse de Chateauroux, the beautiful, but unpopular mistress of Louis XV, and produced memoirs of the Valois and Bourbon courts. Madame de Gacon-Dufour wrote a Memoire pour le sexe feminin contre le sexe masculin (Defence of the Female Sex Against the Male) (1787), and published the essay, De la necessite de l’instruction pour les femmes (On the Need for Education for Women) (1805). She also wrote concerning a wide variety of other subjects, which included the compilation of manuals for housekeepers and perfumiers, and was a co-founder of the Bibliotheque Agronomique. Her novels included, Le prejuge vaincu (Prejudice Overcome) (1787), and, Les Dangers de la prevention (The Dangers of Foresight) (1806), and she published the memoirs Anecdotes Secrets Galantes, Historiques et Inedites (1807).

Gad, Emma – (1852 – 1922)
Danish dramatist and prose writer
Emma was born (Jan 21, 1852) in Copenhagen into a wealthy family, and attended an academy for girls. She was married (1872) to Nicolas Urban Gad to whom she bore two sons. Emma had travelled, and after her marriage she attended the literary salons of Copenhagen. Over a period of almost three decades (1886 – 1913), Gad published several very popular comic plays including, Et Solvbryllup (A Silver Wedding) (1890), and, Den mystike Arv (The Mysterious Inheritance) (1906), amongst many others. However, despite her talent as a playwright, Gad was mainly remembered for the work Takt og Tone (Tact and Tone) (1918), which dealt with matters concerning daily etiquette. Emma Gad died in Copenhagen (Jan 8, 1921) aged sixty-eight.

Gaday – (fl. c958 – c970)
Artsrunid queen consort
Her parentage remains unrecorded. Queen Gaday was the wife of Abusahl Hamazasp III Artrsuni, King of Vaspurakan (958 – 970) their marriage taking place not long after his accession (c959). She bore her husband three sons, Ahot Sahak Artsruni (c961 – before 1003) who was prince of Vaspurakan with his brothers, Gurgen-Gagik (c965 – before 1003) who co-ruled Vaspurakan and was lord of Anjewacik, and Senekherim-Yivhanes Atrsruni (c969 – 1027) who was later recalled to the throne and ruled as King of Vaspurakan (1003 – 1027). Senekherim-Yovhanes was married to Princess Kouschkousch of Armenia, the daughter of King Gagik I and left five children.

Gadda – (d. c303 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian martyr
Gadda was killed at Amaseia in Pontus, Asia Minor, probably during the persecutions instigated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Revered as a saint, her feast was celebrated on (Aug 19).

Gadle, Shawaraggad – (1885 – 1949)
Ethiopian social worker, reformer and nationalist
Shawaraggad Gadle was the daughter of Dajazmach Gadle Walda Madehen, courtier to the emperor Menelik II (1889 – 1913) and to the empress Zauditu (1916 – 1930). She was raised at the Imperial court and became a lady-in-waiting and friend to the empress Manan, the wife of Haile Selassie (1930 – 1974). Shawaraggad worked in conjunction with Lady Barton, wife of the British minister to Ethiopia to organize the Red Cross in Ethiopia, and also founded several associations for Ethiopian women. During the Italian occupation she became famous for her defiance of the invaders. She was taken into custody in Italy after weeping publicly at the sight of the Italian flag raised over the capital, Addis Ababa (1936). She was quickly released but was then suspected of involvement in the attempted assassination of the Italian viceroy, General Rudolfo Graziani. Initially imprisoned on an island off the coast of Sardinia, she was later released by the Duc di Aosta, Amedeo of Savoy. Through bribery she escaped from the Addis Alam prison (1940) and fled to the camp of the rebel leader, Garasu Duki, but was recaptured and sentenced to life imprisonment in Addis Ababa. With the defeat and surrender of the Italian forces she was freed. She died whilst travelling and was interred at the monastery of Dabra Libanos.

Gadski, Johanna Emilia Agnes – (1871 – 1932)
German soprano
Johanna Gadski was born (June 15, 1871) at Anklam, Prussia, and was educated at Stettin in Pomerania. She made stage debut at the Kroll-Opera in Berlin (1889). She appeared in the premiere of Walter Damrosch’s, The Scarlet Letter (1896), in Boston, USA, and made her English debut at Covent Garden as Eva in, Meistersinger, a role she reprised at Bayreuth in the same year (1899). For almost two decades (1898 – 1917) Johanna Gadski was leading member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, famous for her Wagnerian roles, and she performed in many tours and concerts around America over a period of many years. Despite this, she was accused of anti-American activities during WW I, and was forced to retire to Berlin. Several years later she returned to America and was prominent as the leading vocalist in two tours organized by the Wagnerian Opera Company (1930 – 1931). Johanna Gadski was most famous for her incredibly dignified stage prescence, which, combined with a strikingly dramatic voice, rendered her interpretations of the roles of Senta and Brunnhilde extremely memorable. Her death in Berlin (March 22, 1932) aged sixty was the result of a car accident.

Gael, Amicia de – (1104 – 1172)
Norman-Anglo heiress and patron
Amicia de Gael was the daughter of Ralph de Gael, Seigneur of Montfort in Brittany. She was originally betrothed to Richard Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry I, but his death in the wreck of the White Ship (1120) meant that she married instead (1121) Robert de Beaumont, second earl of Leicester, to whom she bore a son and heir, and three daughters. Through Amicia, Lord Leicester inherited a large portion of the FitzOsbern inheritance in Normandy and England, including the baronies of Breteuil in Normandy, and that of Monrfort. She may have assisted Matilda, abbess of St Marie, at Fontevrault, with the establishment of the priory of Chaise Dieu, in Breteuil. With her husband’s death (1168), Amicia became a nun at the convent of Nuneaton, in Warwickshire, which she had founded. Amicia died there (Aug 3, 1172) aged sixty-eight.

Gaetano, Marchesa de    see   Piccolomini, Maria

Gag, Flavia – (1907 – 1979)
American author and illustrator of children’s books
Flavia Gag was born (May 24, 1907) in New Ulm, Minnesota, the daughter of Anton Gag, the painter and photographer, and was the much younger sister of Wanda Gag. She attended local secondary schools before going on the study at Stetson University. She remained unmarried. Flavia Gag wrote children’s stories, which she illustrated herself, which were published in various children’s magazines such as, Child Life and, Jack and Jill. Her books included the collection of songs Sing a Song of Seasons (1936), Fourth Floor Menagerie (1955), A Wish for Mimi (1958), The Melon Patch Mystery (1964) and, The Florida Snow Party (1969). She had begun a biography of her sister which remained unfinished. Flavia Gag died (Oct 12, 1979) aged seventy-two, in Crescent City, Florida.

Gag, Wanda Hazel – (1893 – 1946) 
American author, painter, children’s illustrator and diarist
Wanda Gag was born (March 11, 1893) in New Ulm, Minnesota, the daughter of Anton Gag, a photographer and painter, and was the much elder sister to Wanda Gag. As well as being the translator and illustrator of several editions of Grimm’s fairy tales, Gag was the author of an autobiography Growing Pains.Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908 – 1917 (1940). Gag was the author and illustrator of several popular children’s books such as Millions of Cats (1928) which won the Newberry Award and has been translated into many languages, The Funny Thing (1929), Snippy and Snappy (1931), The ABC Bunny (1933), and, Nothing At All (1941). Wanda Gag died (June 27, 1946) aged fifty-three.

Gagarina, Anna Lopukhina, Countess    see   Lopukhina, Anna Petrovna

Gagarina, Princess Ekaterina    see   Semenova, Ekaterina

Gage, Benedicta Maria Theresa Hall, Viscountess – (c1698 – 1749)
British heiress
Benedicta Hall was the only daughter and heiress of Benedict Hall of High Meadow in Gloucester. She became the first wife (1717) of Sir William Gage (1695 – 1754) and when he was created the first Viscount Gage (1720) Benedicta became the Viscountess Gage (1720 – 1749). She bore her husband three children. Of her two sons William Hall Gage (1718 – 1791) succeeded his father as the second Viscount Gage (1754 – 1791) but died childless, whilst the younger son General Thomas Gage (died 1787) became the father of Henry, the third Viscount Gage. Her daughter Theresa Gage (died 1777) became the wife of George Tasburgh of Bodney in Norfolk. If the attainder affecting the former great earldom of Northumberland had been reversed Lady Gage would have been coheir, through the Fortescue and Stanley families, to the ancient feudal baronies of Percy, Poynings and Fitz-Payne. Lady Gage died (July 25, 1749).

Gage, Frances Dana – (1808 – 1844)
American social reformer and author
Born Frances Barker (Oct 12, 1808), in Marietta, Ohio, after her marriage she wrote articles for magazines under the pseudonym of ‘Aunt Fanny.’ Mrs Gage also wrote novels and poems, which were not published for over twenty years after her death including Elsie Magoon; or The Old Still-House in the Hollow (1867), Poems (1867), Gertie’s Sacrifice (1869), and, Steps Upward (1870). Frances Dana Gage died (Nov 10, 1844) aged thirty-six.

Gage, Mary Herbert, Lady    see    Herbert, Lady Mary

Gage, Matilda Joslyn – (1826 – 1898)
American feminist, editor and women’s activist
Matilda Joslyn was born in Cicero, New York, the daughter of a physician. She became the wife (1844) of Henry Gage. Mrs Gage later became involved with radical feminism after attending the National Women’s Rights convention in Syracuse, New York (1852), and joined the NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association) (1869). She became president of this organization, and worked with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with whom she compiled the History of Woman Suffrage (1881 – 1906) in four volumes.
Gage was later the editor of the NWSA newspaper National Citizen and Ballot Box (1878 – 1881), and established the Women’s National Liberal Union (1890), whose aim to instigate the seperation of church and state. Matilda Gage was the author of Woman, Church, and State: the Original Expose of Male Collaboration Against the Female Sex (1893).

Gages, Sibylla de – (c1190 – 1246)
Flemish Catholic nun and saint
Sibylla de Gages was the daughter of Giles de Gages, a nobleman from Aywieres in Brabant. Well respected for her learning, and religious virtues. She was the friend of St Ludgard of Aywieres, and miracles were attributed to her intervention. Her remains were translated by the Bishop of Namur (1611). Sibylla was venerated as a saint by the church (Oct 8).

Gagia – (d. c303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Gagia perished in Rome, most probably during the persecutions instigated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. She refused to renounce her faith and make sacrifice to the pagan gods and was put to death. Her feast (June 3) is recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Gagneur, Margeurite    see   Syamour

Gagneur, Marie Louise – (1832 – 1902)
French novelist and polemicist
Marie Louise was born in Domblans in the Jurs region, and became the wife (1856) of the noted socialist Just Charles Gagneur. Her daughter was the sculptor Syamour (1857 – 1945). She campaigned for extensive reforms of the divorce law, and her article, Le Divorce (1872), was instrumental in paving the way for the law which permitted the dissolution of civil marriage (1884). Madame Gagneur wrote several novels, many of which dealt with the themes religious corruption and the inferior position of women in contemporary society. These included, Les Reprouvees (The Condemned) (1867), Les Crimes de l’amour (The Crimes of Love) (1874), and, Le Crime de l’abbe Maufrac (The Crime of Father Maufrac) (1882).

Gagoangwe – (c1865 – 1924)
African ruler
Gagoangwe was married (c1881) to Bathoen I, King of the Bangwaketse (1845 – 1910) and was the mother of his successor, King Seepapitso (1884 – 1916) who was murdered by his brother Moyapitso, who was then hanged for this crime. From 1916 until her own death, the queen mother ruled as regent for her infant grandson, King Bathoen II. At her death the regency was headed by her daughter Ntebogang, who ruled until Bathoen came of age (1928).

Gahagan, Helen     see     Douglas, Helen Gahagan

Gahagan, Jayne – (1928 – 1983)
American educator, author and public relations executive
Gahagan originally worked as a communications consultant, and then as a news and press editor. Gahagan became the first woman to be appointed as manager of corporate relations with the Chicago Board of Trade (1970 – 1974). She served as vice-president of the Women’s Advertising Club of Chicago and was the author of, Dialysis and You: A Guide for Kidney Patients (1974). Jayne Gahagan died (June 5, 1983) aged fifty-four, in Evanston, Illinois.

Gaia Afrania     see    Afrania, Gaia

Gaia Nummia Ceionia Umbria Rufia Albina – (fl. c200 – c230 AD)
Roman patrician
Gaia was attested by a surviving inscription from Benevento which revealed that as an unmarried woman she served as a sacerdos publica (public priestess) of Veneria Felicis and Magna Mater (the Great Mother Goddess) in that city and was styled clarissima puella. She was perhaps a connection of Marcus Nummius Ceionius Annius Albinus, consul ord. (206 AD) whilst an Umbria Albina who was attested by an inscription from surviving water pipes in Rome was probably her mother.

Gaidinliu, Rani – (1915 – 1993)
Indian nationalist and freedom fighter
Rani Gaidinliu was born in Manipur, the daughter of a poor farmer. From her early teenage years she was actively involved in the fight to gain freedom from British rule, fighting as a guerilla in the Naga Hills. Rani Gaidinliu was sentenced to life imprisonment and remained there for fifteen years (1932 – 1947) and was released by Nehru only when India finally gained its independence. She later opposed the ideology of the NNC (Naga National Council) (1966), and was forced to go underground for her own safety. She continued to be active in social work and reform amongst the Nagas, and her efforts to gain freedom for her country were publicly recognized when she awarded a Padma Bushan, and when the government issued a postage stamp with her portrait.

Gaila – (fl. 611 – c630)
Duchess of Bavaria
Gaila was one of the daughters of Gisulf, Duke of Friuli and his wife Romilda of Lombardy. After the deaths of her parents at the hands of the Avar invaders, and the looting of the city of Cividale, Gaila and her three sisters, of whom only Gaila and Appa are named, were carried off into captivity and sold as slaves by their barbarous captors. Paulus Diakonus (Paul the Deacon) recorded in his Historia Langobardorum that Gaila was later restored to her royal rank and made a suitable marriage with the ruler of Bavaria. She was perhaps the wife of Duke Garivald II (609 – 640) who had succeeded his father Tassilo I (609) as duke.

Gaines, Irene McCoy – (1892 – 1964)
Black American civil rights reformer, civic leader and clubwoman
Irene McCoy was born (Oct 25, 1892) in Ocala, Florida, the daughter of a barber, and attended secondary school in Nashville, Tennessee. She was married (1914) to Harris Barrett Gaines, the lawyer and politician, to whom she bore several children. Gaines became a social worker with the Cook County welfare department, and was a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee. She then served as president of the Council of Negro Associations (CCNO) (1939 – 1953), and worked to improve school conditions for Negro children. She organized the first march on Washington (March, 1941) which protested against discrimination against black people in the workforce.
Irene Gaines served as president of the Illinois Federation of Republican Colored Women’s Clubs (1924 – 1935), and became the first black woman to run for the state legislature, and led the Republican ticket as the candidate for county commissioner (1950). She served as historian and then president (1952 – 1956) of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC), and travelled widely throughout the USA as a public speaker. She was elected as vice-president of the Congress of American Women in Chicago (1947). Irene Gaines was the recipient of many prestigious honours in recognition of her valuable work, including the George Washington Honor Medal (1958) from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. Irene Gaines died (April 7, 1964) aged seventy-one, in Chicago, Illinois.

Gainford, Ethel Havelock-Allan, Lady – (1866 – 1941)
British war hospital organizer
Ethel Havelock-Allan was the only daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Marsham Havelock-Allen, first baronet, and his wife Lady Alice Moreton, the daughter of Henry George Francis Moreton (1802 – 1853), the second Earl of Ducie. She was married (1886) to Joseph Albert Pease (1860 – 1943), chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1910 – 1911), who was later created first Baron Gainford (1917) by King George V (1910 – 1936). During WW I Ethel Pease (as she was) worked tirelessly organizing the ambulance brigades and war hospitals at the front. In recognition of this valuable voluntary work she was appointed an O.ST.J.(Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem). Lady Gainford died (Oct 22, 1941), aged seventy-five. She left three children,

• Hon. (Honourable) Miriam Blanche Pease (1887 – 1965). She died unmarried.
• Hon. Joseph Pease (1889 – 1971). He succeeded his father as second Baron Gainford (1943 – 1971). He was married and left descendants.
• Hon. Faith Muriel Pease (1902 – 1935). She was married to Hon. Hubert Beaumont (died 1955), of the family of the Viscounts Allendale, and left issue.

Gainham, Sarah Rachel – (1922 – 1999)
British author
Sarah Gainham was born (Oct 1, 1922) and attended secondary shool at Newbury. She travelled extensively throughout Europe and worked for a decade as the Central Europe correspondent for the Spectator (1956 – 1966) and had articles published in the Atlantic Monthly. She was married (1964) to Kenneth Ames but all her works were published under her own name. Her works included Time Right Deadly (1956), Cold Dark Night (1957), Stone Roses (1959), Night Falls on the City (1967) which was the Book Society Choice, Private Worlds (1971), the historical work The Hapsburg Twilight (1979) and The Tiger, Life (1983). Sarah Gainham died (Nov 24, 1999) aged seventy-seven.

Gainsborough, Elizabeth – (c1702 – 1769)
British Hanoverian watercolour painter
Born Elizabeth Burroughs, she specialized in the painting of still-lifes of flowers and fruit, which were exhibited at the Royal Academy. She was the mother of the famous painter and portraitist Thomas Gainsborough (1726 – 1778).

Gainsborough, Elizabeth Wriothesley, Countess of – (1636 – 1693)
English Stuart peeress
Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley was the eldest daughter of Thomas Wriothesley (1608 – 1667), fourth Earl of Southampton and his first wife Rachel de Sevigny. She was sister to the famous Lady Rachel Russell. Through her father she was a descendant of Owen Tudor (died 1461) and Queen Katherine de Valois, the widow of Henry V, through their illegitimate granddaughter Helen Tudor, the wife of William Gardiner. Elizabeth became the wife of Edward Noel (1641 – 1689), first Earl of Gainsborough by whom she left issue. Elizabeth survived her husband as the Dowager Countess of Gainsborough (1689 – 1693).

Gainsborough, Ida Hay, Countess of – (1821 – 1867)
British courtier
Born Lady Adelaide Ida Harriet Augusta Hay (Oct, 1821), she was the eldest daughter of William George Hay (1801 – 1846), eighteenth Earl of Erroll. Her mother was Lady Elizabeth Fitzclarence (1801 – 1856), the illegitimate daughter of King William IV (1830 – 1837) and the actress Dorothea Jordan. She was the maternal niece of George Fitzclarence, first Earl of Munster. Lady Ida was married (1841) to Charles Noel (1818 – 1881), Sir Charles Geoge Noel (1818 – 1881), Viscount Campden, and then second Earl of Gainsborough (1866 – 1881).
Lady Gainsborough served at court as maid-of-honour to Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV (1830 – 1837) and bridesmaid at the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1840) prior to her marriage. Lady Gainsborough died (Oct 22, 1867) aged forty-five, and left five children,

• Lady Blanche Elizabeth Mary Annunciata Noel (1845 – 1890). She was married to Thomas Murphy (died 1890).
• Lady Constance Julia Eleanor Georgiana Noel (1847 – 1891). She was married to Sir Alan Henry Bellingham (1846 – 1921), fourth baronet, of Castle Bellingham in Louth, Ireland, and left descendants.
• Lady Edith Horatia Emma Frances Noel (1849 – 1890). She remained unmarried and took religious vows as a nun.
• Sir Charles William Francis Noel (1850 – 1926). He succeeded his father as third Earl of Gainsborough (1881 – 1926). He was married twice and left descendants.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. (Honourable) Edward Noel (1852 – 1917). He served in the army with the Ashanti war (1873 – 1874), the Jowaki expedition (1877 – 1878), and in the Burmese War (1885 – 1887). He was married and left descendants.

Gaiola (Caiola) – (d. c303 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian martyr
Gaiola was killed with many others in Africa, during the persecutions organized by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia, when they refused to make oblation to the pagan gods. Revered as a saint, her feast (March 3) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Gaitelgrima of Salerno (1) – (fl. c1050 – c1080)
Italian princess and ruler
Gaitelgrima was the daughter of Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno and his wife Porporia, the daughter of Laidolfo of Amalfi, Count di Tabellaria. She was sister to Sikelgaita, the wife of Robert Guiscard. Her brother Gisulf II arranged for her marriage with Jordan I, Prince of Capua, to whom she bore three sons. With Jordan’s death the princess ruled Capua as regent for her eldest son Richard. With her later remarriage the Capuans expelled her from the city, placing one Lando on the throne as their prince. Gaitelgrima retired with her sons to Aversa. She spent her last years at Sarno.

Gaitelgrima of Salerno (2) – (c1030 – after 1087)
Sicilian countess consort of Apulia (1046 – 1051)
Gaitelgrima was the daughter of Guiamar IV, Prince of Salerno and his wife Gemma of Capua. She was sister to Sichelgaita, wife of Robert Guiscard and half-sister to Gaitelgrima, the wife of Jordan of Capua. Her brother Gisulf II arranged her first marriage (1046) to Drogo of Hauteville (c1015 – 1051), count of Apulia, as his second wife. She him a large dowry, but their union remained childless. After Drogo was murdered by Waszo of Naples, the countess remarried (1052) to Roberto di Lucera, count di Gargano, and thirdly to Count Alfredo of Sarno. Gaitelgrima was still living (Jan, 1087), when she granted certain properties to the monastery of La Trinita at Cava in memory of her second and third husbands. Sources which claim that Gaitelgrima was also married to her husband’s brother Count Humphrey (Onofrio) (died 1057), and was still living as his widow (1091) are mistaken, this lady must have been an unnamed sister.

Gaither, Frances Ormond – (1889 – 1955)
American author and biographer
Born Frances Jones (May 21, 1889), in Somerville, Tennessee, she was the granddaughter of a cotton planter. She became the wife (1912) of Rice Gaither, a wealthy newspaperman with the New York Times. Frances Gaither was best known for her work, The Fatal River: The Life and Death of La Salle (1931), a biography of the French explorer Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643 – 1687), the discoverer of the Mississippi river, who named the state of Louisiana in honour of King Louis XIV, and who was ultimately murdered during a mutiny of his crew. She also wrote several novels for children. Her other published works included, The Painted Arrow (1931), The Scarlet Coat (1934), Little Miss Cappo (1937),  Follow the Drinking Gourd (1940), The Red Cock Crows (1944), and, Double Muscadine (1949). Frances Gaither died (Oct 28, 1955) aged sixty-six.

Gaitskill, Dora Creditor, Lady – (1901 – 1989)
British politician and United Nations delegate
Anna Deborah Creditor was born (April 25, 1901) near Riga in Latvia, the daughter of Leon Creditor, founder the Jewish Voice newspaper, and granddaughter of Hertzel Creditor, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania. She immigrated to Brtain with her family as an infant (1903). Dora was married firstly (1921 – 1937) to David Frost, and secondly (1937) to the Labour politician and Member of Parliament, Hugh Todd-Naylor Gaitskill (1906 – 1963) and left issue by both husbands. Her younger daughter Cressida Frances Gaitskill (born 1942) became the wife (1964) of Gordon Wasserman (born 1938) who was appointed as assistant under-secretary of State for the Home Office (1983).
Dora Gaitskill was a fierce defender of her husband during his political career after 1945. Shortly after the death of Hugh Gaitskill (1963) in recognition of her public service, and at the personal recommendation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, Dora was created a Life Peer as Baroness Gaitskill of Egremont, Cumberland, by Queen Elizabeth II (1963) and was an active member of the House of Lords for two decades (1963 – 1985). Lady Gaitskill served as a trustee of the Anglo-German Foundation (1974 – 1983) and supported the ‘yes’ campaign in the European referendum (1975). She became a member (1977) of the House of Lords All Party Committee on the Bill of Human Rights. Lady Gaitskill died (July 1, 1989) aged eighty-eight, at Hampstead in London.

Gala, Elena Dmitrievna Diakonovna    see    Dali, Gala Elena

Galardon, Charlotte de Prie, Marquise de – (1622 – 1700)
French society figure
A courtier of Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon at Versailles, Charlotte de Prie was the daughter of Louis de Prie, Marquis de Toucy. Charlotte was married to Noel de Bullion, Marquis de Galardon (c1610 – 1670) whom she survived three decades as Dowager Marquise de Galardon (1670 – 1700). She was the aunt of Marquis Louis de Prie (1671 – 1751) who served as ambassador to the court of Savoy and was Prime Minister of France in the early reign of Louis XV.

Galbraith, Georgie Starbuck – (1909 – 1980)
American painter, poet and writer
Georgie Galbraith was born (Dec 15, 1909) at Brownington, Missouri, and wrote articles for Harper’s Magazine and was a friend of the lyricist and composer, Ralph Yaw. She was the author of, Have One on Me (1963), and was remembered for poems such as, ‘White Revelations,’ ‘The Lost Stone,’ and ‘Teen-Age Tragedy.’ Georgie Galbraith died (Feb 25, 1980) aged seventy, at Bakersfield, California.

Gale, Frances – (fl. 1877 – 1885)
British still-life artist
Frances Gale was a resident of London. She specialized in watercolour paintings of flowers and native grasses. One of her works which depicted thistles was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Gale, June – (1911 – 1996)
American film and television actress and vocalist
June Gilmartin was born (July 6, 1911) at San Francisco in California, into a theatrical family. As a child she performed in vaudeville with her siblings as The Gale Sisters, and they appeared together in the film Poor Little Rich Boy (1932). Thereafter Gale appeared in small film roles, often as a band member or a dancer such as in Folies-Bergere de Paris (1935), Folies-Bergere (1936), One in a Million (1936) and Thin Ice (1937).
Gale was married firstly (1939) to the pianist and composer Oscar Levant (1906 – 1972) and under her married name of June Levant she appeared in the film Pigskin Parade (1936). With her husband she co-hosted the program The Oscar Levant Show (1958). Gale appeared as a switchboard operator in the thriller Time Out for Murder (1938) and had roles in Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939) and in Easter Parade (1948) which was her last movie. With Levant’s death June Gale remarried (1978) to the dramatist Henry Ephron (1912 – 1992) as his second wife. June Gale died (Nov 13, 1996) aged eighty-five, in Los Angeles.

Gale, Susannah Gordon – (1824 – 1906)
Australian feminist
Susannah Windeyer was born (May 7, 1824) in London, the daughter of Charles Windeyer. She came to Sydney in New South Wales, as a child with her family (1828). Her second husband was Henry Gale, and Susannah was the aunt of Sir William Frederick Windeyer. Mrs Gale was involved in the campaign for female suffrage from an early age, and remained involved with this cause for the remainder of her life. She was elected to serve as vice-president of the Women’s Suffrage League shortly before her death. Susannah Gale died (Sept 1, 1906) aged eighty-two, in Sydney.

Gale, Zona – (1874 – 1938)
American novelist, story writer and dramatist
Zona Gale was born (Aug 26, 1874) in Portage, Wisconsin, and attended college in that town. She attended the University of Wisconsin, and worked as a journalist in Milwaukee and in Hew York. Her first published work was the overly sentimental novel, Romance Island (1906), though her literary talent remained evident. Increasingly drawn towards feminism and the fight for female suffrage, Gale also held strong pacifist views.
Her novel Birth (1918), was later adapted for the stage under the title of, Mr Pitt (1924), but she achieved real public recognition and fame for her real-life depictions of life in the midwest for her popular novel, Miss Lulu Brett (1920), and she received the Pulitzer Prize (1921) for the stage version. Her other novels included, Papa le Fleur (1933), and the story anthology, Yellow Gentians and Blue (1927).
Zona Gale was a strong supporter of the suffrage campaign to enfranchise women, and was an admirer of the work accomplished by Jane Addams at Hull House. She was later married (1928) to William Breese, a manufacturer from her own town, which led to her collection, Portage, Wisconsin and Other Essays (1928). Zona Gale died (Dec 27, 1938) aged sixty-four.

Galeratti, Catterina – (fl. c1700 – 1721)
Italian opera singer
Catterina Galeratti was equally at ease in either soprano or contralto roles. She was involved in opera production at the Queen’s Theatre, London, prior to her earliest recorded role (Jan, 1714) when she performed Silvio in, Dorinda, and then the title roles of Creso and Arminio, and Lucio Vero, which ensured a popular and successful English tour for her. Catterina later returned and made a second tour of England (1720 – 1721). Her roles during this visit included Agenor in, Astarte, Tigrane in, Radamisto, Amulio in, Numitore, and Lucio Tarquinio in, Muzio Scevola. Details of her later career are unknown.

Galeria Copiola – (fl. c100 – c70 BC)
Roman actress
Galeria Copiola almost certainly of slave status, and had been manumitted by a member of the Galerii gens, who would almost certainly have arranged for her to be trained for the stage. A performer of some considerable talent, she was famous enough to be recorded by the elder Pliny, who referred to her as an emboliara grandaeva, or an elderly dramatic actress.

Galeria Fundana – (c37 – after 70 AD) 
Roman Augusta (69 AD)
Galeria Fundana was perhaps the daughter or sister of Publius Galerius Trachalus, consul ord. (68 AD). Galeria was married (c57 AD) as his second wife, to the Emperor Vitellius (15 – 69 AD), who granted the title of Augusta to his wife and mother Sextilia at the same time (69 AD). Galeria moved with her children and mother-in-law into the famous palace of Nero but both women felt distinctly uncomfortable in such opulent surroundings. Neither she nor Sextilia were seduced by the hollow flattery of court life. Dio strangely accuses Galeria Fundana of haughtily complaining of the poor quality of the Imperial robes that she found in the palace, but the testaments to her modesty are too strong to give credence to this stsatement.
When Vespasian and his army reached Rome, they came upon Vitellius, Galeria Fundana and their daughter, who had emerged from the Capitol, all dressed in mourning for the Augusta Sextilia who has recently died. As his precarious reign had dissolved into chaos, Vitellius offered to resign the Imperial throne, but he was killed by the mob. The empress and her children remained unmolested. Her son Vitellius Germanicus (62 – 70 AD) was killed by Mucianus as a political danger to the Flavian dynasty, but the empress herself was left unharmed and granted an income by the new Flavian dynasty. Tacitus in his Histories alludes to a home in Rome that was the empress’s personal property. Her surviving child Vitellia Fundana was treated as an Imperial princess, and was provided with a suitable dowry by the Emperor Vespasian (70 – 79 AD). Through this daughter Galeria Fundana was the ancestress of the Antonine Dynasty.

Galgai, Leonora – (1571 – 1617) 
Italian courtier
Leonora Galgai was of Florentine birth, and was the childhood companion of Marie de Medici, who became the second wife (1599) of Henry IV of France, and whom she accompanied to the French court. She was married (1601) to the dashingly handsome courtier, Concino Concini, and the two worked together to enrich themselves at the expense of the French royal coffers.
Small, thin, and ugly, Leonora nevertheless managed to ingratiate herself with many prominent courtiers, such as the king’s mistress Henriette de Verneuil, for whom she obtained (1601) the position of Mistress of the Robes to the queen. With the death of the king (1610) Marie de Medici assumed the regency for Louis XIII, and Concini was made marquis d’Ancre. During this period the couple enjoyed boundless power, which they used to enrich themselves, and were the causes of great friction between the queen, the king, and their respective supporters. In 1616 Leonora was one of the chief ladies who greeted the king’s bride, Anne of Austria, upon her arrival in Paris. Finally, despite the protests of Queen Marie, Louis XIII assumed full power (1617). On April 24, Concini was shot by a royal guard on the drawbridge of the Louvre Palace, and Leonora was made prisoner by the king’s supporters. In May following, Leonora was condemned to death for sorcery, despite pleas for her release made by the queen mother. Leonora was beheaded and her body burned (July 8, 1617).

Galgani, Gemma – (1878 – 1903)
Italian Catholic nun and saint
Galgani was born (March 12, 1878) at Camigliano, near Lucca, and was raised by relatives after the deaths of her parents. She experienced mystical visions and the signs of the stigmata. The priest who recorded the phenomena she evidence was so impressed, that he became her biographer. Gemma Galgani died (April 11, 1903) at Lucques, aged only twenty-five.

Galgoczi, Erszebet – (1930 – 1989)
Hungarian novelist
Galgoczi was born (Aug 27, 1930) at Gyor in western Hungary. She was raised under the new Communist regime and her novels portrayed rural farming life. Her works included Vidravas (Otter Trap) (1984) which dealt with the 1956 uprising, the novels A Kozos Bun (Common Sin) (1976), Kinek torvenye? (Whose Law?) (1971), and Bizonyitek nincs (There Is No Proof) (1976). Galgoczi later worked in Budapest as a journalist, and was the recipient of the Joszef Attila Prize (1976) and the Kossuth Prize (1987). Galgoczi was for several years a member of the Hungarian parliament. Erszebet Galgoczi died of cancer (May 20, 1989) aged fifty-eight, at Menfocsanak.

Galiena – (fl. 1209)
English medieval witchtrial victim
Galiena was a native of Norfolk, and was accused by her neighbour Agnes, the wife of Odo. She was arrested and taken to trial but she denied all guilt. Galiena cleared herself by successfully undergoing the ordeal of the hot iron.

Galilei, Maria Celeste – (1600 – 1634)
Italian nun and letter writer
Born Virginia Gamba (Aug 13, 1600) in Padua, she was the illegitimate daughter of the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei and Marina Gamba. She was raised with her sister Livia in a convent in Florence. Virginia later took the veil in the Clarissan convent of San Matteo (1616) at Arcetri, near Florence, where she served as apothecary to the sisters. She took the name of Maria Celeste in religion. Almost one hundred and twenty-five of her letters to her father (1623 – 1633) have survived. They were edited and published in the twentieth century (1935). She may have prepared the manuscripts for several of her father’s books. Maria Celeste Galilei died (April 2, 1634) aged thirty-three, of dysentery, in Florence.

Galina, G.A. – (1870? – 1942)
Russian poet and children’s writer
Born Glafira Adolfovna Mamoshina, she originally worked as a telegraphist (1890 – 1896). Galina published collections of verse such as, Poems (1902) and Pre-Dawn Songs (1906), as well as several collections of fairy-tales. She composed a poem on the Boer War (1899 – 1902) in Africa, which later became a popular folk-song, and emigrated with her second husband after the 1917 revolution.

Galindo, Beatrix – (1474 – 1535)
Spanish humanist scholar
Beatrix Galindo was born in Salamanca, and may have been educated in Italy. She had resisted her parents wish that she become a nun, and devoted herself to scholarly pursuits. On account of her prestigious learning, she was appointed as a professor of philosophy, rhetoric and medicine at the University of Salamanca. Because of her learning she was popularly known as ‘La Latina,’ and was made tutor to Queen Isabella I of Castile.
Her husband, Francisco Ramirez, was a soldier by profession, and became the secretary to King Ferdinand V, husband of Isabella. Beatrix Galindo wrote Latin verses, and commentaries on the works of Aristotle and other classical authors. She founded several schools and hospitals throughout Spain, including one in Madrid which she endowed and in which she was buried at her death.

Galitzina, Adelaide Amalia von Schmettau, Princess – (1748 – 1806)
German Pietist
Born Adelaide von Schmettau (Aug 28, 1748) in Berlin, Prussia, she was the daughter of General von Schmettau, and in 1768 she married Prince Dmitri Galitzine (1738 – 1803) the Russian ambassador to the courts of The Hague and Versailles. From 1766 she served as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Louise of Prussia. A woman of well known literary tastes, and an extraordinarily amiable disposition, she became noted for her piety, culture, grace and adherence to the Catholic faith. Adelaide later seperated from her husband, and went to reside at Munster in Westphalia, where she established a circle of pietists. The famous conversion of Count Friedrich Leopold von Stolberg to the Roman Catholic Church (1800) took place in the princess’s private chapel at Munster. It was due to her influence that her son prince Dmitri Augustine Dmitrivitch Galitzine (1770 – 1841) became a Roman Catholic in 1795, and was later ordained as a priest in America. Princess Adelaide died (April 27, 1806) at Munster, aged fifty-seven.

Galitzina, Catherine Helene von Carlow, Princess – (1891 – 1940)
German-Anglo royal
Born Countess Catherine von Carlow (Aug 6, 1891) at Oranienbaum, near St Petersburg, Russia, she was the first daughter of Duke George Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1859 – 1909) by his morganatic marriage with Natalia Feodorovna Wonliarsky (1858 – 1921), created Countess von Carlow, and bore her mother’s title and rank from birth. Countess Catherine was married at St Petersburg (1913) to Prince Vladimir Emmanuelovitch Galitzine (1884 – 1954), as his first wife. The princess and her husband were prominent members of the Imperial Romanov court during the last months. With the revolution (1917) the princess immigrated to England with her husband, to whom she bore three sons, and remained resident there. Princess Galitzina was killed (Oct 8, 1940) aged forty-nine, during an air raid in WW II, at Gray’s Inn Road, London.

Galitzina, Marie Catherine von Carlow, Princess   see    Kleinmichel, Countess von

Galitzine, Irene – (1916 – 2006)
Russian fashion designer
Princess Irina Galitzina was born (July 22, 1916) at Tbilisi in Georgia, into an ancient aristocratic Russian family. The family fled from Russia after the revolution (1917) and settled in Paris. Irene studied art in Rome, French at the Sorbonne, and travelled to England to study at Cambridge University. She worked as an assistant with the famous designers the Fontana sisters before establishing her own salon (1946) where she presented her designer collections.
Irene Galitzine was famous for designing silk evening trousers for ladies (1960) which became popularly known as ‘palazzo pyjamas.’ She was named as the Italian Designer of the Year (1962) and was the recipient of the British Sunday Times International Fashion Award (1965). Her designs were worn by such internationally famous women as Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Claudia Cardinale and the American First Lady Jackie Kennedy, amongst many others. She later sold her fashion label (1990) and published the memoir entitled From Russia to Russia (1996). Princess Irene Galitzine died (Oct 20, 2006) aged ninety, in Rome.

Galizia, Fede – (1578 – 1630)
Italian still-life painter
Fede Galizia was born in Trento, the daughter of a miniaturist, and was a skilled artist whose work was well known by the age of twelve. She established herself as a very successful producer of historical and devotional subjects, and portraits. Examples of Galizia’s work include, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, preserved in the Galleria Borghese, and, Still Life with Peaches and Jasmine (1602). Three of her still-life works preserved in the Pinocoteca Civica of Cremona are thought to be examples of Galizia’s later paintings, though many other unidentifiable still-lifes are rather doubtfully attributed to her. Professor Charles Sterling of the Metropolitan Museum used one of Fede Galizia’a works as a frontspiece for his volume, History of European Still-Life Paintin..

Gall, Alice Crew – (c1875 – 1949)
American children’s author and writer
Alice Gall co-wrote several works with her brother, Fleming Crew. These included Wagtail (1932), Ringtail (1933), Little Black Ant (1936), and Bushy Tail (1941).

Gall, Louise – (1815 – 1855)
German writer
Born Baroness Louise Gall (Sept 19, 1815) at Darmstadt in Hesse, she was later married to the noted writer, Levin Schucking. Gall wrote short novels which were published in the Morgenblatt newspaper in Augsburg, Bavaria She jointly authored the novel, Familienbilder (1854) with her husband, and penned several plays such as, Der neue Kreuzritter (1853). Louise Gall died (March 16, 1855) at Clemenswerth, near Munster, Westphalia.

Gall, Yvonne – (1885 – 1972)
French soprano
Born Yvonne Galle (March 6, 1885) in Paris, she studied at the Paris Conservatoire and made her stage debut at the Paris Opera, where her career continued for the next two and a half decades (1908 – 1935). Gall later sang with the Chicago opera in the USA (1918 – 1921) and later taught singing at the Paris Conservatoire. Madame Gall was best known for her French and Italian operatic roles and was married to the noted composer and conductor, Henri Paul Busser (1872 – 1973). Yvonne Gall died (Aug 21, 1972) aged eighty-seven, in Paris.

Galla – (fl. c390 – c410 AD)
Gallo-Roman patrician
Galla became the wife of Eucherius from a senatorial family. With her husband Galla was the recipient of a letter from Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, recorded his his Epistulae which styled her clarissima femina. She was also mentioned in the Vita Consortiae and in the Consolationes of John Cassian. She retired with her husband Eucherius to live the religious life at the Abbey of Lerins. Eucherius was appointed as Bishop of Lyons whilst Galla took vows as a nun.
Apart from two daughters named Consortia and Tullia of whom nothing is known except their names, Galla was the mother of two sons, Salonius who had been appointed as bishop of Geneva by 439 AD and was still living (c455 AD) when he attended the Council of Arles, and Veronius (living c475 AD) who had become Bishop of Vence by 450 AD.

Galla, Aurelia – (c490 AD – c540)
Roman patrician
Aurelia Galla was the daughter of Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, prefect of Rome (476 – 491 AD), consul (485 AD), later put to death by Theodoric of Italy, and was sister to Rusticiana, the wife of Severinus Boethius. Galla was married in her youth, but was widowed after only one year. Soon afterwards, Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe wrote her a letter (dated c508 – c523) on the theme of widowhood. This missive is preserved in his Epistulae and in it he referred to Galla as dominae vere illustri et in Christi timore venerabili filiae Gallae. Deciding against remarriage, Galla chose to embrace the religious life, and necame a nun in the monastery of St Peter in Rome. Galla died there of breast cancer, after a life devoted to religious piety and charitable concerns, and was said to have had visions of St Peter on her deathbed. Regarded as a saint, her feast (Oct 3) is recorded in the Roman Martyrology and in the Acta Sanctorum.

Galla, Flavia Julia – (c324 – 352 AD)
Roman Augusta (350 – 352 AD)
Flavia Julia Galla was the only daughter of Prince Flavius Julius Constantinus and his first wife Neratia Galla, the sister of consul Neratius Cerealis, and was paternal granddaughter of the Emperor Constantius I Chlorus (293 – 306 AD) and his second wife Flavia Maxima Theodora. She was married (c340 AD) to her cousin Constantius III (317 – 361 AD) as his first wife, the marriage being designed to unite the two branches of the Imperial house. There were no children. With her husband’s accession Galla was accorded the rank of Augusta (350 AD) but she remains a shadowy figure.

Galla, Neratia – (c305 – 327 AD)
Roman Imperial princess
Neratia Galla was the daughter of a wealthy consular family that held high court offices for several generations. She was the sister of the two consuls Vulcacius (347 AD) and Neratius Cerealis (358 AD). She became the first wife (c322 AD) of Prince Flavius Julius Constantinus (c302 – 337 AD), a younger son of the Emperor Constantius I Chlorus (293 – 306 AD) and half-brother to the Emperor Constantine I the Great (306 – 337 AD). Galla resided with her husband in Tuscany and in Korinth in Greece but died, probably from the effects of childbirth, before Julius moved his family to Constantinople. Her three children were Flavia Julia Galla (c324 – 352) the first wife of the Emperor Constantius II (317 – 361 AD), the future Emperor Gallus (325 – 354 AD) who married Flavia Constantina, daughter of Constantine I but died childless, and an unnamed son who was murdered with his father during the purge of the Imperial house (337 AD).

Galla, Valentinia – (370 – 394 AD)
Roman Augusta (387 – 394 AD)
Valentinia Galla was the eldest daughter of the Emperor Valentinian I and his second wife Aviana Justina, the widow of the Emperor Magnentius. She was the elder sister of Emperor Valentinian II (383 – 392 AD). With her father’s death (375 AD) Galla and her two sisters Justa and Grata were removed with their mother to the Imperial palace at Milan in Lombardy where they resided until 387 AD. When Magnus Maximus invaded Italy the family fled to the court of Theodosius I at Constantinople for safety.
The Dowager Empress Justina staged a dramastic scene presenting her daughters before Theodosisu. Beautiful and accomplished Galla made a favourable impression upon the widowed Theodosius who then asked Justina for her hand. In return Justina asked that Theodosius avenge the murder of her stepson the Emperor Gratian. He agreed and Theodosius and Galla were married in Constantinople (387 AD). They spent the next winter with Galla’s brother valentinian II in Thessalonika and soon afterwards her mother and sisters returned by sea to Rome. She became stepmother to the emperors Arcadius (395 – 408 AD) and Honorius (408 – 423 AD) and though Theodosius adored her Galla’s relationship with Arcadius was anything but friendly. When Theodosius left for the west (390 AD) leaving Arcadius in power in Constantinople, he and Empress Galla took a violent dislike to each other. This ended with Arcadius expelling his stepmother and her infant daughter from the palace. However with the return of Theodosius the empress was restored to her position, and stepmother and stepson were reluctantly reconciled. Empress Galla died in Constantinople (April, 394 AD) aged only twenty-three, from the effects of childbirth. Galla’s importance was only dynastic, her two sons Gratian (392 AD) and Johannes (394 AD) died in infancy, and her only surviving child was the famous Empress Galla Placidia, the mother of Valentinian III.

Galla Placidia, Aelia – (388 – 450 AD) 
Roman Augusta (417 – 450 AD)
Aelia Galla Placidia was the daughter of Emperor Theodosius I (379 – 394 AD) and his second wife Valentina Galla, the daughter of Emperor Valentinian I. She was the younger half-sister to the emperors Arcadius and Honorius. From 397 AD she was raised and educated in the household of the Dowager Empress Laeta, the widow of Gratian in Rome. Galla Placidia was taken hostage during the sack of Rome (410 AD) by the Visigoth king Alaric, and was later married (414 AD) at Narbonne, in Gaul, to his successor Athaulf. Their only son Theodosius died an infant. With Athaulf’s murder (415 AD) the Goths subjected her to some mistreatment but eventually handed her back to Rome.
Galla Placidia was then forced by her brother to marry Constantius (363 – 421 AD) general to Honorius, at Ravenna (417 AD). By Constantius she was the mother of the emperor Valentinian III and of Justa Grata Honoria. After quarrelling with her brother, Placidia fled to the court of Constantinople (423 AD). She was later restored to power in Rome with the backing of an eastern army. The usurper Johannes was suppressed and her six year old son Valentinian was installed in Rome as emperor (Oct 23, 425 AD), with the empress as regent. Her influence remained paramount for some time, but eventually the influence of the military commander Aetius rose in ascendancy and from about 433 AD his influence displaced that of the empress mother. The empress now devoted herself to works of religious patronage and charity, and built churches and her famous mausoleum in the Church of the Holy Cross, in Ravenna.
When her daughter Honoria plotted with the court official Hyacinthus to offer her hand to King Attila of the huns, Placidia had to personally intervene to save her daughter’s life when the plan was discovered. Empress Galla Placidia died (Nov 27, 450 AD) aged sixty-two, in Rome. Her famous tomb in Ravenna which had a life-sized figure of Galla Placidia seated on a throne of cypress-wood, survived several hundred years before being accidentally destroyed in a fire, caused by two children playing with matches. She was commemorated on the coinage by a surviving gold solidus minted in Ravenna (c430 AD). The obverse has a bust of the empress with the legend D N GALLA PLACIDIA P F AVG whilst the reverse portrays a standing Victory supporting a jewelled cross above which is a star and the legend VOT XX MVLT XXX.

Gallardo, Sara – (1931 – 1988)
Argentinian author
Gallardo was born in Buenos Aires, into a wealthy family of the aristocracy. She was married twice and began publishing her work with her first novel Enero (January) (1958) which dealt with the ordinary life of a farmworker. She published work for children and also the collection of short stories entitled El Pais del Humo (Country of the Smoke).

Galleghan, Persia Elspbeth Blaiklock, Lady – (1902 – 1997)
Australian Red Cross campaigner and patron of the arts, and New South Wales State Commander of the VASC (Voluntary Aid Service Corps)
Persia Blaiklock was born (Sept 22, 1902) at Khoribah, near Tuncurry, New South Wales, the daughter of Herbert Blaiklock, an educator and was educated in Brisbane and Towoomba.
Her first marriage (1925) with Sidney Porter (died 1933) left her a childless widow. Persia Porter joined the Red Cross as a volunteer (1939) and was appointed as the commandant of the Scottish Detachment in North Sydney. She was later appointed as assistant controller of the Red Cross (1945) and worked as a social worker with the Concord Repatriation Hospital in Sydney (1955 – 1964). After her retirement Porter travelled extensively and later became the second wife (1969) of Sir Frederick Gallagher Galleghan (1897 – 1971), the prominent military officer and public servant. Her husband’s old soldiers showed their delight in this marriage by referring to their old commander as ‘The Shah of Persia.’
A staunch patron of the arts, Lady Galleghan was a member of the Opera Foundation of Australia and founded the Friends of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She was also a founding member of the Keep Australia Beautiful Council in NSW. She established the Herbert Blaiklock Memorial Lecture at the University of Sydney (1971), in memory of her late father. Lady Galleghan was the recipient of several notable awards including The Duchess of Gloucester Award (1945) in recognition of her wartime service, and was appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1978). Lady Galleghan died (Jan 13, 1997) in Sydney, aged ninety-four.

Galletti di Cadilhac, Margaret Isabella Cellier, Contessa – (1846 – 1928)
Anglo-Italian author
The Hon. (Honourable) Margaret Cellier was the daughter of the first Baron Monkswell. She was married (1873) to Conte Arturo Galletti di Cadilhac (died 1912), a deputy of the Italian Parliament, to whom she bore three children. The contessa was the author of several published works which dealt with her life in Italy such as, The Camorristi and Other Tales (1882), Our Home on the Adriatic (1886), and, Annals of an Italian Village (1896). Other works included, Babel (1887) and, Rachel and Maurice (1892). After her husband’s death the contessa returned to reside in England. The contessa died there (June 27, 1928) at Brent in Devon.

Galli, Caterina Ruini – (1723 – 1804)
Italian soprano and composer
Caterina Galli was one of the earliest students of George Frederic Handel, and performed operatic sopranos. Galli also appeared at Covent Garden in London, and her last stage performance took place at the age of seventy-seven (1800).

Gallia, Maria Margherita – (fl. 1696 – 1734)
Italian vocalist
Maria Margherita Gallia was born in Lucca, Italy, and was brought to England by Thomas Betterton, and was employed at the Lincoln’s Inn Theatre (1696). She was married Giuseppe Fedeli Saggione and sometimes appeared under her married name. She was popular in the role of Everilla in, The Temple of Love. Gallia was living at Hampstead, London (1734), but no details are recorded of her later life.

Gallian, Ketti – (1913 – 1959)
French-American stage and film actress
Her few movie credits included Marie Galante (1934), Under the Pampas Moon (1935), and Shall We Dance (1937).

Gallia Polla – (fl. c14 – c37 AD)
Roman maron
Gallia Polla was the owner of large estates in the Arsinoite nome district in Egypt during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, and is thus attested by the Sitologen papyrus preserved in the Berlin Museum. She was perhaps connected to the family of Junius Gallio, senator in 32 AD and was thus related to the family of the elder and younger Senecas.

Gallica – (d. c303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Gallica was killed in Rome during the persecutions organized by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. She was one of the large group of martyrs listed together in the Martyrology of St Jerome. Revered as a saint, her feast (June 21) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Galli-Curci, Amelita – (1882 – 1963)
Italian coloratura soprano
Galli-Curci was born (Nov 18, 1882) in Milan, Lombardy. She studied piano at the Milan Conservatory, but was mainly self-taught as an opera singer, and made her stage debut as Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, Rigoletto (1909). Her first husband (1910) was Marchese Luigi Curci of Simeri, and her second (1921) was an American, Homer Samuels, of Minneapolis. Her own particular talent made up for her lack of polished singing technique, and Galli-Curci later joined the Chicago Opera Company (1916). She was principally attached to the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1919, and was particularly acclaimed in the title role of, Dinorah, by Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 – 1864). She was forced to retire due to ill-health (1930). Madame Galli-Curci died (Nov 26, 1963) at Lo Jolla, California, aged eighty-one.

Gallifet, Florence Georgina Lafitte, Marquise de – (c1835 – 1901)
French society figure
A prominent courtier of the Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie, Florence Lafitte became the wife of one of his most prominent generals, Gaston Alexandre, Marquis de Gallifet (1830 – 1909). Madame de Gallifet was a friend to the Comte and Comtesse de Greffuhle, and to the novelist Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922), who mentioned her in his novel, A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), and attended the famous salon of Madame Straus in the rue d’Astorg. The marquise was painted by the famous portraitist Franz Winterhalter. Madame de Gallifet later seperated from her husband (1891) and resided sat the Manoir des Roches in Trouville.

Gallimard, Simone – (1918 – 1995)
French publisher
Born Simone Cornu, she was the daughter of a government official. She was married (1939) to Claude Gallimard, a member of the famous publishing family. Her father-in-law Gaston Gallimard (1881 – 1975), bought the publishing house Mercure de France (1958) which had been established in 1894, and Simone organized and adminstrated the company for him, being appointed president-director general (1962).
The company flourished under her control, and apart from publishing the works of the poet Henri Michaux, and the academic Yves Bonnefoy, Simone became involved in a cause celebre (1975) when she published the novel, Life Before Us, by the novelist Romain Gary, which was in fact a pseudonym for the novelist Emile Ajar, of which fact Simone remained unaware. This book was awarded the Prix Goncourt, and was eventually produced as a film. Simone Gallimard died at Neuilly, near Paris.

Galli-Marie, Celestine Laurence – (1840 – 1905)
French mezzo-soprano
Born Marie de l’Isle (Nov, 1840) in Paris, Celestine made her stage debut in Strasbourg, Alsace (1859). She later created the operatic roles of Mignon (1866) and Carmen (1877), and performed in Italy. She was particularly admired for her performances of Don Cesar de Bazan, by Jules Massenet (1840 – 1912). Celestine Galli-Marie died (Sept 22, 1905) aged sixty-four, in Venice, Italy.

Galliny, Florentine – (1845 – 1913)
Austrian publicist
Galliny was born (June 24, 1845) in Vienna. She became editor of the popular publication Wiener Zeitung, and wrote features for various magazines and periodicals, sometimes using the pseudonym ‘Bruno Walden.’ Galliny was the author of Wiener Studien (1869). Florentine Galliny died (July 19, 1913) aged sixty-eight, in Vienna.

Gallitta – (fl. c105 AD)
Roman patrician
Gallitta was the wife of a military tribune of senatorial rank. The younger Plliny recorded in a letter to Cornelianus (c105 AD) that Gallitta’s husband was about to enter public office, and that her affair with a centurion which threatened to damage her husband’s prestige, was duly reported by him to the Emperor Trajan. Gallitta was formally charged with adultery in court, the case being judged by Trajan himself, with Pliny an invited witness to the proceedings.
Pliny’s detailed account of the trial record that the centurion was banished, but that Gallitta’s husband, seemingly regretting his hasty action was censured for thus seeming to condone her behaviour. Forced to reluctantly testify against her, Gallitta was found guilty, deprived of half her dowry and a third of her property, and was then banished to an island.

Gallmeyer, Josephine (1838 – 1884)
German stage actress and vocalist
Josephine Tomaselli was born (Feb 27, 1838) in Leipzig in Saxony, the illegitimate daughter of Katharina Tomaselli. Josephine took her stepfather’s surname and trained as a dancer, making her theatre debut as a soubrette (1853). She travelled and worked abroad, singing in Germany and Hungary before finally joining the Vienna Theatre (1862), where she became an established success. She wrote the drama Aus purem Hass (1883). Josephine Gallmeyer died (Feb 3, 1884) in Vienna, aged forty-five.

Galloway, Grace Crowden – (c1733 – 1789)
American colonial diarist and loyalist
Grace Crowden was the daughter of Lawrence Crowden, the prominent Quaker political leader, and was the wife (1753) of Joseph Galloway, a wealthy merchant and businessman from Maryland, to whom she bore four children. With the evacuation of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania by the British forces, her husband and her daughter sailed for England, but Grace remained behind hoping to be able to protect the family property from confiscation by the Revolutionary forces. She failed in this endeavour and her health declined alarmingly. Grace Galloway kept a private account of her activities during this period, which was edited and published posthumously as the, Diary of Grace Crowden Galloway: Journal Kept June 17, 1778 Through September 30, 1779 (1971). Grace Galloway died without seeing her husband or surviving daughter again, though part of the family estate was later salvaged and inherited by Grace’s daughter.

Galloway, Mary Arabella Arthur Gascoyne-Cecil, Countess of – (1851 – 1903)
British writer, translator and naturalist
Lady Mary Gascoyne-Cecil was born (April 26, 1850) the daughter of James Brownlow Gascoyne-Cecil, second marquess of Salisbury, and his second wife, Mary Catherine, the daughter of George Sackville-West, fifth Earl De La Warr.  Lady Mary was married (1872) at the Church of St James, Westminster, to the Scottish peer, Alan Plantagenet Stewart (1835 – 1901), tenth Earl of Galloway, whom she survived as Dowager Countess (1901 – 1903). Their marriage remained childless.
Lady Galloway was well travelled, and visited Europe, Palestine, Russia, Greece, Australia, Egypt, Algeria, India, and New Zealand. She received the Ribbon and Star of the Order of Chefehat from the Sultan of Turkey (1889), and was later made a Fellow of the Royal Botanical Society. She translated, Ruskin and the Religion of Beauty, and wrote articles on a wide variety of subjects, which were published in the, Nineteenth Century Magazine, including the place of women in modern politics, the labyrinths of Crete, and the Boer prisons in England. Lady Galloway died (Aug 18, 1903) at Cuffnells in Lyndhurst, aged fifty-three.

Galluzzi, Maria Domitilla – (1595 – 1671)
Italian religious mystic
Maria Domitilla Galluzzi became a nun in Pavia, Lombardy, and later claimed to have had ecstatic visions of Christ. Popularly believed to have the power of levitation, she was investigated by Ignatius Loyola. However, it was only her religious orthodoxy that was in questioned by the Catholic Church, which never officially acknowledged her mysticism, and she was permitted to remain in her convent.

Galswintha (Chilsuinta, Celeswintha, Geleswintha) – (c546 – 568)
Merovingian queen consort
Galswintha was the elder daughter of Athanagild, the Visigothic king of Spain, and his wife Goisvintha, daughter of the Vandal prince Hoamer. She was raised in Toledo and was married (567) to Chilperic I, King of Neustria (539 – 584), as his second wife.  The queen received extensive dower estates but the marriage remained childless, mainly due to the king’s infatuation with his mistress Fredegonde, formerly the servant of his first wife Audovera, who used her influence and wiles to turn Chilperic against his new wife.
Fredegonde plotted her death, and eventually, Galswintha was killed at Soissons, being strangled in her bed by a slave (May 24, 568). Gregory of Tours recorded in his Historia Francourum that ‘After her death God showed forth a great miracle. A lamp was suspended by a cord over her tomb, and without being touched by any, this lamp fell to the pavement before it. It was as if the lamp sank nto some soft substance, it was buried up to the middle, without being broken at all, which thing appeared a great miracle to all who saw it. The king made mourning after her death, but after a few days took Fredegonde again to wife. Therefore his brothers cast him from the kingdom, deeming that the aforesaid queen was not slain without his prompting.’
Chilperic soon regained his kingdom but this murder was the beginning of the deadly and destructive feud that existed thereafter for three decades between Fredegonde and Chilperic’s sister-in-law, the famous Brunhilda the wife of Sigebert I, King of Austrasia, who was Galswintha’s younger sister. Venantius Fortunatus wrote the poem de Gelesuintha preserved in his Carmina which described and lamented her unfortunate fate.

Galvao, Miken – (1892 – 1977)
German tennis player and sportswoman
Born Miken Rieck (April 26, 1892) in Hamburg, after her marriage wirh the tennis player Galvao, the couple became German mixed doubles champions (1909). Miken won the German indoor tennis championships six times in a fifteen year period (1911 – 1926) and won the Tennis World Championship in Paris (1913). She served as an official with the German Hockey Federation (1928 – 1945). Miken Galvao died (Dec 27, 1977) aged eighty-five.

Galvao, Patricia – (1910 – 1962)
Brazilian novelist, poet and painter
Patricia Galvao worked as a journalist with various French and Brazilian newspapers in Asia and Russia, and published works on a variety of subjects such as politics, architecture, and literature. She was married firstly (1930) to Oswald de Andrade and secondly to Geraldo Ferraz. Galvao later joined the Communist Party, and the modernist poet Raul Bopp wrote the poem ‘Coco de Pagu’ in her honour ‘Pagu’ being one of her pseudonyms. She published the novel Parque industrial (Industrial Park) (1933), under the psuedonym ‘Mara Lobo.’

Galvarriato, Eulalia – (1904 – 1997)
Spanish novelist
Eulalia Galvarriato was born in Madrid, she was best known for her popular novel Cinco sombras (Five Shadows) (1947), which dealt with the lives of five sisters forced to remain under the oppressive control of their martinet father. She also published the collection of verse Raices bajo el tiempo (Roots Beneath Time) (1986).

Galvez, Maria Rosa – (1768 – 1806)
Spanish poet, dramatist and translator
Galvez was born in Malaga, into a wealthy family. She was married to Captain Jose Cabrera y Ramirez, and resided in Madrid. Maria Galvez adopted the French neoclassical style of writing, and her work was admired by the poet Manuel Jose Quintana. She enjoyed the patronage of Manuel Godoy, the powerful favourite of King Carlos IV and Queen Maria Luisa. Galvez published her collection of verse under the title, Obras poeticas (Poetic Works) (1804). Maria Rosa Galvez died (Oct 2, 1806) aged thirty-eight, in Malaga.

Galway, Lucia Emily Margaret White, Lady – (1890 – 1983)
British courtier and Red Cross nurse
The Hon. (Honourable) Lucia White was born (Dec 3, 1890) the daughter of Luke White (1857 – 1922), the third Baron Annaly, and his wife Lilah Georgiana Augusta Constance Agar-Ellis, the daughter of Henry Agar-Ellis (1825 – 1866), the third Viscount Clifden. Lucia served with the Red Cross during WW I (1914 – 1918), for which valuable voluntary work she was awarded the Bronze Medal. She also worked in Europe with the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) (1915 – 1918). After this she served at court as maid-of-honour (1919 – 1922) to the Dowager Queen Alexandra, widow of Edward VII (1901 – 1910).
Lucia White was married (1922) to Vere Arundel Monckton-Arundell (1882 – 1943) who succeeded his father as eighth Viscount Galway (1931 – 1943), to whom she bore four children, including Simon George Monckton-Arundel (born 1929), who succeeded his father as ninth Viscount Galway (1943), and three daughters including Celia Monckton-Arundell (1925 – 1997) the wife of Sir Joshua Francis Rowley (1920 – 1997), seventh baronet. Lady Galway accompanied her husband to New Zealand when he was appointed Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief (1935 – 1941) and became the highest ranking social figure. Lady Lucia survived her husband for four decades as the Dowager Lady Galway (1943 – 1983) and long resided at Serlby Hall, Bawtry, near Donacaster, Yorkshire. She served as a Justice of the Peace for Nottinghamshire (1944). Lady Galway died (Jan 12, 1983) aged ninety-two.

Galway, Marie Carola Franciska Roselyne Blennerhassett, Lady – (1876 – 1963)
Anglo-Australian governor’s lady and civic leader, and memoirist
Marie Carola Blennerhassett was born (Jan 5, 1876) in Mayfair, London, the only daughter of the Catholic parliamentarian Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, fourth baronet and his wife Countess Charlotte Julia Leyden, the Bavarian biographer. Marie was raised in private school and convents in Europe, and became a noted linguist, being fluent in six languages. Her first marriage (1894) with the French Baron Raphael d’Erlanger, the noted biologist, proved short-lived, and with his death (1897), the Baronne returned to England where she immersed her time and energies in various worthy philanthropic causes. Nearly two decades later the Dowager Baronne d’Erlanger was remarried (1913) to to Sir Henry Lionel Galway, who was soon appointed as governor of South Australia (1914 – 1919).
Lady Galway proved and energetic and highly original public speaker. She established the Adelaide branch of the Alliance Francaise and gave lectures on language at the universities of Adelaide and Melbourne, Victoria. During this period she worked tirelessly for the war effort in Europe, and founded the South Australian division of the British Red Cross Society, which included a missing person bureau. A supporter of the Belgian Relief Fund, it was in support of this cause that she published the Lady Galway Belgium Book (1916).
In recognition of her valuable work, Lady Galway was awarded the medaille de la Reine Elisabeth and the medaille le la Reconnaissance Francaise, was appointed D.G.St. J. (Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem) (1926). With her return to England Lady Galway was chairwoman of the Consultive Committee of Women’s Organisations and of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. She later published A Book of South Australia (1936), prior to revisiting the state (1937 – 1938) and the memoir The Past Revisited (1953). Lady Galway died (June 29, 1963) aged eighty-seven, at St Merryn, Cornwall.

Galzy, Jeanne – (1883 – 1977)
French novelist, biographer, poet, journalist and dramatist
Galzy was born in Montpellier, Languedoc, and attended the Sorbonne in Paris. Jeanne Galzy had articles published in various periodicals and magazines such as, La Nouvelle Revue Francaise. She was best known for the work, La Surprise de vivre (1969 – 1976), which portrayed upper class Protestant life in Montpellier. Galzy wrote biographies of such historical figures, as St Teresa d’Avila (1927), Catherine de Medici (1936), Margeurite de Valois (1939), George Sand (1950), and Agrippa d’Aubigne (1965). Jeanne Galzy died (May 7, 1977) at Montpellier.

Gamaches, Catherine Constance Emilie Arnaud, Marquise de – (1699 – 1747)
French heiress
A prominent courtier of Louis XV at Versailles, Catherine Arnaud was the daughter of Nicolas Arnaud, Marquis de Pomponne. At her father’s death (1737) she obtained a decree from the Parlement of Paris which overturned his will, which thus made Madame de Gamaches his sole heir.

Gamage, Muriel Elsie Hirst, Lady – (1897 – 1966)
British civic leader
The Hon. (Honourable Muriel Hirst was the elder daughter of Hugo, first Baron Hirst (1863 – 1943), and his wife Leontine, the daughter of Herman Hirsch. Muriel was married (1919) to Leslie Carr Gamage, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (1959). Muriel Gamage was a prominent worker for public causes, and had served during WWI with the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment). Lady Muriel worked organizing the military hospitals during the war, and was appointed D.J.ST.J.(Dame of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem), in recognition of her service. She served as county superintendent of the St John Ambulance Brigade in Berkshire, and was a member of the board of governors of Middlesex Hospital, London, and of the Westminster Medical School Council. Lady Gamage died (Aug 27, 1969) as the result of a car accident.

Gamal, Samia – (1922 – 1994)
Egyptian belly dancer and film actress
Born Zaynab Ibrahim Mahfuz (Feb 22, 1922) in the town of Wana, she was raised in Cairo. She had ballet instruction and then received dance training from Badia Masabni, the founder of modern Oriental dance and also studied under the famous Taheyya Kariokka. Taking the professional name of ‘Samia Gamal’ she appeared in many films. Her early appearances during the 1940’s in movies such as Taxi hantur (A Hansom Carriage) (1945), El Ersane talata (The Three Suitors) (1947), Lo Sparviero del Nilo (Hawk of the Nile) (1949) and El Sakr (The Falcon) (1950) secured her fame with Egyptian audiences.
King Farouk pronounced Samia ‘The National Dancer of Egypt’ (1949) which brought her international attention and she travelled to the USA where she performed at prestigious nightclubs. Gamal continued dancing until aged well into her sixties. Her later film credits included Gli Amanti del deserto (Desert Warrior) (1956), Kull daqqa fi qalbi (Every Beat of My Heart) (1959), El Nagham el hazine (Sad Melody) (1960) and Tarik al shaitan (The Way of the Devil) (1963). Her life was the subject of the posthumous documentary The Fabulous Samia Gamal (2003). Samia Gamal died (Dec 1, 1994) aged seventy-two.

Gamba, Virginia    see   Galilei, Maria Celeste

Gambacorta, Teodora – (c1355 – 1419)
Italian nun
Teodora Gambacorta was the daughter of Pietro Gambacorta, governor of Pisa for over two decades. She was sister to Pietro Gambacorta, the founder of the Congregation of the Order of St Jerome. Teodora was married (c1372) to Simon de Massa, but her liberality to the poor caused problems with her in-laws. She accompanied her father when he received St Catherine of Siena in the plague ridden city of Pisa. With the early death of her husband (c1376), she fled to the Franciscan convent of San Martino in Rome, but was forcibly reclaimed by her family. Finally, her father permitted Teodora to take the veil with the Dominicans in Pisa, where she adopted the religious name of Chiara (Clara). Teodora was considered a saint immediately after her death, and her worship (April 17) was confirmed by Pope Pius VIII.

Gambanyi    see   Gibbs, Pearl Mary

Gambara, Veronica da – (1485 – 1550) 
Italian poet
Veronica da Gambara was born (Nov 30, 1485) at Pratalboino, near Brescia, the daughter of Conte Gianfrancesco da Gambara, and his wife, Alda Pio di Carpi, the daughter of Marco Pio di Carpi, Conte di Sassuolo. She was sister to Cardinal Uberto di Gambara, whilst her mother was first cousin to the poet Ercole Boiardo, who died at the Ferrarese court. She was related to the humanist writer Isotta nogarola and was the niece of Emilia Pia of Urbino. Veronica was married (1509) to Gilberto X, Conte di Correggio, and bore him two sons. With the death of her husband (1518) Veronica administered the family estate of Casino Castle in Correggio until her sons reached the age to rule independently.
A ruler of some considerable skill Veronica managed to save Correggio from the invading army of Galleotti Pico della Mirandola (1538) and was accordingly much honoured by her subjects.
The countess was an avid supporter of the humanists and other literatti of the period, and established her own famous salon in Corregio, where she received Torquato Tasso and Pietro Aretino, amongst many others. She composed poetry in the style of Petrarch, and was respected by the Emperor Charles V (1519 – 1555). Her verse and personal correspondence was later published posthumously as Rime e lettere di Veronica Gambara (Poetry and Letters of Veronica Gambara) (1759). Veronica da Gambara died (June, 1550) aged sixty-four, at Corregio. The castle, church and family tombs at Casino were later destroyed by invading Spanish soldiers (1556).

Gambee, Eleanor Brown – (1904 – 1995) 
American horticulturalist and writer
Eleanor Brown was born in Manhattan, New York, and was married to A. Sumner Gambee. For five decades she was an active supporter of the New York Botanical Garden, and lectured and wrote concerning herbs and other botanical subjects for many horticultural journals and other publications. Eleanor was vice president of the Planned Parenthood Association of Bergen County, and president of the Herb Society of America. Eleanor Gambee died in Englewood, New Jersey.

Gammans, Ann Muriel Paul, Lady – (1896 – 1989)
British patron of the arts, traveller, diplomatic figure and politician
Ann Paul was born at Warblington, Hants, and attended school at Portsmouth. She was married (1917) to Sir David Gammans (died 1957), the first and last baronet (1955 – 1957) and Member of Parliament. Lady Gammans travelled wideley, particularly in Europe and in Asia, and had accompanied her husband on his diplomatic postings to Malaya and Japan. The Japanese emperor Hirohito (Showa) later bestowed upon her the Order of the Sacred Treasure (1971). With the death of her husband Lady Gammans served as the Member of Parliament for Hornsey (1957 – 1966). Lady Gammans died (Dec 28, 1989).

Gamnite    see   Jamnica

Gan, Elena Andreevna – (1814 – 1842)
Russian writer
Elena Gan was the daughter of the noted naturalist Elena Fadeeva. Elena was the mother of the writer Vera Zhelikhovska, and of the famous mystic and theosophist Elena Blavatsky. Her popular novels included the Tartar tale Dzhellaledin (1843) and Teofaniia Abbadzhio (1841). Elena Gan died (June 2, 1842) in Odessa.

Ganapamba – (c1230 – c1293)
Indian queen and ruler
Ganapamba was the daughter of Ganpati Deva, the King of the Kakatiya at Warangal, and was the younger sister to Rudramba, who succeeded their father as queen regant of the Kakatiya. Ganapamba was married to Prince Bela, the son and heir of Rudradeva, King of Kotah. Her husband was killed in battle (1253) after which Queen Ganapamba took control of both the government and the administration of the kingdom. Revered for her wisdom and encouragement of education and the arts, the queen ruled peacefully for four decades without opposition.

Gand, Marie Josephine Felicite de La Rochefoucald-Bayers, Vicomtesse de – (c1761 – after 1828)
French Bourbon society figure
A prominent courtier to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at Versailles, Marie Josephine de La rochefoucald was married (1785) Charles Francois Gabriel, Vicomte de Gand. She was the sister of Pierre Louis de La Rochefoucald-Bayers, Bishop of Saintes, who was murdered during the Revolution (1792). Lord William Gordon thought reports of her beauty to be somewhat overdone, but she was the mistress of the British Duke of Queensberry (‘Old Q’) for s period. She was admired by antiquarian Horace Walpole, who mentions her in his letters. Madame de Gand survived the horrors of the Revolution, and returned to Paris with the restoration of the Bourbons (1814).

Gandara, Carmen – (1900 – 1977)
Argentinian novelist, writer and critic
Carmen Gandara was best known for her novel Los espejos (The Mirrors) (1951). She also wrote several collections of short stories such as, La figura y el mundo (The Figure and the World) (1958).

Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshini – (1917 – 1984)
Indian politician and prime minister
Indira Nehru was born (Nov 19, 1917) in Allahabad, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, who served as the first Indian prime minister (1947 – 1964) and was niece to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the noted politician. Indira attended Somerville College, at Oxford in England, where she became active in politics, and followed her father’s example of speaking out against British rule. For this she suffered imprisonment (1942).
Gandhi was married (1942) to Feroze Gandhi (died 1960), to whom she bore two sons, Rajiv (1944 – 1991), who was later assasinated, and Sanjay (1946 – 1980), who died in an aircrash. She joined the central committee of the Indian Congress (1950), and was later elected as president of the party (1959 – 1960). With the death of her father (1964), Indira was elected to the parliament in his place. Finally, she became prime minister (1966), after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
When she called a general election to muster public support for her government (1971), she won by a landslide, but during the latter part of her career as prime minister, Mrs Gandhi was convicted of election malpractice, and to circumvent this, she declared a state of emergency, which lasted two years (1975 – 1977). Because of this she lost the next election (1977), though she was ultimately cleared of the corruption charges.
Gandhi then resigned from the Congress Parliamentary party, and established herself as leader of the new Indian National Congress (1978). She was re-elected as prime minister, and served for four years (1980 – 1984), before being assassinated in the garden of her official residence in New Delhi, by members of her own Sikh bodyguard (Oct 31, 1984), at the age of sixty-six. This was in retaliation for her sending in of government troops to quell Sikh disturbances in the Punjab some months earlier, which had resulted in the sacking of the Golden Temple at Amritsar. The assasination instigated a violent public backlash, and several thousand Sikhs were massacred in Delhi by Hindu followers of Mrs Gandhi. Her son Rajiv was immediately sworn in as her successor.

Gandhi, Kasturba – (1869 – 1944)
Indian social reformer and political activist
Born Kasturbai Nakonji in Porbander, Kathiawr, she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. She was married (1882) to the famous religious and political leader Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) (Mohondas) Karamchand Gandhi), then the son of the Prime Minister of Rajkot, to whom she bore five children. Her husband taught her to read, and Kasturbai accompanied him to South Africa (1897 – 1914) where she was imprisoned for her political activities. They took a vow of celibacy in 1901.
Kasturba was an active participant in the No-tax campaign in Kaira (1918) and was later arrested for picketing foreign businesses (1931 – 1932). She was later held in detention with her husband at Pune during his famous hunger strike, and cared for him (1943). Kasturba Gandhi died (Feb 22, 1944) aged seventy-four, at Pune. The Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust was established by public subscription after her death to help improve the lives of rural women and children.

Gandia, Leonora de Castro, Duquesa de – (1512 – 1546)
Spanish religious patron and Imperial courtier
Leonora de Castro was married (1529) to St Francesco de Borja (1510 – 1572), the fourth Duque de Gandia, to whom she bore eight children, including Carlos de Borja (1530 – 1592), who succeeded his father as fifth Duque de Gandia (1572 – 1592), and left descendants. Leonora was the maternal grandmother of Francisco de Sandoval y Borja (1552 – 1625), Cardinal de Lerma, the chief minister of King Philip III (1598 – 1621). The Duquesa and her husband served in the household of the Empress Isabella, wife of Charles V, and mother of Philip II (1555 – 1598). With the death of the empress (1539), Leonora and her husband were entrusted with the duty of escorting the funeral cortege to Elvira for burial. Greatly interested in the Dominican order, at Leonora’s request, the duque planned the construction of a new monastery for Dominican nuns at Gandia, which was completed after Leonora’s death (1549).

Gandy, Celia – (fl. 1826 – 1836)
British watercolour artist
The sister to painter Hannah Gandy, Celia specialized as a flower painter, and her married name was Spencer. Her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy under both her maiden and her married names.

Gandy, Hannah – (fl. 1829 – 1833)
British watercolour painter
The sister to Celia Gandy, Hannah specialized in water colour flower paintings, which were exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Ganga Devi – (fl. 1361 – 1371)
Indian Sanskrit poet
Ganga Devi was the wife of Vira Kampa Raya, of Vijayanagar. She accompanied her husband on his various travels and journeys, and was the author of the account of his life entitled, Madhura-Vijayam.

Ganley, Caroline Selina – (1879 – 1966)
British civic leader, politician and philanthropist
Born Caroline Blumfield (Sept 16, 1879), she was married (1901) and bore three children. Caroline Ganley served on several prominent public council organizations, and was appointed as secretary of the School Care Committee. She then joined the Labour Party and served as Member of Parliament for Battersea South (1945 – 1951). After this she served as a councillor with the Battersea Borough Council (1953 – 1965) and was appointed CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1953) in recognition of her valuable public service. Caroline Ganley died (Aug 31, 1966) in London, aged eighty-six.

Gannet, Betty – (1906 – 1970)
American Communist aide
Gannet was born in Poland, was an active member of the Communist party in America from her youth, and edited Political Affairs, the party’s monthly publication. In 1953 she was convicted of conspiring to overthrow the American government by force. Refusing an offer to be deported to Russia, Betty was jailed until 1955. Later appointed national education director of the Communist party, Betty remained an indefatigable writer for party causes. Betty Gannet died (March 4, 1970) aged sixty-three, in New York.

Gant, Alice de – (c1144 – 1185)
English medieval religious patron
Alice de Gant was the elder daughter of Gilbert de Gant, earl of Lincoln, and his wife Rohese FitzGilbert, later the wife of Robert the Sewer. She was married to Simon St Liz III (died 1184), the eighth Earl of Northampton. Both jointly with Simon, and on her own, the countess confirmed the gifts made by her ancestors to several important monasteries, such as Bardney, Bridlington, Kirkstead, Rufford, and Rievaulx. Alice later made a gift of the mills at Folkingham to the priory of Sempringham. She briefly survived her husband, and was interred at Bridlington Priory in Yorkshire.

Gantenburg, Mathilde – (1889 – 1975)
German teacher and politician
Gantenburg was born (Dec 25, 1889), and studied philosophy and trained as a schoolteacher in Xanten. She was assigned a school in Bad Kreuznach, and after WW II she worked at the Ministry of Education and the Arts in the Rhineland-Palatinate region. Gantenburg later joined politics after gaining a seat on the Landtag (assembly of estates) with the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) (1946). She later entered the German Bundestag (congress). Mathilde Gantenburg died (Oct 29, 1975) aged eighty-five, at Trier.

Ganz, Sally Wile – (1912 – 1997)
American art collector, cultural benefactor and philanthropist
Sally Wile was born (Jan 16, 1912) in Louisville, Kentucky, and attended the University of Wisconsin. Sally was married (1942) to the businessman Victor W. Ganz (died 1989), who served as the vice president of the Whitney Museum of American Art. With her husband Sally collected works by many modern artists including Pablo Picasso, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, and Frank Stella. She organized art exhibtions in order to fund the Public Education Association, which assisted with student literacy. Ganz sponsored scholarships at Barnard College. Sally Ganz died (Jan 28, 1997) in Manhattan, New York, aged eighty-five.

Gao – (Yuan Yu) (c1030 – 1093)
Chinese empress
Gao was the wife of the Emperor Yinzong (1032 – 1067) and the mother of the Emperor Shenzong (1048 – 1085). She was married (c1045) to Yinzong, but during his short reign (1064 – 1067) her position was overshadowed by the influence of the Empress regent Cao, the widow of Renzong. With her husband’s early death (1067), Gao became Empress Dowager and regent for her nineteen year old son. Shenzong came under the influence of the socialist reformer Wang Anshi, who favoured improving the conditions for the peasants and merchant class.
With her son’s death (1085) Empress Gao who had opposed these radical reforms, dismissed Wang Anshi, and restored the conservative clique to prominence. However, during the reign of her grandson Zhezong, the later years of her regency saw the conservatives becoming increasingly involved with inner political disputes, and with the empress’s death, Zhezong recalled the reformists to power once again.

Garbisch, Bernice Chrysler – (1907 – 1979) 
American art collector and philanthropist
Bernice Chrysler was the second daughter of Walter P. Chrysler, founder of the famous automotive corporation. Bernice was married (1930) to Colonel Edgar William Garbisch (1899 – 1979), a successful corporate executive, and former football player. The couple maintained their country estate, Pokety Farms, at Eastern Shore, Maryland. Both Bernice and her husband were assiduous collectors of art, and in 1934 they donated two hundred paintings to the National Gallery of Art. A noted hostess for numerous charitable functions, Mrs Garbisch actively supported the American Federation of the Arts. Bernice Garbisch and her husband both died on the same day, at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Garbo, Greta – (1905 – 1990)
Swedish-American actress and film star
Born Greta Gustafson (Sept 18, 1905) into a poor family in Stockholm, she originally worked as a salesgirl before studying at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School. Greta made films in Sweden before being taken to Hollywood in the USA by her director, Mauritz Stiller (1883 – 1928), and was engaged by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Greta adopted the stage name of ‘Garbo’ and soon established herself as a popular, though always aloof, actress, who despite her undoubted ‘goddess’ status, appealed much more to female viewers than male, though her lovers included John Gilbert (1895 – 1936), the composer Leopold Stokowski (1882 – 1977), and the British photographer and designer, Sir Cecil Beaton (1904 – 1980). Garbo was also famous for her romantic liasions with prominent women such as Mercedes De Acosta.
Her last film was, Two Faced Woman (1941), after which she retired from movies, and never returned. She lived in retirement for the remainder of her life, and remained famous for the line, “ I want to be let alone,’ often misquoted as, “ I want to be alone, darling.’ Her permanent withdrawal from the glare of public life merely added to the mystique which had always surrounded her. Garbo was the recipient of a Special Academy Award (1954) for her contribution to the film industry. Garbo’s most famous films included, Flesh and the Devil (1927), Anna Christie (1930) and Romance (1930), for both of which she received Academy Award nominations, Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the famous French courtesan, Marie Duplessis, who died young of tuberculosis, and Ninotchka (1939), for which she also received an Academy Award nomination. Greta Garbo died (April 15, 1990) in Manhattan, New York, aged eighty-four.

Garbousova, Raya – (1909 – 1997)
Georgian cellist and chamber musician
Garbousova was born in Tbilisi and attended the local conservatory. Her style was heavily influenced by that of the bass performer Koussevitsky and she made her public debut in Moscow (1923). She later went to France to study under Diran Alexanian at the Ecole Nationale in Paris. With the beginning of WW II Garbousova removed permanently to the USA (1939) and played at the premiere performance of Barber’s, Cello Concerto (1945). The composer Karol Rathaus dedicated his, Rupsodia Notturna (1950), to her, whilst Gunther Schuller later produced the, Hommage a Rayechka (1990) for an ensemble of cellos. During the latter part of her career Garbousova worked as a teacher at the Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut, and at the Northern Illinois University in De Kalb. Raya Garbousova died (Jan 26, 1997) in Illinois, aged eighty-seven.

Garcia, Ana Fernandez – (1550 – 1626)
Spanish nun
Ana Garcia was born in Almandral in Castile, the daughter of Fernando Garcia and his wife Maria Mancanas. She became a Carmelite nun of the Discalced (Barefoot) Order at the convent of St Joseph established by Teresa d’Avila at Avila. She was a lay-sister as Sister Ana of St Bartholomew and did not take full vows. She often accompanied St Teresa on her journeys and attended her during her final illness (Oct 4, 1582) at Alba de Tormes. Ana later travelled to France (1604) where she established Carmelite orders at Tours and Pontoise.
Ana Garcia later travelled to Antwerp in Holland (1611) at the request of the regents the Archduke Albert and his wife the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, and founded a Carmelite convent there. She remained in Antwerp and died there aged seventy-six (June 7, 1626), having lived to see Teresa canonized (1622). She was declared ‘Venerable’ and honoured on the anniversary of her death (June 7). Pope Clement XII commenced the proceedings for her canonization (1735) but they were never concluded.

Garcia, Geronima – (c1588 – 1631)
Philippino Catholic nun
Geronima Garcia was born in Toledo, the daughter of an advocate, Pedro Garcia and his wife Catalina de la Fuente. During her childhood a marriage was arranged for her but Geronima refused to consider it after a vision of St Francis. Instead she became a nun at the Clarissan convent of San Isabel la Reale. Noted for her holiness and religious sanctity she went to Manilla where she founded the convent of the Conception, of the barefooted Order of St Clara (1621) and became the first abbess of that house. Her ascetism became famous and great crowds flocked to see her. Geronima Garcia died in Manilla (Oct 22, 1631) and was revered as a saint.

Garcia, Pauline Viardot      see     Viardot-Garcia, Pauline

Garcia, Scarlet – (1985 – 2008)
Filippino model
Born Scarlet Mae Garcia, she began her career as a model and then joined the sexy performing group the Viva Hotbabes, and was chosen as the covergirl for the popular FHM Philippines magazine (Nov, 2007). Garcia appeared in the films 12 Hot Women (2003) as Agent September and Night of the Dead (2006) as Carolina. She appeared in half a dozen episodes of the US television series Beauty and the Geek (2005). As Scarlett Bouffard she appeared as an exotic dancer in the Viv Kama Sutra video.
Scarlet Garcia was killed (March 17, 2008) aged twenty-three, at a townhouse in Olongapo City, with several other people. The reason for the murders was unclear but there was speculation in the media that the deaths were the result of an unsuccessful car deal which turned sour.

Garcia Bravo, Magdalena – (1862 – 1891)
Spanish poet
Garcia Bravo was born in Valencia, the sister of the poet Enrich Garcia Bravo. She attended college in Valencia and was fluent in both Castilian and Catalan.she began publishing Castilian verse as a young girl which was published in such journals as El cosmopolita of Valencia and La lealtad Espanola of Madrid. Magdalena was one of the first Castilian women to write verse in Catalan, and she was awarded the first prize at the Certamen de la Juventud Catolica de Tortosa (1886) for her poem written in honour of the Virgin Mary. She twice won awards from the Academica Bibliografica Mariana de Lerida (1885) and (1890). After her early death Magdalena’s parents published a posthumous collection of her verse entitled Poesias de la Senorita Magdalena Garcia Bravo.

Gard, Margaret      see    Grandi, Marghareta

Gardela, Ursula Maria – (1730 – 1794)
Italian dancer
Ursula Gardela was the daughter of the gandolfier Antonio Gardela. Trained for the stage from the earliest age, Ursula performed as a dancer in Strasbourg, in Alsace, Stuttgart in Wurttemburg, and Munich in Bavaria. Possessed of considerable beauty and charm, she became the first publicly acknowledged mistress of Duke Karl of Wurttemburg (1757). Ursula was married to the ballet master Michele dall’Agato (1722 – 1794). Her husband managed the Teatro La Fenice from 1792, but he committed suicide by taking poison shortly after her death in Venice, because of his lack of financial success.

Gardella, Kay – (1923 – 2005)
American journalist and column writer
Gardella was born in Belleville, New Jersey. She attended Upsala College, and was then employed with the New York Daily News as a copygirl, and her whole career with that publication would span six decades. Gardella was a particular friend of the entertainer and actor, Bob Hope, and was one of the very few female journalists who were treated well by popular singer Frank Sinatra (1915 – 1998). She later became a critic and finally a columnist (1993 – 2005). Kay Gardella died (April 14, 2005) in New York.

Garden, Mary – (1874 – 1967)
Scottish dramatic soprano and concert performer
Born Mary Davidson in Aberdeen (Feb 20, 1874), she spent her childhood years in the USA. Mary studied singing in Chicago, Illinois, and later in Paris, France under Lucien Fugere (1848 – 1935). Her stage debut was made in unusually dramatic circumstances at the Opera Comique (1900), when due to the illness of the star singer Garden had to stand in in mid-performance of the impressionistic opera, Louise, written by Gustave Charpentier.
Mary Garden created the role of Melisande in Debussy’s, Pelleas et Melisande (1902), whilst the composers Jules Massenet (1840 – 1912) and Camille Erlanger (1863 – 1919) created roles especially for her. She performed with enormous success at Covent Garden in London (1902 – 1903) and was particularly admired in roles such as Manon, Violetta, Salome and Carmen. Garden made her debut in the USA as the Greek courtesan Thais (1907), and sang for two decades (1910 – 1930) with the Chicago Grand Opera, of which she served as director for one season (1921 – 1922). She later returned to Scotland at the outbreak of WW II (1939). She remained unmarried and published her autobiography Mary Garden’s Story (1952). Mary Garden died (Jan 3, 1967) aged ninety-two, in Aberdeen.

Gardener, Helen Hamilton – (1853 – 1925)
American essayist
Born Alice Chenoweth (June 21, 1853) at Winchester in Virginia, she was married firstly to Charles Selden Smart and secondly to Selden Allen Day. She wrote using the pseudonym ‘Helen Hamilton Gardener.’ Her earlier published works included Men, Women and Gods (1885) and Facts and Fictions of Life (1893). Her work An Unofficial Patriot (1894) was adapted for the stage by the noted actor and dramatist James A. Hearne (1839 – 1901) under the new title Griffith Davenport, Circuit Rider (1899). Helen Gardener died (July 26, 1925) aged seventy-one.

Gardener, Martha – (1905 – 1991)
Australian radio and television personality, domestic adviser and author and magazine columnist
Born Zoe Norris (Feb, 1905) at Camberwell, Melbourne, she was the daughter of a civil servant. She was married to David Worrall, with whom she worked in radio comedy.
Heartily disliking housework, Martha Gardener became famous for her domestic advice, which was dispensed over radio and on television on the popular Mike Walsh Show. She wrote newspaper columns and articles, and published several books of household advice and tips. Martha Gardener died (Feb 12, 1991) in Melbourne.

Gardiner, Dorothy – (1894 – 1979) 
American historical and mystery novelist
Dorothy Gardiner was born (Nov 5, 1894) in Naples, Italy, the daughter of Dr John Gardiner, a Scottish biologist attached to the University of Colorado.Her novels were set in Colorado, and her detailed knowledge of the region is reflected in her works, such as Golden Lady (1936) and Snow Water (1939), a history of one of the earliest irrigation projects in the American west. Great Betrayal (1949) was the story of an Indian massacre in Colorado.
Her most famous work, West of the River (1941), was a history of the opening up by white settlers of the region wesr of the Missouri, and north of the Santa Fe Trail. From 1950 – 1957 she served as executive secretary of the Mystery Writers of America. Her mystery fiction works included The Transatlantic Ghost (1933), A Drink for Mr Cherry (1934), What Crime Is It? (1956) and The Seventh Mourner (1958). Gardiner edited For Love or Money: The 1987 Anthology of the Mystery Writers of America. Dorothy also acted as co-editor of Raymond Chandler Speaking, a collection of writings from his unpublished works.

Gardiner, Margeurite    see   Blessington, Countess of

Gardiner, Muriel    see    Box, Muriel

Gardiner, Sarah – (c1773 – 1808)
British vocalist
Sarah Arne was the daughter of the composer, Michael Arne (c1740 – 1786). She performed mainly at the Drury Lane and the Haymarket theatres, and also worked at Birmingham in Lancashire. Her married name was Gardiner. Sarah Gardiner died young (Dec 3, 1808) in London, aged about thirty-five.

Gardner, Alice – (1854 – 1927)
British educator, historian and author
Alice Gardner was born at Hackney, London, the daughter of Thomas Gardner of the Stock Exchange and his wife Ann Pearson. She attended secondary school at Clapham before going on to study history at Newnham College in Cambridge. After serving as an assistant headmistress at a school for girls at Plymouth Gardner became a professor of Ancient and modern history at Bedford College in London (1883). She then lectured for three decades at her old alma mater of Newnham (1884 – 1914) and became an sssociate of the college (1893).
Miss Gardner was then appointed as the Reader in Byzantine history at the University of Bristol (1919 – 1927). She served on the Council of the Royal Historical Society and was vice-president of the Historical Association. Her published works included Synesius of Cyrene, Philosopher and Bishop, The Lascarids of Nicaea and Theodore of Studium, His Life and Times. She also produced A Short History of Newnham College. Alice Gardner remained unmarried and died (Nov 11, 1927) aged seventy-three.

Gardner, Ava – (1922 – 1990)
American film actress
Born Lucy Johnson (Dec 24, 1922) in Grabtown, near Smithfield, North Carolina, she was trained for work as a secretary. Instead, she was discovered by a talent scout and joined MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) as a starlet when still only a teenager. She first attracted attention as a seductive siren in the film, The Killers (1946). Adopting the professional name of Ava Lavinia Gardner, Miss Gardner remained a much admired leading lady in Hollywood for over two decades, and was best remembered for appearances in films such as the musical, Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Mogambo (1953), in which she played Eloise Kelly, and for which she received an Academy Award nomination, as Maria Vargas in The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and as Maxine Falk in, Night of the Iguana (1964). She appeared as the beautiful Austrian empress, Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sisi) with James Mason and Omar Sharif in, Mayerling (1968), and made several films with veteran actor Charlton Heston, as the disreputable countess who became his mistress in, 55 Days at Peking (1963) and as his drunken, self-destructive wife in the Irwin Allen disaster film, Earthquake (1974).
Her later films included, The Cassandra Crossing (1977) as Madame Dressler, and, Regina Roma (1982). Gardner later appeared in the television series, Knots Landing (1985), and she was married three times, firstly to the actor, Mickey Rooney (born 1920), secondly to the famous bandleader, Artie Shaw (born 1910), and lastly to the popular vocalist, Frank Sinatra (1915 – 1998). Her autobiography, Ava: My Story (1991), was published posthumously. Miss Gardner died aged sixty-seven

Gardner, Dame Frances Violet – (1913 – 1989)
British physician and cardiovascular specialist
Frances Gardner was born (Feb 28, 1913) and was educated in Oxford and London, and qualified as a physician from the Royal Free Hospital School of London (1940). Frances Gardner then worked abroad in the USA for several years before being appointed as consultant physician to the Roayl Free after the war, a post she filled for over three decades (1946 – 1978). She was married (1958) to the surgeon, George Qvist, and later served as the first dean of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine (1962 – 1975) and was then served a decade as president (1979 – 1989). Frances Gardner was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of her services to medicine, and was later created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire). Dame Frances published several papers concerning cardiovascular conditions. Dame Frances Gardner died (July 10, 1989) aged eighty-six.

Gardner, Dame Helen Louise – (1908 – 1986)
British literary scholar, educator and critic
Helen Gardner was born (Feb 13, 1908) at Finchley in London, the daughter of a journalist. She studied English language and literature at St Hilda’s College at Oxford and remained unmarried. After teaching positions in London and at Birmingham in Lancashire Gardner, became a specialist in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century poetic verse, and was appointed as the University Reader in Renaissance English Literature and then the Merton Professor of English Literature, at Oxford University.
Gardner lectured around the world including the USA and the Middle East. Known for her dominating manner and disinterest in feminism, Helen Gardner was the author of such works as The Divine Poems of John Donne (1952), The Metaphysical Poets (1957), The Business of Criticism (1959) and In Defence of Imagination (1982). She wrote a tribute to T.S. Eliot whose work she much admired entitled The Art of T.S. Eliot (1949). Gardner was created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1967) in recognition of her valuable contribution to literature. Dame Helen retired in 1975 and died (June 4, 1986) aged seventy-eight, at Bicester.

Gardner, Isabella – (1915 – 1981)
American poet
Gardner was born (Sept 7, 1915) in Newton, Massachusetts, and was employed early in her career as an actress. Her first published collection of verse was entitled Birthdays from the Ocean (1955), which was followed by several others including West of Childhood (1965) and That Was Then: New and Selected Poems (1980). Isabella Gardner was the first recipient of the Walt Whitman Citation of Merit (1981).

Gardner, Joan – (1914 – 1999)
British film actress
Gardner was born (Oct 26, 1914) at Chesham in Buckinghamshire. Beautiful and elegant she was discovered first by the Hungarian movie producer Alexander Korda, and appeared over a dozen films during the 1930’s. Gardner was later married to Alexander’s brother the director Zoltan Korda (1895 – 1961) and retired from films just prior to WW II in order to raise their child and be an executive wife. Joan Korda was the sister-in-law of actress Merle Oberon, Lady Korda. Joan survived her husband for four decades and died (Sept 17, 1999) aged eighty-four, at Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California.
Joan Gardner’s film credits included Wedding Rehearsal (1933), The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) as Katushienka, The Private Life of Don Juan (1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) with Merle Oberon and Leslie Howard in which she played the émigré Suzanne de Tournay, Dark Journey (1937), Wings Over Africa (1937), The Rebel Son (1938) as Galka, and The Challenge (1938).

Gardner, Katherine Adamson – (1852 – 1937)
Australian real estate agent
Gardner was born (May 4, 1852) in Adelaide, South Australia, the daughter of a clergyman. She was one of the first women in Victoria to have a successful career as an estate agent, and remained unmarried. She went into partnership as K.Gardner & Lang (1914 – 1931) and worked until she was almost eighty. Katherine Gardner died (May 4, 1937) on her eighty-fifth birthday, in Melbourne.

Gare, Nene – (1919 – 1994)
Australian writer and painter
Born Doris Violet May Wadham, she was raised and educated in Adelaide, South Australia. After finishing her education at the Adelaide Art School and Murdoch University, Nene was trained as a typist. She was married (1941) to Frank Ellis Gare, to whom she bore three children, and to whom she then  accompanied to Salamaua in Papua New Guinea (1946 – 1948), where he was employed as a patrol officer.
Nene accompanied her husband on his other appointments, to Carnarvon in Western Australia (1952 – 1954) and then to Geraldton (1954 – 1962). Her first published novel and her best known was The Fringe Dwellers (1961), which was a fictionalised account of the interaction between whites and the indigenous Aborigines in and around Geraldton. It was later made into a film of the same title by Bruce Beresford (1986). Her other novels included Green Gold (1963), and she wrote two volumes of reminiscences titled A House with Verandahs (1980) and An Island Away (1981). Her collection of short stories entitled Kent Town (1997) was published posthumously.

Garets-Quiros, Antonia Bernaldo de Quiros de Montreal Santiago, Comtesse des – (1870 – 1904)
French figure of tragedy
Antonia Bernaldo was married member of Parisian society the Comte des Garets-Quiros. She conducted an affair of some length with Comte Gabriel de La Rochefoucald. Upon receiving news that her lover was to marry the comtesse committed suicide by shooting herself through the heart (Aug 3, 1904). Her dramatic death was a cause celebre and was well recorded in contemporary memoirs.

Gargi – (fl. c1000 – c500 BC)
Indian Vedic mystic and teacher
Gargi participated in philosophic and religious debates and discussions with the learned sage Yajnavalkya. Her memory was honoured by the celebration of the ancient Vedic rite of Brahmayajna.

Garimnia – (fl. c450 AD – c500)
Irish virgin saint
Garimnia was the daughter of Congal, who came from a noble Celtic family. She took permanent vows of chastity and died a nun. Revered as a saint, her feast (Feb 22) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Garis, Lilian McNamara – (1873 – 1954)
American juvenile author
Lilian McNamara was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and became the wife of Howard R.Garis (1873 – 1962), the prominent children’s author. Apart from writing popular fiction for children and juveniles under various pen-names, Garis produced several highly popular works including, Two Little Girls (1901), and several series, including the five volume, Girl Scout series, four volumes of the Make Believe Books, and the nine volume, The Melody Lane Mystery Stories. Lilian Garis died (April 19, 1954) aged eighty.

Garland, Judy – (1922 – 1969)
American vocalist and actress
Born Frances Gumm (June 10, 1922) in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, the daughter of vaudeville performers, and was raised in the theatre. She began her career in vaudeville, working an act with her two elder sisters as ‘The Gumm Sisters Kiddie Act’ before they all changed their names professionally to ‘Garland’ (1931). Possessed of a wonderful singing voice, she adopted the less clumsy stage name of ‘Judy Garland’ and appeared in such classic musical films as The Wizard of Oz (1939), as Dorothy, for which she received a special Academy Award (1939), Meet Me in St Louis (1944), and Easter Parade (1948), but was particularly admired for her dramatic performance in, A Star is Born (1954). She also received a Grammy Award (1961) and her last film appearance was in I Could Go On Singing (1963).
Judy was married firstly (1941) to the composer and bandleader, David Rose, secondly to the actor, Vincente Minnelli (1903 – 1986), thirdly to the producer, Sidney Luft, and fourthly (1965) to Mark Herron, and fifthly (1968) to the nightclub owner, Mickey Dean. She was the mother of actresses Liza Minnelli (born 1946) and Lorna Luft. In the telemovie entitled Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001) Garland was portrayed by Tammy Blanchard and Australian actress Judy Davis. Judy Garland died (June 22, 1969) in London, aged forty-seven, from an overdose of sleeping pills.

Garland, Peggy – (1903 – 1998)
British sculptor and literary figure
Peggy Withycombe was born (May 24, 1903), the daughter of Jack Withycombe, a surveyor and cartographer. She was later raised in Suffolk and studied art under Henry Tonks at the Slade School in London. She worked as an art teacher in Cape Town in South Africa and lived between the Cape and England for some years. She was married (1932) to Thomas Garland, a ship’s physician. During WW II the family resided in Hertfordshire and in 1947 Peggy accompanied her husband to New Zealand where too up a medical position in Wellington.
Peggy worked as a journalist and radio broadcaster in New Zealand, as well as being a prominent member of artistic society. Both she and her husband appear in W.H. Auden’s poem Last Will and Testament and Peggy was a particular firend to the Australian novelist Patrick White, their correspondence being preserved in the National library of Australia. She returned to England and settled at Eynsham in Oxfordshire (1961). Most of her artistic work, in both bronze and stone, was sculpted during her early years and includes South African portrait heads. Peggy Garland died (April 17, 1998) aged ninety-four.

Garland, Shelagh – (1913 – 1999)
Anglo-Australian Quaker activist
Born Dorothy Shelagh Leighton-Stevens, in Newport, Monmouthshire, in South Wales, she received her education in a Belgian convent. Whilst employed as a governess in India, she married Andrew Garland, deputy conservator of forests in the Indian Civil Service. The family eventually retired to Norflk, England, where Shelagh was widowed (1955). Garland came to Sydney, Australia (1963) to live with her daughter, and there she joined the Society of Friends. A member of the Council for Christians and Jews and of the World Conference for Religion and Peace, Shelagh particularly concerned herself with female issues when she served on the executive committee of the New South Wales Ecumenical Council. Concerned with the problems sufferred by the Aboriginal population, Shelagh was a foundation member of the Eastern Suburbs Organisation for Reconciling Australia (1997) and served as treasurer.

Garlande, Agnes de – (c1104 – c1135)
French mediaeval heiress and countess
Agnes de Garlande was the niece of Stephen de Garlande, seneschal of France, the favourite of King Louis VI (1108 – 1137). Agnes was married (1120) to Amaury III de Montfort (c1072 – 1137), Comte d’Evreux, as his second wife. As a result of this marriage, Stephen de Garlande had Amaury named as a royal marechal. When the king later dismissed Garlande from office, Agnes’s husband continued to support her uncle, and eventually the king besieged both husband and uncle at Livry (1128). Agnes had brought her husband the estates of La Ferte-Alais and Gournay-sur-Marne, which had been confiscated from Guy the Red, Comte de Rochefort by Philip I (1107), and been granted to the Garlande family, and the fief of Rochefort-en-Yveline. Countess Agnes died young, and is mention in a surviving charter of her son Simon, which was preserved in the cartulary of the Abbey of La Chaise-Dieu. Her children were,

• Amaury IV de Montfort (c1122 – 1140). He succeeded his father as Comte d’Evreux (1137 – 1140) but died unmarried.
• Simon III de Montfort (c1123 – 1181). He succeeded his brother as Comte d’Evreux (1140 – 1181) and left descendants.
• Agnes de Montfort (1125 – 1181). She became the second wife of Waleran de Beaumont (1104 – 1166), Count of Meulan and Worcester, and left issue.

Garman, Kathleen    see   Epstein, Kathleen Garman, Lady

Garman, Lorna    see   Wishart, Lorna

Garman, Mary – (1898 – 1979)
British socialite and literary figure
Mary Garman was the eldest daughter of Walter Garman, the noted physician, and was sister to Lorna Wishart. The sisters were raised at the family estate of Oakeswell Hall at Wednesbury in Black County. A strikingly beautiful society figure Mary Garman was a friend of the economist John Maynard Keynes, of the painters Bernard Meninsky and Augustus John, and of the composer Ferruccio Busoni. She was was a member of the famous bohemian ‘Bloomsbury Set.’
Mary Garman was married (1924 – 1957) to the South African poet Roy Campbell who joined the Nationalist army of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Whilst living in the south of France after WW II Mary and Campbell entertained such literary figures as Nancy Cunard, Sybille Bedford and Aldous Huxley. Mary Garman was known to have conducted a lesbian affair with the novelist Vita Sackville-West, who wrote verses to honour their love.

Garmes, Ruth Hall     see    Hall, Ruth (2)

Garner, Peggy Ann – (1931 – 1984)
American child film actress
Peggy Garner received her Academy Award for her role in, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). Other film credits included Little Miss Thoroughbred (1938), Jane Eyre (1944), Nob Hill (1945), Daisy Kenyon (1947), and The Black Widow (1954). Her stardom as a child did not carry on to her adult career.

Garnett, Constance Clara – (1861 – 1946)
British literary translator
Born Constance Black in Brighton, London, she was the daughter of a clerk, and was sister to the suffragist and trade unionist Clementina Maria Black. Her grandfather had served as a naval architect to Tsar Nicholas I (1825 – 1855). Constance was educated at home in London by a governess until she left home to attend boarding school. She later studied the classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, but was exposed to socialist ideals at home. Constance was married (1889) to the noted writer and critic Edward Garnett (1868 – 1937) to whom she bore a son, and was then employed as the librarian at the People’s Palace in London.
Mrs Garnett became a member of the Fabian Society and received lessons in the Russian language and literature. Garnett later visited Russian twice prior to WW I and published her first English translation of Ivan Gontcharoff’s A Common Story (1894). She continued with the classic works of authors such as Anton Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Nikolai Gogol into English. Constance Garnett was mother to the novelist, David Garnett (1892 – 1981) the author of Lady Into Fox (1922) which received the James tait Black Memorial Prize.

Garnett, Eve – (1900 – 1991)
British children’s author and illustrator
Eve Garnett was born in Worcestershire, and attended school in Devon, before going to study at the Royal Academy of Art. Garnett produced murals for the Children’s House at Bow, and the book of illustrations Is It Well With The Child? (1938). Garnett also held exhibitions of her work at the New English Art Club, and at the Tate Gallery in London (1939). Garnett was particularly remembered for her two popular children’s books, The Family from One End Street (1937), for which she received the Carnegie Medal (1937), and, Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street (1956), in both of which she she accurately portrayed the realities of working-class life. An avid Arctic traveller, she published the book, To Greenland’s Icy Mountains (1968). Eve Garnett died (April 5, 1991) aged ninety-one, at Lewes, Sussex.

Garnett, Louise Ayres – (c1871 – 1937)
American musician, composer and author
Louise Ayres was born in Plymouth, Indiana. She was married to Eugene Garnett and published the collection of verse Eve Walks in Her Garden (1926). Mrs Garnett also published Master Will of Stratford (1916) and The Joyous Pretender (1928). Louise Garnett died (Oct 31, 1937).

Garnett, Lucy – (1849 – 1934)
British traveller and author
Lucy and her friend Fanny Davis visited Turkey and the Ottoman Empire before it was generally opened up to the West. They co-wrote The Ottoman Lady: A Social history from 1718 to 1918 (1909) which was published in New York, which included daily observations concerning the lives and traditional customs of Turkish women.

Garnier, Agnes – (c1120 – c1165)
French crusader aristocrat
Agnes Garnier was the daughter of Eustace I Garnier, lord of Caesarea and Sidon in Palestine, and his wife Emma, later the wife of Hugh II le Puiset, count of Jaffa. She became the wife of Henry of Milly, lord of Nablus, nicknamed the Buffalo. The couple left three children,

• Helvis of Milly. She married Adam of Beisan and left descendants.
• Agnes of Milly (c1139 – c1180). She was married to the famous crusader Joscelin III de Courtenay, count of Edessa (1135 – after 1187) but died childless.
• Stephanie of Milly (c1140 – after 1197). She was married firstly to Willia Dorel, Lord of Botrun (died 1174), and secondly to Hugh II Embriaco, lord of Jebail (died c1190).

Garnier, Emma – (c1090 – after 1132)
French Crusader heiress
Emma Garnier was niece to Arnulf Malecorne, the patriarch of Jerusalem. Emma held the barony of Sidon and the governorship of Caesarea in Palestine, the control of which she brought to her first husband, Eustace Garnier. With his death (1123) Emma was remarried (1124) to Hugh de Le Puiset, count of Jaffa, as her second husband. Hugh took over the management of her extensive estates, much to the resentment of her sons. Emma survived Hugh’s murder at the hands of King Fulk (1132).

Garran, Mary Eppes – (1857 – 1930)
Australian nursing secretary
Garran was born in Sydney, the daughter of Andrew Garran and his wife, the civic leader, Mary Isham Garran, nee Sabine. Mary was sister to Sir Robert Garran, and was educated privately. Garran remained unmarried and was later appointed as secretary to the Australian Trained Nurses’ Association (1899 – 1917). She was the first secretary of the New South Wales Bush Nursing Association. Mary Eppes Garran died (Nov 2, 1930) aged seventy-three, in Sydney.

Garran, Mary Isham – (c1830 – 1923)
Anglo-Australian civic leader
Born Mary Sabine, in Suffolk, she came to South Australia with her family and was married in Adelaide (1854) to the author, Andrew Garran. They were the parents of Sir Robert Garran and Mary Eppes Garran. Concerned for the welfare of children in government care, Mary Garran established a boarding out system for the benefit of children in State care in New South Wales (1879). She was a member of the State Children’s Relief Board, and was on the council of the Women’s College of the University of Sydney. Garran was the author of An Account of the Boarding Out Society (1907). Mary Isham Garran died (July 30, 1923) in Sydney.

Garrett, Eileen Jeanette – (c1887 – 1970)
Irish-American publisher
Garrett was the owner of Tomorrow magazine, produced by Garrett Publications, and was born on Beau Park, County Meath. Using the pseudonym ‘Jean Lyttle’ she published such works as Today the Sun Rises (1942), Life Is the Healer (1957) and Many Voices: The Autobiography of a Medium (1968). Eileen Garrett died (Sept 15, 1970).

Garrett-Goodyear, Joan – (1941 – 1992)
American educator and academic
Joan Hickcox was born in Washington, D.C., and attended Swarthmore College. She then studied English at Harvard University (1965 – 1975). She became the wife of fellow academic Harold Garrett-Goodyear, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, to whom she bore a daughter. Professor Garrett-Goodyear became an associate professor of English at Smith College for two decades (1972 – 1992) and taught and researched the works of William Thackeray (1811 – 1863), D.H. Lawrence (1885 – 1930) and Vladimir Nabokov (1899 – 1977). She committed suicide (April 23, 1992) aged fifty at South Hadley in Massachusetts.

Garrick, Eva Maria – (1724 – 1822)
Austrian-Anglo dancer
Born Eva Maria Veigel (Feb 29, 1724) in Vienna, she was a pupil of the ballet dancer and choreographer, Franz Anton Hilverding. She danced at court before Prince Eugene of Savoy, and at the request of the Empress Maria Theresa she adopted the professional name of ‘Violette.’ Eva travelled to England under contract with the Italian company at the King’s Theatre in London (1746). She was married (1749) to the noted actor and theatre manager David Garrick (1717 – 1779) and retired from the stage. A joint portrait of Eva and Garrick by Hogarth was in possession of Queen Elizabeth II.

Garriga i Martin, Maria dels Angels – (1898 – 1967)
Spanish children’s writer
Maria Garriga was born at Saint Vicenc de Calders near Tarragona, and was trained as a school teacher. After the end of the Spanish Civil War, Maria was employed as a teacher in the rural village of Saifores, near Barcelona in Aragon. Some of her short stories for children were published in children’s magazines such as Cavallfort and Tretzevents. Her novel for children entitled Un retol per a Curto (A Road Sign for Curto) (1965), led to Maria becoming a finalist for the Folch i Torres literary prize (1966). Garriga’s published works included the novels El gran viatge de Gota brava i Gota brava (1964), Dijous a vila (1965), and L’entremaliada del ramat (1965). Maria Garriga i Martin died at Saifores.

Garrigues, Malvina    see    Schnorr von Karolsfeld, Malvina

Garrison, Ellen Jay – (1899 – 1995)
American social figure and actress
Ellen Jay was born in Boston, Philadelphia, a descendant of John Jay (1745 – 1829), the famous colonial diplomat and statesman. She attended the Brearley School in Boston, and went on to study at Bryn Mawr College. Ellen was married to the noted New York attorney and civil rights advocate, Lloyd Garrison (died 1991), to whom she bore several children. She later served as president of the Women United for the United Nations organization. Ellen Garrison appeared in only one film, Zelig (1983), produced by Woody Allen, in which she was applauded by the critics in the role of Eudora Fletcher, an eccentric psychiatrist. Mia Farrow portrayed Fletcher in her youth in the same film. Ellen Garrison died (June 2, 1995) aged ninety-six, in Manhattan, New York.

Garrison, Lucy McKim – (1842 – 1877)
American slave-song collector
Lucy Garrison began notating these songs after her interest was aroused during a holiday spent in the South Carolina Sea Islands. She worked with the educator William Francis Allen (1830 – 1889) and writer Charles Pickard Ware to publish Slave Songs of the United States (1867), the first collection of this nature to be published in the USA.

Garrison, Theodosia – (1874 - 1944)
American poet
Theodosia Garrison was born in Newark, New Jersey, and was married to Frederick Faulks, and was the author of several published collections of verse such as Joy o’Life, and other Poems (1909), Earth Cry, and Other Poems (1910), and The Dreamers, and Other Poems (1917).

Garro, Elena – (1917 – 1998)
Mexican novelist, dramatist, story writer and actress
Garro was born (Dec 11, 1917) in Puebla, near Mexico City, and appeared in the film Humanidad (1933), as a teenager. She published the novel Los Recuerdos del porvenir (Memories of the Future) (1969), and wrote the screenplays for various films such as Solo de noches vienes (1966), Las Puertas de paraiso (The Gates of Paradise) (1971), and Que hora es? (1996). Elena later became involved in a romantic liasion (1937) with the Mexican actor and poet Octavio Paz (1914 – 1998) the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature (1990).
Elena resided with Paz in Paris after WW II and they spent time with the Surrealist Andre Breton and other contemporary literary figures. Elena bore Paz a daughter but they later seperated (1968) and she then resided between Paris and New York for over two decades. Considered one of the three most important female writers produced by Mecxico, Garro was the winner of the Grijalbo Award (1981). Her affair with the Argentinian writer Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914 – 1999) was fictionalised in the novel Testimonios sobre Mariana. Her plays included The Tree (1963) and Felipe Angeles (1979). Elena Garro returned to Mexico in 1991 and died (Aug 22, 1998) at Cuernavaca, near Morelos, aged eighty.

Garrod, Dorothy Annie Elizabeth – (1892 – 1968)
British palaeolithic archaeologist, prehistorian and author
Dorothy Garrod was born (May 5, 1892) in London, the daughter of the noted physician, Sir Archibald Garrod. Dorothy studied at Newnham College, Cambridge and at Oxford University. Garrod organized several archaeological digs in Gibraltar and Kurdistan before working at Mt Carmel in Palestine (1929 – 1934) with a joint Anglo-American team. There she discovered a female skeleton over forty thousand years old, which placed human life in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras. She was later involved in important excavations in Lebanon (1958 – 1964) and was the author of The Upper Paleolithic Age in Britain (1926) and The Stone Age of Mount Carmel (1937 – 1939), published in two volumes, amongst other publications.
As an academic she was the Disney Professor of Archaeology at Cambridge (1939 – 1952), becoming the first woman to hold an ‘Oxbridge’ chair. During WW II she served as a section officer with the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) (1942 – 1945). She delivered the Huxley Memorial Lecture to the Royal Anthropological Society (1962), was the first woman to be awarded the Gold Medal of the Society of Antiquaries (1968), and was created CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1965) in recognition of her contribution to history and archaeology. Her other published works included The Palaeolithic Age in Britain (1926) and The Palaeolithic of Southern Kurdistan (1930). Dorothy Garrod remained unmarried. She died (Dec 18, 1968) aged seventy-six, at Cambridge.

Garsende I of Forcalquier – (c1156 – c1194)
French feudal heiress
Garsende was the daughter and heiress of Guillaume IV, Count of Forcalquier in Provence and his wife Beatrice of Beziers. Garsende was married to Raimon (c1155 – 1224) Seigneur de Sabran and through her the county of Forcalquier ultimately passed to her own daughter Garsende II, the famous patroness of the troubadours. Garsende I was the grandmother of Raymond Berengar V (1198 – 1245), Count of Provence and was the great grandmother of four queens, Margaret of Provence, Queen of France, Eleanor of Provence, Queen of England, Sanchia of Provence, Queen of the Romans and Beatrice of Provence, Queen of Sicily, and the ancestress to their many descendants.

Garsende II of Sabran – (c1180 – after 1257)
French feudal countess of Provence
Garsende was the only child and heiress of Raimon, Seigneur de Sabran and his wife Garsende I, Countess of Forcalquier, the daughter and heiress of Count Guillaume IV of Forcalquier. With the death of her maternal grandfather (1208) she became the sovereign countess of Forcalquier (styled Garsende II merely to distinguish her from her mother who did not actually live to succeed her father)
Garsende was married (1193) to the Infante Alfonso of Aragon (1176 – 1209) who became Count of Provence and Garsende became his countess consort. She was the mother of an only son Raymond Berengar V (1198 – 1245) who succeeded his father as Count of Provence (1209 – 1245) under the regency of his mother the Countess Garsende. Her daughter Garsende of Provence became the wife of the Gascon Vicomte de Bearn. Garsende is identical with the troubairitz known as ‘Gormonda de Monpeslier’ who wrote a satire verse which has survived, the first such work to be attributed to a Frenchwoman. The countess later retired from court (1225) and lived for the next three decades of her life in a convent.

Garsende of Provence – (c1203 – after 1252)
French ruler
Garsende was the only daughter of Alfonso of Aragon (1176 – 1209), Count of Provence and his wife Garsende II of Sabran, and was sister to Raymond Berengar V, Count of Provence. Garsende was married (c1220) to Guilaume II de Moncada (1185 – 1229), Vicomte de Bearn in Gascony, and became the Vicomtesse de Bearn. She survived her husband as the Dowager Vicomtesse de Bearn and ruled as regent for her minor son Gaston VII. Garsende was still living (Oct 14, 1252) when a surviving charter which styles her Garsindis mater Gastonis … vicecomitis Bearni records that she agreed to a marriage between her granddaughter infant, Margeurite de Bearn, and Roger Bernard III, Comte de Foix. Her children were,

• Constance de Moncada. She became the wife of Diegp Lopez (died 1254), Soberano de Vizcaya.
• Gaston VII de Moncada (1225 – 1290). He succeeded his father as Vicomte de Bearn (1229 – 1290) and was married twice and left issue.
• Ramona de Moncada (died after 1252). She became the wife of Guereau V de Cabrera (died 1242), sixteenth Vizconde de Gerona.

Garsinde of Toulouse (Gersende) – (c880 – after 962)
Spanish mediaeval countess
Garsinde was the daughter of Edues (Odo), Count of Toulouse (886 – 918) and his wife Gersende of Albi, the daughter of Ermengaud, Count of Albi. She was married (before 898) to Wifredo II Borrell (c879 – 911) who succeeded his father Wifredo I as Count of Barcelona in 897. She bore him an only daughter and heiress Riquilda of Barcelona (c900 – 962) who became the wife of Vicomte Odo of Narbonne (c890 – 936).
A surviving charter (908) reveals that la condesa Garsenda and her husband ourchased a villa named ‘Palacio.’ Count Wifredo was murdered (911) and Garsinde survived him as the Dowager Countess of Barcelona for over five decades. Another charter records that Garsinda comitissa sold property during her widowhood (926). She was appointed as executor of the will of her daughter Riquilda (May 13, 962) when aged over eighty. Countess Garsinde was the grandmother of Francon de Narbonne (920 – c983) Bishop of Carcassone and was ancestress of the vicomtes of Narbonne.

Garson, Greer – (1903 – 1996)
Irish-American stage and film actress
Greer Garson was born (Sept 29, 1903) in County Down, Ireland, and studied at London University. She made her stage debut in England in Street Scene (1932) with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and made her London theatre debut in The Tempest (1934). After working in the London theatre scene for several years (1935 – 1938) Garson was notied by the US movie producer Louis Mayer, who appreciated her beauty and classic refinement. Greer Garson was then cast as Mrs Chipping in the classic film Goodbye Mr Chips (1939), for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Her first husband was the actor, Richard Ney (born 1917) fourteen years her junior who actually played her son in Mrs Miniver (1942) and for which role she received an Academy Award as best actress.
Other film credits included Pride and Prejudice (1940) as Elizabeth Bennett, opposite Laurence Olivier as Mr Darcy, Blossoms in the Dust (1941) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as a child welfare worker, Madame Curie (1943), Mrs Parkington (1944), and the period film The Valley of Decision (1945) for all of which she was nominated for Academy Awards. She was also remembered for her portrayal of a vaudeville performer who later becomes a lady in Random Harvest (1942) with Ronald Colman. She continued to work in theatre and replaced Rosalind Russell in the title role of Auntie Mame (1957) on Broadway in New York.
Two decades later Garson was nominated for an Academy Award when she portrayed First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello (1960). During her later life Garson resided between her homes in Los Angeles and Dallas, and her ranch in Santa Fe in Mexico, and donated ten million dollars to the Greer Garson theatre and film archive at the Southern Methodist University. In recognition of her important role with the British during her wartime film career Garson was appointed an honorary CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1993). Greer Garson died (April 6, 1996) aged ninety-two, at Dallas, Texas.

Garthwaite, Bettina   see   Lowerre, Bettina Garthwaite

Garthwhaite, Anna Maria – (c1697 – 1763)
British silk designer and water colour painter
Anna Maria Garthwaite was born in York. She later came to London where she worked as a designer in Spitalfields. She produced over seven hundred watercolour designs and woven silks, and a collection of her work was preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Gartner, Hermine – (1846 – 1905)
Austrian painter
Born in Vienna, Hermine studied under Josef Hoffmann and Joseph von Fuhrich. She produced portraits and assumed male attire for easier working conditions, adopting the pseudonym ‘Antonius Hermann.’ Hermine Gartner died (April 24, 1905) at Sori in Italy.

Gartner, Margarete – (1888 – after 1955)
Polish politician
Margarete Gartner was born (Jan 22, 1888) at Schweidnitz, and attended business school. After WW I she founded the Rhenish Women’s League and established the Rhenish Cultural Conference. Gartner headed the Society of Economic Policy (1922 – 1945), and after WW II she was employed as a foreign policy specialist in Berlin with the CDU (Christian Democratic Union). She was living at the time of the publication of her memoirs Botschafterin des guten Willens (1955).

Garufi, Bianca – (1918 – 2006) 
Italian novelist, poet and psychoanalysis
Garufi was born (July 20, 1918) in Sicily, and studied the humanities and philosophy at university. Bianca Garufi later collaborated on various works with Cesare Pavese, the noted anthropologist and psychoanalyst. With him she co-wrote her first novel Fuoco grande (The Great Fire) (1959), and after his death she published the novels Il fossile (The Fossil) (1962), and Rosa cardinale (Cardinal Pink) (1968). Her verses were published in the volume, Se non la vita (1992). Bianca Garufi went on to study psychonanalysis under the Jungian Ernst Bernhard, and established herself into public practice. She wrote articles for such publications as the Journal of Analytical Psychology and Anima, and supervised the translations of various analytical texts into Italian. Bianca Garufi died (May 26, 2006) in Rome, aged eighty-seven.

Garvey, Amy Jacques – (1896 – 1973)
Jamaican-American nationalist campaigner
Amy Jacques was born in Jamaica, and went to live in the USA in 1917. There she met and married (1922) the African leader Marcus Garvey, founder of UNIA (The United Negro Improvement Association). Amy Garvey became the secretary general of UNIA which position she held for over five decades (1919 – 1973). She was the associate editor of The Negro World publication (1924 – 1927) and when her husband was imprisoned in Atlanta she campaigned continually for his release and published a collection of his work entitled Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey.
When Garvey was deported by the US government Amy returned with him to Jamaica and their children, though her husband later went to live in England without them. Widowed in 1940 Amy contributed articles to The African journal published in Harlem, New York. She was the author of Garvey and Garveyism (1963) and the collection of essays entitled The Impact of Garvey in Africa and Jamaica. Amy Garvey died (July 25, 1973).

Garvin, Margaret Root – (c1870 – 1949)
American poet
Garvin was born in New York City, and published the collections of verse. These were entitled A Walled Garden and Other Poems (1913), and Peacocks in the Sun, and Other Poems (1925). Margaret Garvin died (Dec 4, 1949).

Garzoni, Giovanna – (fl. c1600 – c1640)
Italian portrait miniaturist
Giovanna Garzoni remained unmarried and established herself as a very popular watercolour artist. Garzoni produced a still-life album of birds, insects, fruits, and flowers, which was preserved at the Academia di San Luca, and a series of octagonal gouaches of flowers and fruit, tulips and Delft vases including A Dish of Broad Beans. Examples of her work are preserved at the Uffizi and Pitti Galleries in Florence.

Gasekete – (c1874 – 1890)
African queen consort
Gaskete was the daughter of Gaseitsiwe, chief of the Ngwaketse. She was married (1890) to Rama III Boikonyo (c1835 – 1923), chief of the Bamangwato, as his second wife. Gasekete died childless shortly after the wedding.

Gashera – (fl. c1790 – c1770 BC)
Assyrian queen
Gashera was the wife of Yarim-Lim, king of Yamhad, in Syria, whose capital was the city of Halab (later Aleppo). Before Zimri-lim became king of Mari (1775 BC), he had spent a period of enforced exile at the court of Yarim-Lim and Queen Gashera, and had married their daughter Shibtu. During her husband’s reign, Gashera was the recipient of a personal ration of the rare and imported metal, tin. Her ration was separate from that allotted to her husband, and was probably of great importance in the palace household, as well as for the manufacture of weapons.

Gask, Daphne Irvine Prideaux – (1920 – 2004) 
British Justice of the Peace and civic leader
Born Daphne Selby (July 20, 1920), she was educated in Edinurgh, Hertfordshire, and at Lausanne in Switzerland. She was later married (1945) to John Gask, to whom she bore two children. Gask served as vice-chairman of the Central Council of Probation and After-Care Committees (1977 – 1980) and then became a member if the Inner London Commission of Peace (1982). She was appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1976) in recognition of valuable work in the community. Daphne Gask died (Nov 18, 2004) aged eighty-four.

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn – (1810 – 1865)
British novelist
Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson was born (Sept 29, 1810) in Chelsea, London, the daughter of William Stevenson, a Unitarian minister who served as keeper of the Treasury Records, and was raised by maternal relatives at Knutsford, Cheshire. Elizabeth attended school at Stratford-on-Avon. Considered to be a great beauty, Elizabeth was finally was married (1832) to William Gaskell (1805 – 1884), a Unitarian minister, to whom she bore six children.
Elizabeth Gaskell resided with her family in Manchester, Lancashire, and with her husband she composed the poem ‘Sketches among the Poor’ (1837). Her literary fame was established with the publication of her first novel, Mary Barton (1848), which dealt with the exploitation of the working poor at the hands of wealthy industrialists. Her novel Ruth (1853) caused a sensation because of its attack on ethics.
Whilst Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) is generally considered her masterpiece, Cranford (1851), based on her own life at Knutsford in Manchester, proved to be the most popular and well regarded of all her many her publications, and was translated into French and Hungarian. Her, Life of Charlotte Bronte was extremely well documented and researched by the author herself, and had visited the novelist at Haworth (1853). Her last work, Wives and Daughters (1866), was unfinished at her death and published posthumously. This work was adapted for the screen over one hundred and forty years afterwards (2001) with Francesca Annis as Hyacinth, Justine Waddell as Molly, and Michael Gambon as the Squire.
A collection of her ghost stories were compiled and published posthumously as Lois the Witch and Other Stories (1989). Greatly interested in French culture and history, Mrs Gaskell had been intending to write the biography of Madame de Sevigne, the famous salonniere and letter writer, and had some some research for the book, but the project remained mostly uncompleted. Elizabeth Gaskell collapsed and died of heart failure (Nov 12, 1865) aged fifty-five, at her home at Holybourne, near Alton, in Hampshire.

Gaskin, Catherine - (1929 - 2009)
Irish novelist
Catherine Gaskin was born (April 2, 1929) at Dundalk Bay in Louth, but was raised in Sydney, New South Wales in Australia. Her first novel This Other Eden (1945) was published when she was fifteen. After spending several years in England she was married to an American, and lived for some time in New York.
Her other novels included Dust in Sunlight (1950), All Else is Folly (1951) and Daughter of the House (1952). Gaskin's best known work was Sara Dane (1955) which dealt with the life of an English girl sent to Australia as a convict who then successfully rebuilds her life, which was made into a television series (1982). Her later novels included A Falcon for the Queen (1972) and family saga The Summer of the Spanish Woman (1977), and The Charmed Circle (1988).
With her husband she resided at St Thomas in the Virgin Islands for two years before Gaskin and her husband went to reside in the Wicklow Hills in Ireland where she took up Irish citizenship (1967). Catherine Gaskin died (Sept 6, 2009) aged eighty, in Sydney.

Gasparin, Valerie de – (1813 – 1894)
French woman of letters
Born Valerie Boissier (Sept 15, 1813) at Valleyres, Switzerland, she became the wife (1837) of Comte Agenor de Gasparin. Madame de Gasparin was the author of such works as Le Mariage au point de vue chretien (1843) which was published in three volumes, and A Constantinople (1867). Valerie de Gasparin died (June 16, 1894) aged eighty.

Gasparotti, Elizabeth Seifert    see   Seifert, Elizabeth

Gassman, Maria Theresia – (1774 – 1837)
Austrian soprano
Gassman was born (April 1, 1774) in Vienna, the daughter of the composer Florian Leopold Gassman (1729 – 1774). She trained with her sister under Antonio Salieri and then sang the soprano solo at the premiere of Joseph Haydn’s new version of Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlosers am Kreuze (1797). She was well received in the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflote. Maria Theresia was married to Joseph Karl Rosenbaum, the secretary to Prince Esterhazy. Maria Theresia Gassman died (Sept 8, 1837) in Vienna, aged sixty-three.

Gates, Annie – (fl. 1904 – 1940)
Australian painter and artist
Annie Gates specialized in painting flowers and landscapes in watercolours and oils. Her work was exhibited at the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, of which organization she was later elected president (1926).

Gates, Eleanor – (1875 – 1951)
American dramatist and novelist
Gates was born (Sept 26, 1875) in Shakopee, Minnesota, and was married twice, firstly to fellow dramatist and stage producer, Richard Walton Tully (1877 – 1945), and secondly to author and editor Frederick Ferdinand Moore, founder of the Book Dealers’ Weekly (1925). Eleanor Gates’ own popular works included The Biography of a Prairie Girl (1902), We Are Seven (1915), Poor Little Rich Girl (1916), and Phoebe (1919). Eleanor Gates died (March 7, 1951) aged seventy-five.

Gates, Josephine Scribner – (1859 – 1930)
American children’s author
Gates was born (Sept 12, 1859) in Mt Vernon, Ohio. Gates’s published works included The Story of Live Dolls (1901) and other popular books in that series for girls, and Sunshine Annie (1910). Josephine Scribner Gates died (Aug 21, 1930) aged seventy.

Gathergood, Betty – (1916 – 1996)
British curator and custodian
Betty was the daughter of an aeronautical engineer. Her father had been working in the USA, and with his death she returned to England with her mother (1919). She was married (1942) to a fireman, Edward Gathergood. She succeeded her mother (1993) as curator of the house of Dr Samuel Johnson, author of the famous, Dictionary (1755), in Fleet Street, London.

Gathorne-Hardy, Isobel Constance Mary Stanley, Lady – (1875 – 1963)
British courtier
Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy was born (Sept 2, 1875), the second daughter of Frederick Arthur Stanley (1841 – 1908), the sixteenth Earl of Derby and his wife Lady Constance Villiers, the daughter of the fourth Earl of Clarendon. Lady Isobel was married (1898) to General Sir Francis Gathorne-Hardy (1874 – 1949), a younger son of John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy (1839 – 1911), the second Earl of Cranbrook. Their only child was Elizabeth Constance Gathorne-Hardy (1904 – 1953), the wife of Colonel Godfrey Pennington Hobbs. Lady Gathorne-Hardy served at court as lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary (1914 – 1920) and in recognition of her service to the royal family she was later appointed DCVO (Dame Commander of the Victorian Order) by King George VI (1945). Isobel survived her husband as the Dowager Lady Gathorne-Hardy (1949 – 1963). Lady Isobel died (Dec 30, 1963) aged eighty-eight, in London.

Gatichon, Francoise    see    Parturier, Francoise

Gatov, Elizabeth Rudel – (1911 – 1997)
American political official
Elizabeth Rudel was born in Montreal, Canada, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. She was educated at Smith College and at the University of Michigan. She was married four times, lastly to Albert Gatov (died 1978), a Californian government official, whom she survived for two decades. Mrs Gatov was prominent comitteewoman within the Democratic Party, when she was appointed as treasurer of the USA (1961 – 1962), a position she resigned from in order to return to California and work against the campaign run by Richard M. Nixon. Elizabeth Gatov died (Jan 25, 1997) at Kentfield, California, aged eighty-five.

Gatterburg, Countess von     see    Stockhausen, Juliana von

Gatterer, Magdalena Philippine – (1756 – 1831)
German poet
Magdalena Gatterer born (Oct 21, 1756) in Nuremberg, the daughter of Johann Christoph Gatterer (1727 – 1799), the noted historian, and was the sister of the important financier Christoph Gatterer (1759 – 1838). Magdalena was raised at the family home in Gottingen, and published poems in a local newsletter as a young woman, though she used a pseudonym. Her poems, verse, and elegies were published in her two volume work, Gedichte (1778), which was twice reprinted, lastly in 1821. She remained unmarried. Magdalena died (Sept 28, 1831) aged seventy-four, in Blankenburg, in the Harz region.

Gatterstedt, Clara – (fl. c1290 – c1300)
German painter
Clara Gatterstedt was a nun at the convent of St James at Kreuzburg. She produced a series of portraits of the abbots of Fulda.

Gatti de Gamond, Isabelle – (1839 – 1905)
Belgian feminist and educator
Gatti de Gamond was born (July 28, 1839) in Paris. She was the founder of the first official school for girls which opened in Brussels (1864) and became director of the Orphelinat Nationaliste (National Orphanage) in Forest (1900 – 1905). She also founded Cahiers feministes (1905). Isabelle Gatti de Gamond died (Oct 11, 1905) aged sixty-six.

Gattilusio, Ginevra    see   Fregoso, Ginevra

Gatty, Margaret – (1809 – 1873)
British naturalist and children’s writer
Margaret Scott was born (June 3, 1809) at Burnham in Essex, the daughter of Reverend Alexander Scott, Lord Nelson’s chaplain aboard the Victory (1805). She was educated at home under the supervision of her father, and was married (1839) to Alfred Gatty (1813 – 1903), the vicar of Ecclesfield, Yorkshire. Margaret Gatty was best known for her work Aunt Judy’s Tales (1859) and she later edited, Aunt Judy’s Magazine (1866), for juveniles.
A talented naturalist she published the important text, British Seweeds (1862), and was mother of the children’s author Juliana Horatia Ewing. Her other published works included Recollections of the Rev. A.J. Scott (1842) which she produced together with her husband, The Human Face Divine, and Other Tales (1860), Domestic Pictures and Tales (1866), Waifs and Strays of Natural History (1871), and A Book of Emblems, with Interpretations thereof (1872). Margaret Gatty died (Oct 4, 1873) aged sixty-four, at Ecclesfield.

Gauchat, Gabrielle – (1746 – 1805)
French Creole nun and revolutionary memoirist
Gabrielle Gauchat was born in Santo Domingo and eventually came to reside in France as a young girl. Having always been determined uon the religious life, she was veiled a nun with the closed Visitation Order at Langres, in Burgundy (1767). With the revolution she was expelled from her order, but kept contact with nuns and priests in the like situation, and met to have secret religious services during the Terror.  She kept a private diary (Sept, 1792 – June, 1795), which was later published as Journal d’une visitandine pendant le Terreur, ou Memoires de la soeur Gabrielle Gauchat (1855).

Gaudiosa    see    Glaudiosa

Gaudosa – (d. c305 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Gaudiosa was killed in Milan, Lombardy, probably during the persecutions organized by the emperors Maximian Daia and Diocletian. Regarded a saint, her feast (May 6) is recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Gaudry, Ann – (c1763 – 1802)
British stage actress and vocalist
Ann Gaudry was the wife of the dancer Stephen Gaudry. She was principally a chorus singer, but also performed definite stage roles such as the priestess in The Cave of Trophonius, and Anna in Dido, Queen of Carthage. Ann Gaudry briefly survived her husband and died (Oct, 1802) in London.

Gaudry, Anne – (c1780 – 1849)
British actress, vocalist and pianist
Anne Gaudry was the daughter of the music copyist, Joseph Gaudry, who worked as an actor with the Drury Lane Theatre in London. She performed on stage as a child, playing the duke of York in Shakespeare’s, Richard III (1787). Gaudry gave piano recitals and concerts, and her delicacy of voice was much admired, and later succeeded Mrs Kemble as the manager of the Covent Garden Theatre wardrobe (c1806). She was married to the actor John Fawcett (died 1837), as his second wife, and bore him three children. Her portrait by G.H. Harlowe as Mrs Fawcett was preserved at Parham Park in the late twentieth century. Anne Gaudry died (Oct 13, 1849) aged about sixty-nine.

Gaudy, Alice – (1863 – 1929)
German writer
Born the Baroness Alice von Gaudy (March 10, 1863) in Berlin, Prussia, she was the granddaughter of Lieutenant-General Friedrich von Gaudy (1765 – 1823), governor-general of Saxony and first commander of Danzig. Her paternal uncle was the noted author, Baron Friedrich von Gaudy (1800 – 1840). Alice attended school in Posen in Poland before joining the Royal Louise Foundation in Berlin. After finishing her education the baroness travelled extensively throughout Europe (1880 – 1884) and eventually settled in Leipzig, Saxony. Apart from ballads and poems Alice translated works into English and the Scandinavian languages, and published the narrative work Mein Sonnenschein (1888). She remained unmarried. Alice Gaudy died (July 4, 1929) at Gnadenfrei, aged sixty-six.

Gaugain, Anne – (fl. 1838 – 1847)
British Victorian water colour artist
Anne Gaugain was a married woman resident in London. She specialized in painting still-lifes of fruit, and her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Gauharara Begum    see    Goharara Begum

Gauhar Shad (Goharshad, Gowharshad) – (c1378 – 1459) 
Timurid ruler
Gauhar Shad was the daughter of Giath ud-Din Tarkhan, an important nobleman from Samarkand, and her name meant ‘shining jewel.’ Gauhar Shad became the wife (1391) of Shah Rukh, who reigned (1404 – 1447), the son and successor of Tamburlaine. They established their court at Herat, which became a centre of a great cultural Renaissance, encouraging science, literature, art, and especially architecture, and her two sons themselves became famous, one as an astronomer, the other as a calligrapher.
The queen caused two magnificent mosques to be built in Mashad, Khorasan (1418), and Herat, in the north-west of Afghanistan, with adjacent theological colleges. These building at Herat stood for over four centuries, until they were destroyed by the British (1885) to prevent a Russian invasion, but those at Mashad, together with the queen’s mauseoleum, still remain. After her husband’s death (1447), the queen became involved in terrible and conflicting quarrels within her own family. Despite this her influence remained considerable over public affairs. Finally, when she was aged over eighty, the queen mother was executed within the palace (July 19, 1457), for supporting the claims of her great-grandson against those of the opposing pretender Abu Sa’id.

Gauhar Sultan Begum – (c1545 – 1577)
Safavid queen of Persia
Gauhar Shad Begum was the eldest daughter of Shah Tahmasp I (1513 – 1576). She was married (1556) to her first cousin, the Sultan Ibrahim Mirza bint Bachram Mirza Safavi (1543 – 1577). Her husband was later killed by order of her brother, Shah Ismail II, and the queen died a few months afterwards, being interred with her husband at Mashhad. Their daughter, Princess Gauhar-shad Begum became the wife of a Sayyid prince from Shiraz.

Gauld    see    Gudula

Gaunt, Elizabeth – (c1650 – 1685)
English Anabaptist martyr
Elizabeth was the wife of William Gaunt, a yeoman of St Mary’s, Whitechapel, London and kept a tallow-chandler’s shop. She worked to relieve the distress of the poor, and of prisoners, by visiting the gaols. Mrs Gaunt had provided funds for one Burton, an outlawed member of the Rye House Plot against Charles II. When he later returned to England with the Duke of Monmouth, and was fleeing from the defeat of the battle of Sedgmoor, he was taken in by Elizabeth, who hid the fugitive in her own house. To save his own life, Burton earned a pardon by informing against Mrs Gaunt, who was arrested for treason, convicted and burnt to death at Tyburn (Oct 23, 1685). Her cheerfulness and courage greatly moved those who witnessed her death, and her last speech at the stake was published shortly afterwards in Amsterdam. Elizabeth Gaunt was the last woman to be executed in England for a political offence.

Gaunt, Mary Eliza Bakewell – (1861 – 1942)
Australian novelist, translator, traveller, journalist and author
Mary Gaunt was born in Chiltern, Victoria, and was educated at the University of Melbourne, being one of the first two women permitted to study there. From 1900 she lived variously in England and Italy, and travelled extensively in Africa and Asia. Gaunt’s first published novel was Dave’s Sweetheart (1894) but she is best remembered for Kirkham’s Find (1897), which had a strongly feminist slant. Her later novel The Uncounted Cost (1910) was later banned by English lending libraries simply because her heroine did not ‘pay the price’ for her wilful and determined independence. She also wrote several historical novels and travel books such as Alone in West Africa (1912) and A Woman in China (1914).

Gauss, Marianne – (1873 - 1966)
American author and children’s writer
Marianne was born (Nov 5, 1873) in Booneville, Missouri, the daughter of Oscar Gauss. Her published works included Five Animals (1926), and, Adventure in the West (1944). Gauss co-wrote two works for children with her sister Charlotte Wilhelmina Gauss entitled Kickapoo the Fighting Bronco (1938) and Smasher and Kickup (1939). Marianne Gauss died (July 15, 1966) aged ninety-two, at Greeley, near Weld in Colorado.

Gautherot, Louisa – (c1763 – 1808)
French violinist
Born Louisa Deschamps in Paris, where she received her musical training. She arrived in London from Paris in 1788 – 1789, and performed a violin concerto at Covent Garden Theatre, appearing regularly as a soloist at oratorios. At Edinburgh, in Scotland in July, 1792, Louisa performed with the clarinetist Mahon. Louisa Gautherot was one of the most celebrated violinists of the decade of the 1790’s. Her portrait was engraved by F. Bartolozzi.

Gauthiere, Eva – (1885 – 1958)
Canadian mezzo-soprano and vocal trainer
Gauthiere was born (Sept 20, 1885) in Ottawa in Ontario. She was the niece of Lady Zoe Laurier and studied singing under Auguste Jean Dubulle at the Paris Conservatoire. She also studied the piano. Gauthiere accompanied Dame Emma Albani on her farewell tour (1906) and then made her own stage debut at Pavia in Lombardy as Micaela in Carmen (1909). She appeared at Covent Garden in London as Mallika in Leo Delibes’ opera Lakme (1910) but left after an altercation with Luisa Tetrazzini.
Gauthiere performed in Java, Indonesia (1911 – 1915), Australia, Paris and in the USA. She performed the works of George Gershwin at the Recital of Ancient and Modern Music for Voice (1923), the first time his works had been publicly performed by a classical singer in concert. Madame Gauthiere retired in 1937, and was a founding member of the American Guild of Musical Artists. Eva Gauthiere died (Dec 20, 1958) aged seventy-three.

Gautier, Judith – (1845 – 1917)
French woman of letters, novelist and salonniere
Louise Charlotte Ernestine Gautier was born (Aug 25, 1845) in Paris, the eldest daughter of the novelist, Theophile Gautier (1811 – 1872) and a ballerina. Known as Judith she was taught the Chinese language at home as a child, by the scholar Tin-Ton-Li, who was employed in her father’s household, and from whom she revieved her love of all things oriental. Her marriage with the poet Catulle Mendes proved short-lived, and Judith never remarried, and devoted herself to writing as a career.
Judith became a friend of the novelist Marcel Proust and of the German composer, Richard Wagner, whose operas she helped to popularize by translating them into French. Her published works included, Le Livre de Jade (The Book of Jage) (1867), Le Dragon imperial (The Imperial Dragon) (1869), and, La Femme de Potiphar (Potiphar’s Wife) (1884), which is her best known work. Gautier was the first woman to be elected as a member of the Academie Goncourt (1910). She left the eight volumes of memoirs entitled Collier des jours. Judith Gautier died (Dec 26, 1917) aged seventy-two, at Saint-Enogat in Dinard.

Gaver, Mary Virginia – (1906 – 1991)
American librarian
Gaver was raised in Schoolfield, Virginia, the daughter of a librarian. She was educated at the Randolph-Macon Women’s College and Columbia University, and remained unmarried. Mary Gaver worked as schoolteacher and librarian in Danville, Virginia before serving as school librarian in Scarsdale, New York (1938 – 1942). She then served as librarian and professor of library service at the New Jersey State Teachers College in Trenton (1942 – 1954) and spent two years overseas in Iran. Gaver helped establish national school library standards (1960) and created eight model libraries. She was president of the American Library Association (1966 – 1967) and of the New Jersey School Library Association (1954 – 1955). After her retirement she worked as a book consultant. Mary Gaver died (Dec 31, 1991) in Danville, aged eighty-five.

Gavia Procula – (fl. c250 – c270 AD)
Roman patrician
Gavia Procula was the daughter of Gavius a military tribune and tribune of the plebs, and was the niece to an attested Gavia Bassilla. She was attested by surviving inscriptions from Campania and Tiburtino which styled her clarissima femina.

Gavia Torquata – (fl. c200 – c230 AD)
Roman patrician
Gavia Torquata was perhaps a connection of the ancient Volusii or Torquatii families, and became the wife of Lucius Annius Italicus Honoratus (died 224 AD), the Imperial legate of Moesia Inferior. She was the mother of an attested Annia Italica and was possibly the mother of Lucius Annius Italicus Rutilianus who was styled clarissimus vir. She was perhaps also the mother, or connection by marriage, of Annius Publicius Honoratus who was styled clarissimus vir on a surviving inscription from water pipes.

Gavin, Ethel – (c1852 – 1918)
British educator
Gavin was born in Dublin, the daughter of John Gavin, of Kandy, Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). She attended secondary school at Maida Vale in London, and later attended Girton College and trained as a teacher. Ethel Gavin returned to her old school in Maida Vale and served as assistant mistress (1888 – 1893) before being appointed as headmistress, firstly of the Shrewsbury High School (1893 – 1900), secondly of the Notting Hill High School (1900 – 1908), and thirdly headmistress of the Wimbledon Hill School (1908 – 1918). Ethel Gavin died (March 2, 1918).

Gavrilescu, Alexandra    see   Cazimir, Otilia

Gaw, Ethelean Tyson – (fl. 1900 – 1927)
American dramatist
Ethelean Tyson was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Israel Tyson and his wife Julia Reynolds. She became the wife (1909) of the noted educator and author Allison Gaw (1877 – 1954). Ethelean Gaw co-wrote and co-produced the play Pharaoh’s Daughter (1927), with her husband, and became the editor of The Lyric West publication (1925). Mrs Gaw won a prize from the Patriotic League for her poem ‘Battle Song of Democracy.’

Gawdry     see    Gaudry

Gay, Delphine     see     Girardin, Delphine de

Gay, Maria – (1879 – 1943)
Spanish Catalan contralto, mezzo-soprano and violinist
Born Maria de Lourdes Lucia Antonia Pichot Girones (June 13, 1879) in Barcelona, according to tradition her voice attracted attention after she was arrested for singing nationalist songs. Maria was married (1897) to the Catalan composer Juan Gay Planella (died 1926), and made her stage debut in the title role of George Bizet’s Carmen at Brussels in Belgium (1902) and was regarded as one of the most popular interpreters of that opera.
Gay made her debut at La Scala in Milan (1906) where she met the tenor, Giovanni Zenatello, with whom she lived as his wife. Though she sometimes used his surname they were never legally married. Despite being possessed of undoubted natural talent, she was considered coarse and unrefined manner. She made gramophone recordings for the Columbia Phonograph Company, whilst her students included Lily Pons. She resided in New York from 1936. Maria Gay died (July 29, 1943) in Manhattan, aged sixty-four.

Gay, Simona – (1898 – 1969)
French poet
Simona Pons was born at Ille-sur-Tet, the daughter of a physician. She attended secondary school before finishing her education under the supervision on Benedictine nuns at Port Bou. She taught herself to become a talented water colour artist and was trained as a violinist. Simona was married (1917) to Leon Gay and went to reside with him in Paris. There she studied Latin, English, French and the Catalan languages. With the outbreak of WW II Madame Gay retired to live with her family at Ille-sur-Tet.
During her life in Paris Simona Gay formed friendships with such literary figures as the Catalan poets Tomas Garces, Carl Riba and Maria Manent, who wrote the introduction to Gay’s last collection of verse La gerra al sol: Poemes (1965). Her other works included Aigues vives.Eaux vives. Poemes catalanes avec la traduction francaise en regard (1932), the introduction to which was written by Tomas Garces, and Lluita amb l’angel.Lutte amb l’ange. Poemes catalanes avec la traduction francaise en regard (1938). She contributed magazine articles which were published in Perpignan and left an unpublished study of folklore in the Rousillon region. Simona Gay died at Ille-sur-Tet.

Gay, Sophie – (1776 – 1852)  
French woman of letters and author
Born Sophie Michault de La Valette in Paris (July 1, 1776), she became the mother of the novelist and poet, Delphine de Girardin (1804 – 1855). Sophie Gay published the fictional memoirs, Les Malheurs d’un amant heureux ou les memoires d’un jeune aide de camp de Napoleon Bonaparte ecrits par son valet de chambre (1823) in three volumes in Paris. Her own personal reminiscences were published, as Souvenirs d'une vieille femme (1834). Her other published works included La Duchesse de Chateauroux (1834), La Comtesse d’Egmont (1836), and Marie de Mancini (1840). Sophie Gay died (March 5, 1852) aged seventy-five.

Gayatri Devi – (1919 – 2009)
Indian maharani of Jaipur
Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar was born (May 23, 1919) in London, England, the daughter of the Maharajah of Cooch Behar. Known as Ayesha within her inner circle, her father died whilst she was an infant and was raised by her widowed mother, the Maharani Regent of Cooch Behar and her maternal grandmother the Maharani of Baroda. She was raised with strong Western influences and ideas and attended a prestigious finishing school at Knightsbridge in London. She later became the third wife (1940) of the Maharaja Man Singh of Jaipur, the marriage being one of mutual affection rather than dynastic politics.
During WW II she became involved in work for the war effort and established the Gayatri Devi School for Girls in Jaipur (1943). Following independence (1947) the princess became involved in politics and became a member of the Swatantra Party. She later won two resounding victories in the Indian Congress (1962) and (1967) but when presidential rule was proclaimed and the royal family was stripped of their wealth and privileges (1970) the royal family retired to live in London. With the death of the Maharaja soon afterwards Gayatri Devi became the Rajmata (queen mother) of Jaipur which position she retained for almost forty years (1970 – 2009). With the abolishment of the princely system, the Rajmata and her her stepson was arrested and placed in prison by order of Prime Minister of Indira Gandhi (1975). The Rajmata Gayatri Devi died aged ninety, in London.

Gayle, Newton     see    Lee, Muna

Gayner, Esther Kasman – (1914 – 1992)
American painter
Gayner was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and began training at the Trenton School for Industrial Arts (1929), and graduated from the New Jersey Teachers College in Trenton. Esther took further courses at the Museum of Modern Art, and her work, including sculpture and prints, was exhibited wideley, including Italy and Israel. Always working with the aim to gain help and recognition for other female artists, Esther served as the president of National Association of Women Artists, and was prominently active with other artistic associations. Esther Gayner died of pnuemonia at Long Island, New York.

Gaynor, Janet – (1906 – 1984)
American film actress
Born Laura Gainer, and appeared in manycomedies and westerns before finally achieving star status, especially after teaming up with the Irish leading man Charles Farrell (1901 – 1988) to appear in many popular love stories. Gaynor received Academy Award for appearances in Seventh Heaven (1927), Sunrise (1927), and Street Angel (1928), and was nominated for one in A Star is Born (1937). Janet Gaynor was married firstly to the noted costume designer, Adrian (1903 – 1959) (Adrian Greenberg) and then (1964) to the producer Paul Gregory (born 1920), fifteen years her junior.

Geach, Portia Swanston – (1873 – 1959)
Australian painter, artist and feminist
Geach was born (Dec 24, 1873) in Melbourne, Victoria, and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy in London, where she studied in England under John Singer Sargent. Her work was exhibited at the Victorian Artists’ Society and at the Royal Art Society. An ardent feminist, she established the Housewives Association (1917). The Portia Geach Prize for portraiture was inaugrated in her memory (1965). Portia Geach died (Oct 5, 1959) aged eighty-five.

Gear, Luella – (1899 – 1980)
American comedy actress of stage and film
Gear was born in New York City, and made her debut on Broadway in the musical comedy, Love O’Mike (1917). Her best known film roles were Carefree (1938), with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and Phfffft with Jack Lemon and Judy Holliday. During WW II Gear toured to entertain the troops in the South Pacific. She also worked in television, and continued to work in theatre, her other stage successes included The Gay Divorcee (1932), The Streets of Paris (1939), and the romantic comedy Sabrina Fair (1953). Luella Gear died (April 4, 1980) aged eighty, in New York.

Gebauer, Henrietta Caroline – (1706 – 1784)
German courtier
Henrietta Gebauer was born (June 5, 1706), the daughter of Michael Gebauer. Henrietta became the wife (1726) of Prince Wilhelm Ludwig of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1696 – 1757). The marriage was not recognized by the royal family and was regarded as morganatic. Henrietta was granted the title and rank of Baroness von Brockenburg at court (1727).  The marriage remained childless, and Henrietta survived her husband almost three decades. Henrietta Gebauer died (March 9, 1784) aged seventy-seven.

Geberdis of Saxony    see   Gerberga of Saxony (1)

Gebersweiller, Katharina von – (c1250 – after 1330)
German Dominican nun and prose writer
Katharina became a nun during childhood at the convent of Colmar Unterlinden in Alsace (c1260), and was later elected to serve as prioress. She wrote a biography of the sisters in the Schwesterbuch (Sister Book) (c1310 – 1320). Katharina Gerbsweiller died (Jan 22) sometime after 1330.

Gebsattel, Marie von – (1885 – 1958)
German politician and writer
Born the Baroness Marie von Gebsattel (Dec 5, 1885) at Bamberg, she trained as a teacher of French language. She began her career as an educator in Augsburg, Bavaria (1912) and then spent several years working in the social welfare service. Gebsattel later became involved in politics and was a member of the Bavarian Landtag (assembly of estates) (1919 – 1924), representing the Bavarian People’s Party. After the establishment of the Republic (1918) the baroness became a member of the civil government and joined the Ministry of State for Education and Culture. Her published works included Auf dem Wege (1928), and Maria, Herrin des Heils (1952). During her last years she took holy orders and became a nun. Marie von Gebsattel died (Nov 3, 1958) aged seventy-two, at Alotting.

Gebser, Anna – (fl. 1896 – 1904)
German journalist and historian
Anna Gebser was born (c1875) in Heichelheim, Thuringia. She trained as a teacher in Sonderhausen, and worked as such in Bern, Switzerland and in Leipzig, Saxony. She was . Gebser attended Heidelberg University and was the author of the thesis Die Bedeteung der Kaiserin Kunigunde fur die Regierung Heinrichs II (1897) and of the women’s publication Frauenkorrespondenz (1897 – 1903). She assisted with the establishment of the German Women’s Cooperative and served as first chairwoman of that organization. Anna Gebser founded the women’s journall the Frauen-Tageszeitung (1904).

Geddes, Jenny (Jenet) – (c1600 – after 1670)
Scottish figure of legend
Jenny Geddes was a seller of herbs and vegetables who kept a stall in the market of Edinburgh. She is said to have started the riots which took place in St Giles’s Cathedral in the city, when Archbishop William Laud introduced the English prayer book (July 23, 1637). According to the most popular version of the story, Jenny threw her folding-stool at the head of Bishop David Lindsay, and shouted abuse at him for trying to introduce Anglican ritual. This uproar led to establishment of the National Covenant (1638), which abolished the episcopal system in Scotland. She was said to have been alive in July, 1661, and participated in the public celebrations to mark the restoration of Charles II (July, 1661), and is recorded alive a decade afterwards by the author Edward Phillips in his continuation of Sir Richard Baker’s Chronicle (1670).

Geddes, Pytt – (1917 – 2006)
Norwegian-British t’ai chi ch’uan teacher
Gerda Meyer Bruun was born (July 17, 1917) in Bergen, Norway, the daughter of a prominent politician. Always known as ‘Pytt’ she worked with the Norwegian resistance against the Nazis during WW II, distributing bulletins from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and organizing the movement of refugees to Sweden and safety. She later trained as a dancer at the National Theatre in London and became a stage movement instructor. Pytt Bruun was married (1948) to David Geddes an official with a foreign import company.
Pytt accompanied her husband to Shanghai in China and it was here that she first observed a performance of t’ai chi ch’uan, and was inspired to learn it. From 1951 she and her husband and child fled China for Hong Kong, where they remained until finally returning to live in Britain (1959). During her time in Hong Kong Pytt was instructed in t’ai chi ch’uan in the Yang style by the two masters Choy Hawk Pang and his son Choy Kam Man.
Well versed in Chinese art and literature Pytt imbibed the philosophical tenets of Taoism into t’ai chi rather than as a martial art. Pytt Geddes was later a t’ai chi ch’uan instructor at the London Centre for Contemporary Dance for three decades. She retired in 1995 and resided in Scotland. Pytt Geddes died (March 4, 2006) aged eighty-eight.

Gedney, Joan – (c1395 – 1462)
English medieval widow and vowess
Joan Gedney was maried to four successive husbands, John Gade, Richard Turnaut, a fuller and member of Parliament, Robert Large (died 1441), mercer and  Lord Mayor of London, and lastly to John Gedney, draper and alderman. She made a vow of chastity after the death of Robert Large, but created a scandal when she broke it to remarry her fourth husband, Gedney. With the death of her last husband, Joan became lady of the manor of Bruses until her death, and inherited considerable estates in Tottenham, which passed to her son Richard Turnaut (1428 – 1486). Her will has survived in which she made bequests to the parish church of Tottenham. Her granddaughter, Thomasina Turnaut (1460 – c1507), was married (as her second husband) to Sir John Risley (1443 – 1512) a prominent councillor and courtier of King Henry VII (1485 – 1509). With the death of Risley without heirs, these lands were inherited by the Crown. Joan Gedney died (July, 1462) and was interred in the church of St Christopher le Stocks.

Gedye, Litzi – (1910 – 2005)
Jewish-Austrian espionage agent
Born Alice Mehler in Vienna, she was the daughter of a prominent businessman. She became the secretary (1935) of Eric Gedye, the Central European correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, whom she later married (1947). Litzi and Gedye both worked for the SOE (Special Operations Executive) during World War II in Turkey, Egypt, and Palestine, and were friendly with Kim Philby, her own codename being ‘Leperova.’ In Istanbul they were involved in black propaganda operations, and organized the dropping of anti-Nazi pamphlets into the streets. Anti-Nazi slogans were even cleverly inserted inside fish bound for the German market, in the hope of unsettling German women. Arrested only once, she was quickly released due to the prompt intervention of the British Embassy in Istanbul. With the end of the war she returned to Vienna as a member of the Allied Control Mission, but accompanied her husband to England when he decided to retire to the city of Bath. There she worked as a schoolteacher at Bath High School. She was widowed in 1971, and survived Gedye almost thirty-five years and died aged ninety-four. Their son Robin Gedye was correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in Germany (1989 – 1996).

Gee, Annie Laura Vernon – (1860 – 1935)
Australian painter and artist
Annie Gee studied at the South Australia School of Design. She was particulalry noted for her paintings of birdlife. Examples of her work were preserved in the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Geelhaar, Anne – (1914 – 1998)
German writer
Born Anne Pelchen (April 5, 1914) at Teichrode, she was the daughter of a council worker. She attended school at Magdeburg, and then became an assistant newspaper editor (1932 – 1938). Geelhaar became the editor (1950 – 1957) of the ABC-Zeitung, and established news publication. She was herself an author and illustrator of children’s stories. Her published collections of children’s stories included Die Stolze Gigaka und andere Tiermarchen (1956), whilst she composed lyrics for popular the songs Zu den Sternen lasst uns fliegen (1957) and Das Matrjoschkalied (1966). Anne Geelhaar died (April 12, 1998) in Berlin, aged eighty-four.

Geerdinck-Jesurun Pinto, Nilda Maria – (1918 – 1954)
Caribbean author and folk-lorist
Geerdinck-Jesurun Pinto was born (Dec 12, 1918) at Curacao in the Antilles. Her published works included Bam Canta (1944) and Cuentanan de Nanzi (1952). Nilda Geerdinck-Jesurun died (April 17, 1954) at Hengelo in the Netherlands, aged thirty-five.

Gegania (1) – (fl. c700 BC)
Roman priestess
Gegania and Verenia were the first two women to be consecrated as virgin priestesses for thirty years to the goddess Vesta by King Numa Pompilius, according to the historian Plutarch in his life of that monarch. He later added Canuleia and Tarpeia to swell the priestesshood to four, and King Servius Tullius subsequently raised the number to six, all chosen from the highest ranking families of Rome. Numa permitted Gegania and her fellow Vestals to make their own wills, and to manage their financial affairs without a male guardian.

Gegania (2) – (c80 – c35 BC)
Roman Republican patrician
Gegania is known to history solely from the details recorded concerning the life of her freedman Ctesippus. Gegania attended a sale of household contents, perhaps during the proscription period under Julius Caesar. With the purchase of a candelabrum she was given the salve Ctesippus, formerly a launderer for free. Gegania eventually took Ctesippus as her lover and granted him freedman status. With her death Gegania willed him her entire fortune.

Gegoberga – (c605 – after 653)
Merovingian nun
Gegoberga was the daughter of St Romaric, whom she survived. She took vows as a nun and was appointed as second abbess of Habend, succeeding abbess Mactaflede, and where her younger sister, Adzaltrude became a nun under her rule (c630). The surviving Life of St Romaric was dedicated to Abbess Gegoberga (653). Venerated as a saint, her feast (Aug 12) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Geibel, Margarete – (1876 – 1956)
German painter, wood engraver and graphic designer
Geibel was born (June 5, 1876) in Weimar, the daughter of the painter Casimir Geibel. She was closely related to the brother publisher-printers, Karl (1842 – 1910) and Stephan Geibel (1847 – 1903). Margarete studied under Otto Rasch and Alfred Schmidt. Some of her etchings were published in the annual portfolios issued by the Weimar Etching Society (1905 – 1910). Margarete Geibel died at Weimar.

Geiger, Constantina Adelaide Theresa – (1835 – 1890)
German courtier
Constantina Geiger became the wife of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1824 – 1884). The marriage was regarded as morganatic by the royal family and constantina was granted the rank and title of Countess von Ruttenstein, which title was born by her son Count Franz von Ruttenstein (1869 – 1899).

Geiger, Margarethe – (1783 – 1809)
German painter
Geiger was born (May 24, 1783) at Schweinfurt, the daughter of the artist Conrad Geiger, and was sister to the painter Katharina Sattler. She trained under her father and then studied further under Christoph Fesel in Wurzburg. She worked as a portraitist in Bamberg, Munich and Vienna, as a genre painter. Margarethe Geiger died (Sept 4, 1809) in Vienna, aged twenty-six.

Geilana – (c665 – 697)
German duchess consort of Franconia
Geilana was the wife of Duke Gozbert, the son of Hetan, who kept his court at Wurzburg in Lorraine. Geilana and her husband produced one son, Gozbert’s son and successor, Duke Hetan (died after 716). According to the Passio Kiliani (Life of St Kilian) Duke Gozbert had been converted to Christianity by the Irish monks, Kilian, Coloman, and Totnan. The monks persuaded the duke that he should put away his wife Geilana, who had been the widow of his brother, as the marriage was not canonical. Much angered at this treatment, during her husband’s absence, the duchess caused the three Irish monks to be murdered, and caused their bodies to be concealed. According to tradition, the duchess and the executioners that she had hired to commit the crime were possessed of demons (spiritus invasit malignus), and died in torment, calling out the names of their victims. Her husband was later murdered by his own courtiers.

Geira of Poland – (c963 – 985)
Scandinavian queen
Geira was the daughter of Mieczyslav I, Duke of Poland and his third wife Dubravka of Bohemia, the divorced wife of Gunther of Thuringia, Margrave of Merseburg, and was the daughter of Boleslav I, Duke of Bohemia (929 – 967), and was the sister of King Boleslav I Chrobry of Poland. The historian Snorri Sturlusson wrongly identified Geira as the daughter of Boleslav Chroby, when she was in fact his sister. Her sister Gunhilda became the mother of Knud II (Canute), King of Denmark and England.
The Norwegian prince Olaf Trygvasson visited the court of Duke Mieczyslav, and was married there (982) to Geira, as his first wife. At the time of her marriage Geira had been ruling a portion of her father’s kingdom. They resided at the Polish court but only three years afterwards the princess took ill and died. There were no children of the marriage. Geira’s husband later became King of Norway as Olaf I (995 – 1000).

Geiringer, Hilda – (1893 – 1973)
Austrian-American mathematician and statistician
Hilda Geiringer was born (Sept 28, 1893) in Vienna, the daughter of a textile manufacturer, and sister to the noted musicologist, Karl Geiringer. She studied pure mathematics at the University of Vienna under Wilhelm Wirtinger. She collaborated with Leon Lichtenstein on editing the, Fortschritte der Mathematik (1919 – 1920). Geiringer was married firstly (1921 – 1925) to the mathematician Felix Polaczek from whom she was divorced, and secondly (1943) to the academic, Richard Martin Edler von Mises. She became a lecturer at the University of Berlin (1927) and worked on the mathematical development of plasticity theory. This research led to the fundamental Geiringer equations for plane plastic deformations.
With the rise of the Nazis she lost her job and went to work at the Istanbul University in Turkey, but the outbreak of WW II, Geiringer and her daughter came to the USA, where she obtained employment as a lecturer at Bryn Mawr College (1939 – 1944) and was naturalized as an American citizen (1945). Geiringer then served as professor and chairman of the mathematics department at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts (1944 – 1959). Widowed in 1954, Geiringer was then awarded a grant by the Office of Naval Research to continue her husband’s research, and joined the staff of Harvard University. She collaborated with Geoffrey Ludford to publish the incomplete manuscript of her late husband as Mathematical Theory of Compressible Fluid Flow (1958). She later published a revised edition of her husband’s Mathematical Theory of Probability and Statistics (1964). She was elected as professor emeritus by the University of Berlin (1956) and was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Hilda Geiringer died (March 22, 1973) in Santa Barbara, California, aged eighty-nine.

Geisman, Ella    see    Allyson, June

Geistinger, Marie – (1836 – 1903)
Austrian soprano and concert performer
Maria Charlotte Cacilia Geistinger was born (July 26, 1836) in Graz, Styria. She performed with the Vienna Imperial Opera (1865 – 1875) and later made a successful concert tour of the USA (1897 – 1899). Madame Geistinger died (Sept 29, 1903) at Rastenfeld, aged sixty-seven.

Gelberda of Bigorre    see   Gisberga of Bigorre

Geleswintha    see   Galswintha

Geller, Angelina – (fl. 1865 – 1886)
British painter and still-life artist
Angelina Geller was a resident of London, and specialized in painting fruit. Her work was exhibited at various galleries in the city and with the New Water Colour Society.

Gellhorn, Martha Ellis – (1908 – 1998)
American journalist, correspondent, novelist and writer
Martha Gellhorn was born (Nov 8, 1908) in St Louis, Missouri, the daughter of the noted suffrage campaigner Edna Fischel Gellhorn, and was educated at Bryn Mawr College. She was drawn early to journalism as a career and covered the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) and WW II in Europe as the foreign correspondent for the Collier’s Weekly publication. During this time she covered the Blitz in London. Her first marriage (1933) was with the Frenchman Bertrand de Jouvenel, the son-in-law of the novelist Colette, but this ended in divorce. Gellhorn was equally famous for her volatile marriage (1940 – 1945) with the famous novelist Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) which ended in divorce.
Gellhorn relentlessly covered most of the important military conflicts over the next four decades, Java (1946), Vietnam (1966), the Middle East (1967), and Central America (1983 – 1985). Her journalistic work conducted during peacetime was later published as The View From the Ground (1988). After the war Martha worked with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and became a firemd to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Gellhorn published several novels such as What Mad Pursuit (1934), A Stricken Field (1940), Liana (1944) and The Wine of Astonishment (1948). Gellhorn’s war reports were collectively published in The Face of War (1959), and she also wrote several collections of short stories such as The Trouble I’ve Seen (1936), which dealt with ordinary Americans during the Great Depression, Two by Two (1958) and The Weather in Africa (1978). She also published the travel book Travels With Myself and Another (1979). Her work is notable for her direct delivery and piercing observations of human character. Martha Gellhorn died (Feb 15, 1998) aged eighty-nine, in London.

Gellibrand, Paula – (1898 – 1986)
British socialite and celebrated beauty
Paula Gellibrand became a famous society beauty during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Her first husband was William Allen, later appointed as the head of the British Secret Service in Ankara in Turkey. Her second husband was Boy Long, a prominent cattle rancher at Elmenteita in Kenya, Africa. During her time in Kenya Paula became part of the British colonial society there, and was a member of the circle that included Lord Erroll and Lady Delamere and Alice de Janze at ‘Happy Valley.’
Her third and last husband was the Spanish grandee Pedro Jose isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones (Peter), the Marques de Casa Maury, whose first wife had been Freda Dudley Ward, the former mistress of Edward VIII (1936). Paula married the Marques de Casa Maury after his divorce (1954) from Freda. With his death Paula survived his as the Dowager Marquesa de Casa Maury (1968 – 1986). During her old age the Marchesa Casa Maury gave interviews to James Fox, the author of White Mischief (1982) which dealt with the murder of Lord Erroll in Kenya (1941). The marchesa’s reminiscences of people and events during this scandal assisted with Fox’s writing of the book, and her assistance is acknowledged by the author.

Gelling, Margaret – (1924 – 2009)
British toponymist and author
Gelling was born (Nov 29, 1924) and became a specialist in the study of place-names (toponymy). She became a lecturer at the universities of Birmingham and Oxford. Her published works included Signposts to the Past (1978) and The Landscape of Place-Names (2000) which she co-published with Ann Cole. Gelling served as president of the English Place-Name Society and was a fellow of St Hilda’s College at Oxford and was a member of the Society of Antiquaries of London and of the British Academy. Margaret Gelling was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of her contribution to education. She remained unmarried and died (April 24, 2009) aged eighty-four.

Gelnhausen, Esther Maria von Witzleben, Countess von – (1665 – 1725)
German ruler
Countess Esther von Witzleben was the second wife of Johann Karl (1638 – 1704), reigning Count Palatine of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen in Bavaria. She later ruled as regent (1704 – 1713) for her sons, Friedrich Bernhard (1697 – 1739) and Johann (1698 – 1780). When her eldest son came of age she remained the Countess Dowager of Gelnhausen (1713 – 1725), and died aged fifty-nine. Her third son was Field Marshal Wilhelm von Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen (1701 – 1760), who died unmarried. Her two daughters were, Charlotte Catherine (1699 – 1785), the wife of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Solms-Braunsfels (1696 – 1761), and Sophia Maria (1702 – 1761), the wife of Heinrich XXV, count of Reuss-Gera (1681 – 1748).

Geloira of Toro    see   Elvira of Castile (1)

Geltzer, Ekaterina Vasilievna (Catherine) – (1876 – 1962)
Russian ballerina
Geltzer was born (Nov 14, 1876) in Moscow, the daughter of Vassily Geltzer, a celebrated performer with the Bolshoi Ballet. She was trained at the Moscow Choreographic School, and later joined the Bolshoi like her father before her. Ekaterina soon established herself as a popular and talented ballet dancer, and then joined the Mariinskii Theatre (1896), where she received further instruction under Marius Petipa.
After this she returned to the Bolshoi, and later performed abroad with great success in Brussels and Berlin (1910). She worked with the Ballets Russes in Paris and accompanied the Bolshoi Company to London and the USA (1911). Ekaterina Geltzer was the first artist ever to be officially declared the, ‘People’s Artist of the Soviet Union’ (1921), and was said to have been one of the favoured ballet performers of Jozef Stalin, and entertained the dictator with performances in the Kremlin. Ekaterina Geltzer died (Dec 12, 1962) aged eighty-six.

Gemella – (d. c272 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Gemella was killed in Syria with Castula and many others, during the perseuctions initiated by the Emperor Aurelian (270 – 275 AD). Her feast day (Feb 15) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum and in the Martyrology of St Jerome.

Gemina – (fl. c250 – c280 AD)
Roman philosopher
Gemina was a disciple of the Neo-Platonist Plotinus (c203 – 270 AD) who resided at her house in Rome. Devoted to the study of philosophy, her daughter who was also a student of Plotinus, bore the same name of her mother. Gemina Maior is mentioned in the Vita Plotini of Porphyrius.

Gemina Baebiana, Afinia – (fl. c230 – 253 AD)
Roman empress
Afinia Gemina Baebiana was the wife of the emperor Trebonianus Gallus (251 – 253 AD), whom she survived. She was not accorded the title of Augusta, so as not to encroach upon the prerogatives of the empress Etruscilla, widow of the emperor Decius. Gemina Baebiana was the mother of Gaius Vibius Volusianus, co-emperor (251 – 253 AD) with his father, with whom he died, both being killed by the troops at Interamna. Her daughter Vibia Galla became the wife of Gallenus Successus, and was ancestress of the fourth century praetorian prefect, Auchenius Bassus (334 – 408 AD).

Geminia Vulcacia – (fl. c130 – c160 AD)
Roman patrician
Gemina Vulcacia was a connection of Gaius Iavolenus Calvinus Geminius Capito Cornelius Pollio Squilla Quintus Vulcacius Scuppidius Verus, a military tribune serving with the V Macedonian legion, and quaestor of Africa and Imperial legate of Lusitania under the emperor Antoninus Pius. He was later proconsul of Baetica. Geminia Vulcacia was the wife of the consul suffect Quintus Oactavius Volusius thuscenius, and was attested by a surviving inscription erected in her honour in Uticensis.

Gemma of Foligno    see   Figliuoli, Gemma

Gemmell, Mary Marion – (fl. 1876 – 1893)
British Victorian water colour artist
Gemmell specialized in still-life paintings of flowers. Her works were displayed at various exhibitions in London, including the Royal Academy.

Gemmyo (Gemmei-tenno) – (661 – 723)
Japanese empress regnant (708 – 715)
Gemmyo was the daughter of the emperor Tenchi (662 – 673), and originally bore the name of Abe. She married and became the mother of the emperor Mommu, who was installed as emperor (697) whilst still a minor, the first example of this practice, which would later become commonplace with the dynasty. At his death (708) at the early age of twenty-six, Gemmyo was installed as empress. Gemmyo was a considerably able ruler, and it was at her order that the Kojiki (712) and the Fudoki (713) were written to preserve the ancient traditions of Japan. With the discovery of copper (708), the empress established a mint and produced the first copper coinage. It was during her reign that the perapatatic and inconventient meanderings of the Imperial court came to an end, when the empress established a permanent capital at Nara (Heijo), in Yamato in cantral Japan (710). Except for brief intervals this city continued to be the imperial residence for the next three-quarters of a century, and marked itself as an especial epoch in the Japanese history of the arts. The empress ruled for seven years, and then abdicated in favour of her daughter empress Gensho (715). Empress Gemmyo died aged sixty-one.

Genders, Dorothy – (1892 – 1978)
Australian Anglican deaconess
Dorothy Genders was born (July 27, 1892) in Tasmania and later moved to Western Australia. She went on to study at Sydney, in New South Wales. She was ordinated as a deacon by the Church of England (1919), and served at the parish of St Luke’s in Mosman Park, Western Australia (1928 – 1931). Genders was appointed MBE (Member of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1970), in recognition of her valuable volunteer work to assist the under privileged. She remained unmarried. Dorothy Genders died (Aug 30, 1978) aged eighty-six, in Subiaco, Western Australia.

Gendrikovna, Anastasia Vasilievna – (1887 – 1918)
Russian Imperial courtier
Countess Gendrikovna (Hendrikovna) was the daughter of Count Vassily Alexandrovitch Gendrikov, the Grand Master of Ceremonies at the Romanov court, and his wife Princess Sophia Petrovna Gagarina, and was distantly related to the Imperial family, being descended from a sister of Empress Catharine I, the second wife of Peter the Great. Anastasia remained unmarried and taught Russian to the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II, and then later tutored her four daughters, and served as a lady-in-waiting. Of a gentle nature, she was known as ‘Nastenka’ by the family, and often accompanied them on long trips. With the outbreak of the Revolution, she and Madamoiselle Schneider followed the Imperial family to Siberia where they were later imprisoned at Perm. She and others were later brutally murdered by her Bolshevik captors (Sept 4, 1918) who clubbed them with rifle butts. Countess Anastasia and Ekaterina Schneider were canonized as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia (1981).

Genee-Isitt, Dame Adeline – (1878 – 1970) 
Danish-Anglo ballet dancer and teacher
Born Anina Jensen (Jan 6, 1878) at Hinnerup, near Aarhus, in Jutland, she took the name Genee from an uncle who became her guardian, and used it for the rest of her life. She made her debut performance in Christiania in Oslo (1888), and travelled to the courts of Berlin, in Prussia and Munich in Bavaria, where she danced the role of Swanilda in Coppelia (1896). Adeline later removed to London, where she settled permanently, and appeared at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square (1897) before undertaking highly successful tours throughout America, Australia, and New Zealand, with visits to Paris and Copenhagen, In 1905 she performed before Edward VII and Queen Alexandra at Chatsworth Palace, and was married (1910) to Frank Isitt whose surname she added to her own. There were no children.
Adeline Genee-Isitt also performed at the Coliseum and Alhambra theatres in London, besides an extended period playing the Royal Albert Hall thoughout the war years (1914 – 1917). She became the first president of the fledgling Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing, which evolved into the Royal Academy of Dancing, and served in that role for nearly thirty-five years (1920 – 1954), her successor in office being Dame Margot Fonteyn. She instituted the Genee gold medal ward (1931) and in 1932 she led the English Ballet Company on their tour of Copenhagen, the first instance of a group of British ballet dancers to travel abroad. Created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by King George VI (1950), the Danes made her a commander of the Order of Dannebrog. A theatre at East Grinstead, Sussex, was named in her honour. Dame Adeline Genee-Isitt died (April 23, 1970) aged ninety-two, in London.

Genet    see   Flanner, Janet

Genevieve – (422 AD – c501)
Merovingian patron saint of France, Paris and Nanterre
Genevieve was also the patron saint of fields and harvests, and was invoked against fever. She was born at Nanterre, the daughter of respectable peasants. Under the guidance of St Germanus of Auxerre she took the veil as a nun (437 AD). With the deaths of her parents Genevieve resided with her godmother in Paris. The city was threatened by the hordes of Attila the Hun (451 AD), and the panicking population began preparing to flee the city. The authorities appealed to Genevieve for help, and she successfully appealed to the leading ladies of the city, who instead of leaving attended prayer vigils in the major churches. Attila then decided against laying siege to Paris, and his forces were ultimately defeated at Orleans by the joint forces of the Romans, Franks, and Goths.
During the ensuing siege and capture of the city by the Merovingian king Merovech and his son Childeric (father of Clovis I), Genevieve travelled to Troyes, in order to bring food and necessities to the people of Paris, and was treated with great respect by the king and his son, who released many prisoners at her especial request. She founded the priory of St Denis (460 AD), later called Les Haudriettes. Such was Genevieve’s fame that the Greek ascetic, Simon Stylites wrote to her to ask for her prayers on his behalf. She had persuaded Clovis to build the basilica of St Peter and St Paul in Paris, where she was buried. Queen Clotilda then had the church rededicated in the name of St Genevieve. Regarded a saint (Jan 3), she was chosen as patron saint of the city immediately after her death.

Genevieve la Paonniere – (fl. 1313)
French medieval designer and merchant
Genevieve worked as a successful hat-maker (plummassiere) in Paris, earning more than men employed in the same profession. She was wealthy enough to finance and endow a chantry before her death. Her nickname cames from the feminine of paon (peacock), which indicates the use of such feathers in the decoration of her hats.

Geng, Veronica – (1941 – 1997)
American satirical writer and editor
Geng was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of an army officer, and was a descendant from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She attended the University of Pennsylvania, and then became the assistant fiction editor at The New Yorker during the 1970’s, and she was credited with persuading the editor William Shawn to publish his successful short novel The Ghost Writer (1979). She was a friend and editor to the novelist Philip Roth, the author of Portnoy’s Complaint (1972). Her collections of articles were published as Partners (1984) and Love Trouble Is My Business (1988). Veronica Geng retired in 1992 and died (Dec 24, 1997) aged fifty-six, in Manhattan in New York.

Genlis, Stephanie Felicite Ducrest de Saint-Aubin, Comtesse de – (1746 – 1830)
French writer and educator
Stephanie Ducrest de Saint-Aubin was born (Jan 25, 1746) at the Chateau de Champceny, near Autun, in Burgundy, the younger sister of the salonniere, the Marquise de Montesson. Stephanie was married (1763) to Alexis Bruslart, Comte de Genlis and Marquis de Sillery, to whom she bore two daughters. She was appointed lady-in-waiting to the Duchesse de Chartres, whose husband Philippe Egalite, who later succeeded as duc d’Orleans, became Stephanie’s lover. The comtesse wrote four volumes of short playes entitled, Theatre d’education (1779), to instruct the children of the duc and duchesse, the future King Louis Philippe and his sister Adelaide, after she was appointed their governess. She also wrote more than one hundred historical romances and didactic works. Both her husband, a member of the Girondist party, and the Duc d’Orleans perished on the scaffold during the Revolution (1793).
Despite her Republican sympathies, the Jacobins did not trust her, and the comtesse escaped from Paris, and travelled Europe, residing with Louis Philippe and his sister in Switzerland for a period. Her work, Precis de la conduite de Mme de Genlis depius la Revolution (Summary of the Conduct of Madame de Genlis since the Revolution) (1796), was written to appease the Republican regime which remained very suspicious of her, and facilitate her eventual return to France (1800). The emperor Napoleon so admired her novels, Madamoiselle de Clermont (1802) and, La Duchesse de La Vallierre (1804), that he granted her a state pension and apartment, and appointed her as directress of primary schools in Paris. In her later works the comtesse revived the genre of the historical novel, and produced ten volumes of memoirs entitled, Memoires inedits sur le XVIIIe siecle et la revolution francaise (Unpublished Memoirs of the Eighteenth century and the French Revolution) (1825). Madame de Genlis died (Dec 31, 1830) in Paris, aged ninety-five, just after receiving news of her former pupil’s accession to the French throne. It was Louis Philippe who ordered and paid for her magnificent funeral.

Genny, Arlette    see   Glory, Marie

Genovese, Kitty – (1935 – 1964)
American murder victim
Catherine Genovese was born in New York, of Italian immigrant background. She worked as a bar manager in Queens, New York, and resided in Kew Gardens. Kitty Genovese was brutally attacked and stabbed to death on the way home from work (March 13, 1964). Almost forty of her her neighbours heard her frantic screams for help but none interfered, not wanting to ‘get involved.’ The police were not called until her lifeless body had been on the ground for over half an hour. The case drew great media attention, which focused on the isolation and inhumanity rife in American society. The reactions of Kitty’s neighbours, popularly known as ‘the bystander effect’ was properly named Genovese Syndrome after the victim.

Gensho (Gensho-tenno) – (679 – 748)
Japanese empress regnant (715 – 723)
Gensho was born with the name Hitaka, and was the daughter of the empress Gemmei, granddaughter of emperor Tenchi (662 – 673), and elder sister to emperor Mommu (697 – 708). Following the lead established by her mother, Gensho encouraged and patronised the arts and letters, as well as interest and research in the sciences and agriculture. Gensho was installed as empress after the abdication of her mother (715). She ruled for eight years, and the official Japanese chronicles to the year 697, the Nihongi, were completed and published during her reign (720). The empress abdicated when her nephew, the emperor Shomu, reached the age of twenty-five (723), and retired from public life. Empress Gensho died aged sixty-nine.

Gentile, Cristina – (1856 – 1919) 
Albanian author
Also known as Cristina Gentile Mandala, she was a native of Pianca degli Albanesi, sicily. As a member of Arberest (Italo-Albanian) community, Cristina was interested in the folk-lore of her people. Apart from producing a collection of folk tales herself, which remain unpublished, Cristina assisted the writer G. Shiro with the production of his own collection of folk tales.

Gentileschi, Artemisia – (1593 – c1653)
Italian painter
Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome, the daughter of the painter Orazio Gentileschi (1563 – 1647). She studied under Caravaggio and eventually settled in Naples, where she produced works heavily influenced by his style. Artemisia was said to have been repeatedly raped in her youth by the landscape painter, Agostino Tasso, which resulted in a lengthy legal case (1612). She continued to work, and later visited her father whilst he was working in England (1638 – 1639) and produced a self-portrait, which is now preserved in the royal collection at Hampton Court Palace. She also assisted her father on work at the Queen’s House, at Greenwich, for Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I. Artemisia was the first female painter to be elected to the Academy of Design, and was particularly famous for her painting of, Judith and Holofernes, which portrayed the Jewish heroine beheading her enemy, which is preserved at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Other subjects included such famous persons as Mary Magdalene, Cleopatra VII, and Queen Bathsheba, and also produced the paintings for the choir of Pozzuoli Cathedral. From 1641 she resided in Naples. Artemisia was living there in reduced circumstances in 1652, and died soon afterwards.

Genville, Joan de (Jeanne de Joinville) – (1286 – 1356)
French-Anglo medieval heiress
Jeanne de Joinville was born (Feb 2, 1286), the daughter of Piers de Geneville by his wife Jeanne, the widow of Bernard I Ezy, Seigneur d’Albret, and the daughter of Hugh XII de Lusignan, Comte de La Marche and his wife Jeanne, the daughter of Raoul, seigneur de Fourgeres in Brittany. Joan de Genville (as the English called her) was married before 1306) to the Welsh marcher lord, Roger Mortimer (1287 – 1330), first Earl of March, who later became infamous as the lover of Queen Isabella de Valois, the wife of Edward II and mother of Edward III (1327 – 1377). As her two sisters, Beatrice and Marie de Genville (Joinville) became nuns at Acornbury in England Joan brought Mortimer the entirety of her father’s estates. However several rival families assailed Joan’s inheritance, her own relatives, the Lacys, being the most hostile to Mortimer, who was eventually accorded the lordship of Meath in Ireland (1317). Her husband’s infamous association with Queen Isabella dates from around this time, but the countess’s last child was born 1327, and Mortimer remained active in the management of her affairs. The countess was present at the triple marriage ceremonies of her daughters, Joan, Beatrice, and Agnes at Hereford (1328). With Mortimer’s subsequent downfall and flight to France, Edward III seized Joan and three of her daughters, and imprisoned them in different convents. With Roger Mortimer’s death (1330) by order of Edward III, Lady March was released and was left relatively unmolested, though she lost some valuable properties to the crown. Edward later restored Trim Castle in Ireland to her (1347). Joan de Genville died (Oct 19, 1356), aged seventy, and left a large number of children,

• Edmund Mortimer (1307 – 1331). Because of the attainder he never succeeded as second Earl of March. Edmund died childless, and his widow, Elizabeth de Badlesmere, was remarried to William de Bohun, earl of Northampton, the grandson of Edward I (1272 – 1307), and left descendants by him.
• Lady Margaret Mortimer (1308 – 1337). She became the wife of Thomas, third Baron Berkeley (1299 – 1361).
• Lady Matilda Mortimer (1309 – 1345). She became the wife of John, second Baron Charlton (c1310 – 1360).
• Lady Blanche Mortimer (1311 – 1347). She became the wife of Peter, second Baron Grandison (c1290 – 1358), and left descendants.
• Geoffrey Mortimer (1312 – before 1330). He died unmarried.
• Lady Beatrice Mortimer (1313 – 1383). She was married firstly to Edward of Brotherton (1311 – 1337), a descendant of Edward I, and secondly to Thomas, first Baron de Braose (1301 – 1361), and left descendants.
• Lady Catharine Mortimer (c1314 – 1369). She became the wife of Thomas de Beauchamp (1314 – 1369), eleventh Earl of Warwick, and left descendants.
• John Mortimer (1315 – before 1350). He was unmarried, and was killed in a tournament at Shrewsbury.
• Lady Joan Mortimer (1315 – 1349). She became the wife of James, second Baron Audley (1317 – 1386), and left descendants.
• Lady Agnes Mortimer (c1320 – 1369). She became the wife of Laurence Hastings, first Earl of Pembroke (1318 – 1348), and left descendants.
• Roger Mortimer (1327 – 1360). He was restored by Edward III to the earldom of March as the second Earl (1355 – 1360). He married Philippa de Montacute and left many descendants.

Genvissa (Claudia) – (fl. 24 – 43 AD)
Romano-Celtic queen
Claudia was the daughter of the Imperial slave Claudius Boter, born of his adulterous liasion with Plautia Urgulanilla, the first wife of the future Emperor Claudius I (41 – 54 AD). Though condemned at birth to be exposed at her mother’s door the girl appears to have been raised within the Imperial household, and treated by Claudius as an illegitimate daughter and the historian Suetonius names her as such. The emperor took her to Britain with him during his campaign and married her to the British king Arviragus (43 AD) possibly a ruler in the Somerset region who maintained his independence after the Roman conquest. The marriage had been arranged to secure peace between Arviragus and Rome as his brother king Guiderius had been killed in battle against the forces of Claudius. Her new Celtic subjects called her ‘Genvissa’ (Gwenissa).
This is all that is factually known concerning this early Romano-British queen. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regium Britanniae called her ‘Genvissa the Fair’ and said that Arviragus led rebelled against Roman rule but that peace was restored due to the intervention of Genvissa with her Imperial father. Geoffrey of Monmouth mistakenly confused Arviragus with Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, the husband of the famous Queen Boudicca. Monmouth stated that he divorced Boudicca in order to marry the daughter of Claudius, though he later deserted her in order to return to his former wife. Caxton’s chronicle states that Genvissa died in childbirth from grief at her husband’s desertion. He also said that her son Marius Westmer, included amongst Geoffrey of Monmouth’s list of British kings, later married his half-sister, the daughter of arviragus and Boudicca. However, there is little if any bassis in historical fact for any of these stories.

Geoffrin, Marie Therese – (1699 – 1777)
French woman of letters, literary patron and salonniere
Born Marie Therese Rodet in Paris (June 2, 1699), her father was a servant at Versailles in the household of the Dauphin Louis, eldest son of Louis XIV. She was raised and educated in the household of her maternal grandmother. Marie Therese was married (1713) to the rich glass factory manager, Francois Geoffrin (1665 – 1749), over thirty years her senior. Their only daughter, Marie Therese Geoffrin was later married to the Marquis de La Ferte-Imbault, and was a famous salonniere in her own right. With the death of her husband she was left an immense fortune, and established her salon at the Hotel de Rambouillet in Paris (1750) as the successor of Madame de Tencin, and was notable for forbidding the discussion of either religion or politics there, and received the famous painters Francois Boucher (1703 – 1770) and La Tour, as well as Helvetius, Marmontel, and the British antiquarian, Sir Horace Walpole. Madame Geoffrin was a patron of the Encyclopedistes, and was a financial supporter of their Encyclopedie (1751 – 1765). She corresponded with the Russian tsarina Catherine II. Marie Therese Geoffrin died (Oct 6, 1777) in Paris, aged seventy-eight.

George, Madamoiselle – (1787 – 1867)
French actress and singer
Born Margeurite Josephine Weimar (Feb 23, 1787), in Bayeux, Normandy, she was the daughter of travelling actors. She made her stage debut at the Comedie Franciase in Paris at the age of fifteen (1802). As her career continued she became a popular romantic and tragedy actress. She later visited Russia and her five years there (1808 – 1813) achieved her freat critical acclaim. Her most famous roles were as Margeurite de Bourgogne (Margaret of Burgundy) in, La Tour Nesle (1832), and her performance as Lucrezia Borgia and Mary Tudor in the dramas written by Victor Hugo. Her later career was hampered by her weight and the decline in her voice, and she retired permanently in 1853. In her posthumously published, Memoires inedits de Madamoiselle George (1908), she left an account of her early affair with the emperor Napoleon I. Madamoiselle George died (Jan 11, 1867) aged seventy-nine, in Paris.

George, Carolyn – (1927 – 2009)
American ballerina, teacher and photographer
George was born (Sept 6, 1927) at Dallas in Texas. She studied at the School of American Dance and began her career with appearances in musicals on Broadway in New York (1952). She then joined the New York City Ballet and appeared in George Balanchine’s Swan Lake. She then appeared in the revival (1954) of On Your Toes which was choreographed by Balanchine. George was married and her children included the noted dancer Christopher d’ Amboise. During her time with the New York City Ballet George also worked as a photographer and some of her work featured in her son Christopher’s autobiography Leap Year: A Year in the Life of a Dancer. Carolyn George died (Feb 10, 2009) aged eighty-one, in Manhattan.

George, Elizabeth – (1814 – 1902)
Cornish-New Zealand businesswoman and philanthropist
Baptised Elizabeth Rowe (April 6, 1814) at Bodmin in Cornwall, England, she was the daughter of a carrier. She was married in London (18141) to Edward George, with whom she immigrated to New Zealand aboard the Louisa Campbell (1842) and settled in Auckland. With her husband and their children Elizabeth removed to Onehunga, where they established the beach-side Royal Hotel (1848), which included a meeting hall known as the ‘Long Room’ which was given to the use of the entire community. With her husband’s death (1855) and with the consent and support of the Onehunga community Elizabeth George was granted the hotel license in her own name. She later provided funds for the establishement of a schoolhouse at the local church of St Peter. During the war in Waikato many English settler refugees fled to Onehunga for safety, and Mrs George established the Onehunga Ladies’ Benevolent Society (1863) to organize food, clothing, and housing relief. She served as the first president of this public association. A woman of great determination, the Royal Hotel was twice destroyed by fire, and each time Elizabeth caused in to be rebuilt. Elizabeth George died (April 2, 1902) at Onehunga, and was buried there.

George, Georgina (Lady Oldmixon) – (c1764 – 1835)
British vocalist and actress
Georgina George was born in Oxford, the daughter of Tobias George. She was performing in concert as a young woman, and then joined the acting company at the Haymarket Theatre (1783). Her first stage role was Rosetta in Love in a Village, which was followed by Mandane in, Artaxerxes, and Nysa in, Midas. Georgina George was small and attractive, and possessed of a wide vocal range, though her first season at the Drury Lane Theatre brought criticism of her style. Illness then interfered with her career. With her return to the stage she worked at the Haymarket, appearing as Adela in, The Roman Peasant, Miss Jenny in, The Provok’d Husband, and Fanny in, The Test of Love, amongst many others, and her she had her greatest successes. She appeared at the Royalty Theatre prior to her marriage (1788) to Sir John Oldmixon. After her marriage she continued her career under her maiden name, and she worked in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in Philadelphia, USA. She later remained in America with her husband, due mainly to his precarious financial situation, and established a seminary for girls in Germantown. Lady Oldmixon died (Feb 3, 1835) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

George, Gladys – (1900 – 1954)
American actress
Born Gladys Clare, she performed on the stage before turning to the movies. Gladys George ppeared in such films as Valiant Is the World for Carrie (1936), Madame X (1937), Marie Antoinette (1938) with Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power, in which she played the Comtesse Du Barry, mistress to Louis XV of France, The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Flamingo Road (1949) with Joan Crawford, and Lullaby of Broadway (1951) with Doris Day.

George, Grace – (1879 – 1961)
American stage actress
With a long and distinguished theatrical career, she made an appearance in only one single film Johnny Come Lately (1943).

George, Sarah Ann – (1839 – 1919)
Australian pharmacist and feiminist
Born Sarah Ann Wilkinson (Feb, 1839) in Hobart, Tasmania, she was raised in Portland, Victoria, and then in Brunswick, Melbourne. She was married to Joseph George. Mrs George became the first fully qualified female pharmacist in the state of Victoria, and was a member of the Women’s Suffrage League. Sarah George died (Dec 15, 1919) aged eighty.

Georgia (1) – (fl. 519 – 538)
Roman patrician
Georgia was the daughter of the deaconess Anastasia. Severus of Antioch addressed a letter to Georgia (519) whilst she was still unmarried, which is preserved in his Epistulae. Severus later addressed a second latter jointly to Georgia and her unnamed daughter which was dated (532 – 538).

Georgia (2) – (fl. c570 – c580)
Byzantine patrician
Georgia was the daughter of Antipatra and a member of the family of the Emperor Anastasius I (491 AD – 518). Her husband Johannes was an honorary consul and served as envoy to the Persian court (576 – 577). She bore the rank of consularis and was a fanatical member of the Monophysite sect, which was recorded by John of Ephesus in his Ecclesiastical History. She may have suffered persecution for her religious adherence during the reign of Justin II (565 – 578).

Georgia of Pomerania – (1531 – 1574)
Polish princess
Princess Georgia was born (Nov 28, 1531) the younger and posthumous daughter of Duke George I of Pomerania (1523 – 1531) and his second wife Maragret of Brandenburg, the daughter of Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg. Georgia remained unmarried till after the age of thirty, and was finally married (1563) to the Polish nobleman, Stanislas Latalski, Count Labischin, governor of the cities of Inovrazlav and Schlochau. Princess Georgia died (Jan 10, 1574) aged forty-two.

Georgiana Maximiliana – (1581 – 1597)
Hapsburg archduchess of Austria
Archduchess Georgiana was born (March 22, 1581), the fifth daughter of Archduke Karl of Inner Austria, and his wife Maria of Bavaria, the daughter of Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria. She bore the additional titles of Princess of Hungary and Bohemia and was sister to the Emperor Ferdinand II (1619 – 1637). She remained unmarried. Archduchess Georgiana died (Sept 20, 1597) aged sixteen.

Georgina von Wilczek – (1921 – 1989)
Princess consort of Liechtenstein (1943 – 1989)
Countess Georgina von Wilczek was born (Oct 24, 1921) at Graz in Austria, the only daughter of Count Ferdinand von Wilczek of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife Countess Norbertina Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau. Countess Georgina was married (1943) at the Castle of Vaduz, to Franz Josef II (1906 – 1989), the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein (1923 – 1989) and became the princess consort of this tiny but immensely rich sovereign state for well over five decades. Always known as ‘Gina’ by her family and subjects, her five children were all born at Zurich in Switzerland.
During WW II the princess established the Liechtenstein Red Cross which provided aid for many refugees and ex-prisoners of war. A woman of energetic nature, the modern biographer Maria Kroll stated that the princess ‘has the air of a lady who can effortlessly remember every glove or shoe size, birthday, anniversary and telephone number relevant to her role -  which is precisely how she has to be.’ Princess Gina served as the sponsor or lady chairman of many charitable and philanthropic boards and committees within the principality, and worked tirelessly with Prince Franz Josef in organizing the government affairs of Liechtenstein.
The princess was the chatelaine of the enormous Castle of Vaduz, where several generations of the large royal family reside for different periods. She remained close by her husband during the deep period of depression which he suffered following the death of his favourite sister the Princess Maria Theresia (1973). The prince and princess visited England (July, 1981) in order to attend the marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer in Westminster Abbey. Princess Gina died (Oct 18, 1989) aged sixty-seven, at Grabs, only a month before the death of her husband (Nov 13). Her children were,

• Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein (born 1945). He succeeded his father as sovereign Prince (1989) and was married to Countess Marie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (born 1940), a relative of his mother and left issue including the Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein (born 1968) who has issue.
• Prince Philipp Erasmus of Liechtenstein (born 1946). He married to Isabelle de l’Arbre de Malander (born 1949) and left issue.
• Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein (born 1947). He married Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg (born 1957) and left issue.
• Princess Nora of Liechtenstein (born 1950). She married a Spanish grandee Vincente Sartorius y Cabeza de Vaca (born 1931), Marques de Marino and left issue.
• Prince Wenzel of Liechtenstein (1962 – 1991). He remained unmarried.

Gepaepyris – (c7 – 45 AD) 
Greek client queen
Gepaepyris was the daughter of Kotys IV, king of Thrace, and his wife Antonia Tryphaena of Pontus, the daughter of Polemo I, King of Pontus. With her father’s murder by her uncle, she was taken to Rome by her mother, together with her three brothers, being raised in the household (18 – 20 AD) of Antonia Minor, the mother of the Emperor Claudius I. She later returned to Thrace (20 AD) with her mother Queen Antonia Tryphaena who then arranged for her marriage with Aspurgis, King of the Bosporus (c40 BC – 37 AD) whose second wife she became (c21 AD). The couple had two sons, Polemo III of Pontus and Kotys, King of the Bosporus and Armenia.
With her husband’s death, Queen Gepaepyris ruled in the right of her elder son, and the coinage clearly reveals she had sole sovereign status (38 – 39 AD), after which she shared power with her stepson Mithridates. The queen mother opposed his policy of escaping the dominance of Rome, and when she threatened to flee the kingdom and her younger son Kotys was given the kingdom by the emperor Claudius in his stead (45 AD), he had Gepaepyris killed in retaliation. Kotys later avenged his mother’s death, capturing Mithridates, who was taken prisoner to Rome, where he was later executed by order of the Emperor Galba (69 AD).

Gepurga (‘Desiderata’) – (c752 – c776)
Carolingian queen
Gepurga was the daughter of Desiderius of Turin, King of Lombardy (756 – 774), and his wife Ansa Verissima, the daughter of the Lombard nobleman Verissimo. From the nineteenth century she was incorrectly referred to as ‘Desiderata’ or ‘Desiderata of Lombardy’ due to a miscopying of the term desideriata filiam (desired daughter) from the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
Her marriage (769) with the future Emperor Charlemagne, was arranged and carried through by the king’s mother, Queen Bertrada, as part of the foreign alliance organized by her late husband, Pepin III. Around the same time her sister Gerberga was the wife of Charlemagne’s younger brother, Carloman II (768 – 771). The marriage remained childless, and Queen Gepurga was divorced by Charles eighteen months afterwards and returned her to her father’s court in Pavia (771). She was later captured there with her parents (774) and immured within a convent for the remainder of her short life.

Gera, Bernice – (1931 – 1992)
American baseball umpire
Gera fought for the legal recognition of the right for women to be able to act as umpires in professional baseball. Her legal battle began in 1967, and in 1972 Bernice umpired a Class A minor league game between the Geneva Rangers and the Auburn Phillies, of the New York-Penn league, becoming the first woman in American history to umpire a baseball game. However, Bernice resigned after the game because of the refusal of the male umpires to co-operate with her on the field. Bernice Gera died in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Geraldine Margit Virginia Olga Maria – (1915 – 2002)
Queen consort of Albania (1938 – 1939)
Countess Geraldine de Nagy-Apponyi was born (Aug 6, 1915) in Budapest, the daughter of the Hungarian Count Gyula de Nagy-Apponyi and his American wife Gladys Virginia Steuart, the daughter of the noted diplomat, John Henry steuart, the American Consul in Antwerp. Her early years were spent in Switzerland and Hungary, before her widowed mother decided to settle at Menton in the south of France. At the insistence of her Hungarian relatives, Countess Geraldine entered a convent school in Pressbaum, near Vienna, in Austria.
Finances forced the countess to work as a typist before she became engaged to (1937) to King Zogyu I of Albania (1895 – 1961). Popularly known as the ‘White Rose of Hungary’ she was married to Zog (1938) and became the mother of the future king-in-exile Leka I (born 1939). She and her husband fled the country when the Italian Fascista invaded, and their son was only six weeks old. The king and queen resided in various countries included Greece, Turkey, England, the USA, and Egypt. After the death of her husband in France, whom she survived forty years, the queen mother lived with her son Leka and his Australian wife, Queen Suzana in South Africa. Later permitted to return to Albania and reside in Tirana, after only a short time, the queen mother sufferred several heart attacks and died (Oct 22, 2002) there, aged eighty-seven. She was interred in the Sharra cemetery.

Gerando, Marie Anne de Rathsamhausen, Baronne de – (1774 – 1824)
German-French aristocrat, émigré and memoirist
Marie Anne de Rathsamhausen emigrated with her family and escaped the horrors of Robespierre’s Terror. She lived abroad for several years after her marriage to a French baron, and her personal correspondence was edited and published posthumously as, Lettres de la Baronne de Gerando, nee de Rathsamhausen, suivies de framents d’un journal ecrit par elle de 1800 a 1804 (1880).

Gerard, Amelia Louise – (1878 – 1970)
British novelist and traveller
Gerard was educated in Nottingham. She travelled extensively in Europe, Central Europe, Iberia, and Scandinavia. She remained unmarried. Her first published work The Golden Centipede (1910) was followed by two dozen other novels many of which have been translated into various European languages. Amelia Gerard died (Nov 5, 1970) aged ninety-two.

Gerard, Elizabeth – (1658 – 1700)
English Stuart heiress
Lady Elizabeth Gerard was the daughter of Charles Gerard, first Earl of Macclesfield, and his French wife, Jeanne de Crivell. She was married (1678) to Digby Gerard (1662 – 1684), fifth Baron Gerard of Gerard’s Bromley. He died as the result of a drinking bout. Elizabeth never remarried and devoted herself to the interests of her children. She carried on negotions (1694 – 1698) for the marriage of her daughter, Elizabeth Digby with the widowed Scottish duke of Hamilton, but eventually the plans founded on money and the negotions were dropped. The affair ended up in the courts and the litigation ended only with the death of Lord Mohun (1712). Elizabeth Gerard died (Jan 11, 1700) aged forty-one, being interred within Westminster Abbey, London.

Gerard, Emily (Madame Laszowski-Gerard) – (1849 – 1905)
Scottish novelist and literary critic
Born Jane Emily Gerard, she was the daughter of Archibald Gerard, of Rocksoles, and his wife Euphemia Robison, daughter of Sir John Robison. Educated at home till she was fifteen, Emily then spent three further years at the convent of Riedenburg, in the Tyrol to learn foreign languages, before her marriage with Charles Mieczislas de Laszowski, an Austrian lieutenant-general and resided with him in Galicia, Vienna and Transylvania.
Emily began her literary career in 1879, and her first novel Reata, appeared in 1880.This and three other novels Beggar My Neighbour (1882), The Waters of Hercules (1885) and The Sensitive Plant (1891) were written in collaboration with her sister Dorothea Gerard de Longgarde. Novels for which Emily was the sole author included The Land Beyond the Forest: Facts, Figures and Fancies from Transylvania (1888), A Secret Mission (1891), A Foreigner (1896), Tragedy of a Nose (1898) and The Heron’s Tower (1904). She also wrote The Extermination of Love: A Study in Erotics (1901).

Gerard, Jeanne de Civelle, Lady – (c1634 – 1671)
French-Anglo Stuart courtier
Jeanne was born in England, the daughter of Pierre de Civille, an equerry to Queen Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of King Charles I (1625 – 1649). She was raised in the royal household and was married during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1656) to Sir Charles Gerard (1618 – 1694) first Baron Gerard and Jeanne became the Baroness Gerard (1656 – 1671). Only after her death was Lord Gerard raised in the peerage as the first Earl of Mansfield (1679 – 1694).
With the Restoration of Charles II (1660), Lady Gerard was appointed to serve at court as lady-in-waiting to Catharine of Braganza. She was later dismissed from court by King Charles (1663) for carrying stories concerning the king’s mistress Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine, to the queen, and causing dissensions between the royal couple. Lady Gerard died (Sept 28, 1671) aged about thirty-seven.

Gerard, Margeurite – (1761 – 1837) 
French painter
Margeurite Gerard was born in Grasse, and was sister-in-law to the famous Rococo painter Jean Honore Fragonard (1732 – 1806) whose assistant and pupil she became in Paris. She achieved fame herself for her genre scenes, most of which were set in the enlightenment, and portrayed women occupied with domestic surroundings. Margeurite Gerard’s own process of painting was time consuming and involved, and resulted inlayer upon layer of translucent colour being applied to the canvass, which in turn created a luminous effect on the finished painting. She exhibited her work at the Paris Salon for over three decades, and she retired as a professional painter in 1824. Her works were well known and were purchased by the Napoleon Bonaparte and by King Louis XVIII. Margeurite Gerard died in Paris.

Gerard, Mary Dormer, Lady    see    Dormer, Mary

Gerard de Longgarde, Dorothea – (1855 – 1915)
Scottish-Austrian Catholic novelist
Dorothea Gerard was born (Aug, 1855) the younger daughter of Archibald Gerard of Rocksoles, Airdrie, Lanarkshire, and his wife Euphemia (1818 – 1870), the daughter of Sir John Robinson. She was educated by nuns in Graz, Austria. Her elder sister was the novelist Emily Gerard, with whom she co-wrote several popular novels such as Reata (1880), Beggar My Neighbour (1882), and The Waters of Hercules (1885). Dorothea was married (1886) to Julius Longard de Longgarde, an Austrian military officer, and resided with him in Vienna and Galicia. Her own writing style showed influences from the works of Ouida and Oscar Wilde. She published well over thirty novels including A Forgotten Sin (1898) and The Eternal Woman (1903). Madame Gerard de Longgarde died (Nov 29, 1915) aged seventy.

Gerberga of Austria – (c1079 – 1142)
Duchess consort of Bohemia (1100 – 1107)
Princess Gerberga was the daughter of Leopold II, margrave of Austria and his wife Ida, the daughter of Rapoto, Count of Cham. Sometimes referred to in charters as Helbirga, she was married (1100) to Borziwoy II (Borijov), Duke of Bohemia (1064 – 1124), to whom she bore children who did not succeed to their father’s patrimony, as he relinquished his throne to his cousin, Svatopluk II. Borziwoy died two decades later, and Gerberga survived as Dowager duchess (1124 – 1141). Duchess Gerberga died (July 13, 1141), aged about sixty-three. Her children were,

• Jaromir of Bohemia (c1092 – 1138), Prince of Jamnitz. He left descendants.
• Prince Spythinev of Bohemia (c1095 – 1157). He died unmarried.
• Leopold of Bohemia (c1097 – 1157), Prince of Olomouc. He died unmarried.
• Prince Boleslav of Bohemia (c1100 – 1146). He died unmarried.
• Prince Albert of Bohemia (c1102 – before 1124). He died unmarried.

Gerberga of Autun – (c788 – 834)
Carolingian noblewoman and nun
Gerberga of Autun was the youngest daughter of William of Toulouse, Duke of Septimania, and his first wife Cunigundis, who was possibly a relative of Count Eudes of Orleans. She never married and became a nun in the city of Chalons-sur-Saone, Burgundy. Gerberga later became an innocent victim of the political struggle being enacted between the emperor Lothair I and her brother, Duke Bernard. The emperor’s forced assaulted the city (March or April 834) and succeeded in capturing it. The emperor caused Gerberga to be forcibly removed from her convent, declared her to be skilled in the arts of black magic, a ridiculous fabrication. Condemned to death, Gerberga was then bound with rope and placed within a winecask, which was then thrown into the Saone River, where she drowned.

Gerberga of Bavaria – (940 – 1001)
Saxon Imperial princess
Princess Gerberga was the eldest daughter of Duke Henry I of Bavaria, and his wife Judith, the daughter of Duke Arnulf the Bad of Bavaria. She was the paternal granddaughter of the emperor Henry I the Fowler (919 – 936) and was niece to the emperor Otto I (962 – 973). She was sister to Duke Henry II the Quarrelsome, and aunt to the Emperor Henry II (1002 – 1024). Gerberga never married and was appointed as abbess (959) of the royal abbey of Gandersheim, near Goslar, as successor to her kinswoman, Abbess Wendilgarda. There she became the teacher of the nun dramatist Hrostvitha, who succeeded her as abbess. Gerberga acquired vast estates and wealth to Gandersheim, and to her other foundation, the abbey of St Maria in Regensburg. She retired as abbess of Gandersheim (1000) which was probably due to ill-health. Princess Gerberga died (Nov 13 or 14, 1001) aged sixty-one.

Gerberga of Burgundy – (965 – 1018)
Duchess consort of Swabia
Princess Gerberga was the second daughter of Conrad I, King of Burgundy (937 – 993) and his wife Matilda, the daughter of Louis IV, King of France (936 – 954). She was married firstly (c978) to Bernhard I, Count of Werle (died 982), to whom she bore several children. Gerberga was later remarried (983) to Herman II (955 – 1003), Duke of Swabia, and survived him fifteen years as Dowager Duchess of Swabia (1003 – 1018), being briefly regent of Swabia for her son Herman III. She died aged fifty-two, and left four children,

• Gisela of Swabia (985 – 1043). She was married three times. Her last husband was the emperor Conrad II (1024 – 1039) by whom she was the mother of Emperor Henry III (1017 – 1056).
• Matilda of Swabia (989 – 1033). She was married firstly to Conrad I, duke of Carinthia (died 1011), and secondly to Frederick II (995 – 1027), duke of Upper Lorraine, and left descendants through both marriages.
• Beatrix of Swabia (992 – after 1025). She was married to Adalberon I of Eppenstein (c992 – 1039), duke of Carinthia, and left children.
• Herman III (995 – 1012), who succeeded his father as duke of Swabia (1003 – 1012). He died unmarried and childless.

Gerberga of Chalons – (c948 – before 991)
Queen consort of Italy (966 – 971)
Gerberga was the daughter of Lietold I, Count of Macon (945 – 962) and his second wife Bertha of Troyes. Gerberga had sometimes been identified as the daughter of Lambert of Autun, Count of Chalons and his first wife, but this relationship presents genealogical and chronological difficulties, not the least that her grandson Guy I of Macon was married to Adelaide of Chalons, the daughter of Count Lambert and his second wife Adelaide (later wife of Geoffrey I of Anjou). Gerberga was married firstly (c960) to Adalbert I, King of Italy (936 – 971), the son of Berengar II, and was the mother of Otto II William of Ivrea (c961 – 1026), titular king of Lombardy.
A surviving charter, drawn up for Gerberg’a great-grandson, Count Otto of Macon (c1025), suggests that the queen may have had some sort of inheritance claim to the county of Macon, though this remains conjectural. Queen Gerberga remarried to Henry I Capet (c943 – 1002), Duke of Burgundy, as his first wife. This marriage remained childless. Her son Otto-William made monastic gifts for the benefit of her soul, at the time of his stepfather’s death. Queen Gerberga was living (987) and died (Dec 11, before 991) aged about forty-two, her death being recorded in the Chronicle of St Benigne.

Gerberga of Istria – (c1015 – 1061)
German nun
Gerberga was the daughter of Weriand, Count of Istria and Friuli and his wife Willibirga of Ebersberg, the daughter of Ulrich I of Ebersberg, Count of Krain. Gerberga never married and became a nun at the abbey of Geisenfeld. From 1037 until her death she was the abbess of Geisenfeld, where her widowed mother Countess Willibirga joined her as a nun.

Gerberga of Lorraine – (c973 – 1018)
Carolingian princess
Gerberga was the only child of Charles of Laon, King of Lorraine, and his first wife Bona of Ardenne, the daughter of Siegfried of Verdun, Count of Luxemburg and Ardenne. Through her father she was the granddaughter of Louis IV, King of France (936 – 954). Princess Gerberga was probably raised at Orleans, where he father was held in captivity. She was married (985) to Lambert I the Bearded (c953 – 1015), Count of Louvain, who was killed at the battle of Florennes. Gerberga survived her husband as Countess Dowager of Louvain (1015 – 1018). Countess Gerberga died (after Jan 27, in 1018), aged about forty-two, and was buried with her husband in the Abbey of St Gertrude at Nivelles. The countess left four or five children,

• Margaret of Louvain (c989 – after 1015). She became the wife of Baldwin III (c981 – c1007), Seigneur de Crequy and left issue.
• Heinrich I (c990 – 1038). He succeeded his father as Count of Louvain (1015 – 1038), and left issue, a son, Count Otto (1038 – 1041) who died without an heir, and four daughters.
• Lambert II (c992 – 1062). He succeeded his childless nephew Otto as Count of Louvain (1041 – 1062) and left descendants.
• Matilda of Louvain (c1005 – c1046). She became the wife of Eustace I (c1003 – 1049), Count of Boulogne, and left issue.

The Countess Gerberga may also have been the mother of a daughter named Adelaide (c993 – before 1019) who became the first wife of Adalbert I (c975 – 1053), Margrave of Austria, by whom she left issue, though this identification remains uncertain.

Gerberga of Macon – (985 – 1023)
French countess consort of Provence (1002 – 1018)
Gerberga was the daughter of Otto I William, Count of Macon and Burgundy, and King of Lombardy, and his first wife Ermengarde of Roucy, the widow of Alberic I, Count of Macon. She became the wife (1002) of William III (c975 – 1018), Count of Provence, the son of her stepmother, Adelaide Blanche of Anjou, in a close-knit dynastic alliance organized by her father and his second wife. Her marriage was recorded by the chronicler Rodolfus Glaber, though he did not name the bride. The countess is recorded in several surviving charters concerning benefactions on the comital family to the abbey of Saint-Victor at Marseilles. Gerberga survived her husband as Countess Dowager of Provence (1018 – 1023). Soon after her husband’s death, Gerberga and her stepmother Adelaide Blanche made a donation of property to Saint-Victor for the benefit of his soul. This charter refers to her as Geriberga Comitissa. She left three sons,

• William IV (c1003 – 1030). He succeeded his father as count (1018 – 1030).
• Fulk Bertrand I (c1005 – 1051). He became Count of Provence with his elder brother (1018 – 1051) and left descendants.
• Geoffrey I (c1007 – 1062). He became Marquis of Provence and Count of Arles, and left descendants.

Gerberga of Metz – (c935 – 995)
Carolingian noblewoman
Gerberga was the daughter of Godfrey of Metz, Count Palatine of Lorraine and his wife Ermentrude of France, the daughter of Charles III the Simple, King of France (893 – 922). She was married (c950) to Count Megingoz of Gueldres and Zutphen (died c998) to whom she bore five children. Their only son Godfrey was killed fighting in Bohemia for the Emperor Otto II (977) and his remains were brought back home. For the repose of his soul the Countess and her husband gave up all their lands and revenues to the church.
Gerberga and Megingoz established a double Benedictine monastery for both sexes at Bellich, near Bonn, where their daughter Adelaide was installed as first abbess. Gerberga retired from the world with her husband’s permission, and became a nun at Bellich. Megingoz survived her by only three years. Abbess Adelaide caused her parents to be interred together at Bellich. The church honoured Gerberga and Megingoz together as saints (Dec 19). Her children were,

• Ermentrude of Gueldres (born c952). She became the wife of Count Heribert of Kinziggau and Gleiberg (925 – 992) and left issue.
• Godfrey of Metz (c955 – 977). He died unmarried.
• Adelaide of Gueldres (c959 – 1015). She became Abbess of Bellich.
• Bertrada of Gueldres (c960 – 1012). She became the Abbess of Notre Dame in Cologne.
• Alberada of Gueldres. She became the wife of Gerhard I (c960 – 1029) and left issue.

Gerberga of Saxony (1) (Geberdis) – (841 – 886)
German princess and nun
Gerberga was the second surviving daughter of Luidolf I, Duke of Saxony and his wife Oda, the Billung, Count of Thuringia. She was never married and became a nun like her sisters Hathamunda and Christina. With the death of her elder sister Hatahmunda (874), Gerberga succeeded her as the second abbess of the convent of Gandersheim, near Goslar. During her rule, her brother-in-law, the Carolingian king Ludwig III, husband of her sister Luitgarde, granted Gandersheim the privilege by which the office of abbess was to continue in the ducal family of Saxony as long as any member of the family was found willing or competent enough to fill that high position. Princess Gerberga died (July 29, 886) aged forty-five, being succeeded in office by her younger sister Christina (886 – 919). Gerberga was mentioned in the Scriptores of Leibnitz, and by the church historians Bucelinus and Guerin. Gerberga was venerated as a saint (July 24).

Gerberga of Saxony (2) – (913 – 984) 
Queen consort of France (939 – 954)
Princess Gerberga of Saxony was born at the Abbey of Nordhausen, Saxony, the daughter of the Emperor Henry I the Fowler (919 – 936), and his second wife Mathilda, the daughter of Theodoric, Count of Westphalia. She was married firstly (929) to Giselbert, Duke of Lorraine, and secondly (939) to King Louis IV (921 – 954), by whom she became the mother of King Lothair (941 – 986) and Charles, King of Lorraine (953 – 992). Her first husband was killed on the battlefield. Gerberga was captured by King Louis, who carried her back to France, married her, and had her crowned as his queen.
A fearless and energetic woman, Queen Gerberga gave birth twice in 948, but in April, 949 she was visiting Aix, in Provence to make an alliance with her brother Otto I. She gave birth to twins (953) but had negotiated with Hugh Capet, her husband’s enemy, during the pregnancy. During Louis’s captivity, Gerberga herself conducted semi-peaceful negotiations with his enemies during times of political crisis, notably in 948, when he was a prisoner in Normandy, and Gerberga led the defence of the city of Laon,
During the period of her regency for Lothair (954 – 965), Queen Gerberga accompanied her son on his campaigns and helped direct the sieges of Dijon and other towns. The queen had initially had to share the regency with her enemy Hugh Capet, as circumstances had forced her to rely on his assistance previously, but with his death in 956, the influence of the queen mother remained paramount. Queen Gerberga left the court after Lothair’s marriage (965) with Emma of Arles, her brother Otto’s stepdaughter, and then retired to the Abbey of Notre Dame de Laon, becoming abbess of that house and of the royal convent at Soissons. The queen mother died (May 5, 984) at the Palace of Rheims, Marne, near Paris, aged seventy, and was interred in the Church of St Remi. Adso, abbot of Montievendor dedicated his Libellus de Antechriste to her.

Gerberga of Senlis – (c910 – before 970)
French mediaeval countess
Gerberga, whose name is sometimes shortened to Geva, a pet-form of her name, was the daughter of Pepin III, Count of Senlis and was a descendant of the Carolingian emperor Charlemagne (800 – 814). She became the wife (c925) of Juhel Berengar (c903 – 970), Count of Rennes in Brittany (930 – 970) who fought against the incursions of the Norse invaders. Gerberga predeceased her husband and was the mother of Conan I le Tort (The Red) (c927 – 992), Duke of Brittany (990 – 992) through whom she was the ancestress of the Plantagenrt and Tudor dynasties of England, as well as many of the royal and aristocratic families of Europe.

Gerberga of Vienne – (c914 – c952)
Countess consort of Anjou (941 – c952)
Gerberga was once thought to have been the daughter of Geoffrey, Count of the Gatinais, by his wife Ava of Auvergne, the daughter of Bernard I Plantvelue, Count of Toulouse. However, modern research has placed Gerberga as the daughter of Ratburnus I, Vicomte of Vienne, and his wife Gerberga of Arles, the niece of Bishop Adalhard of Le Puy. Gerberga was sister to Vicomte Ratburnus II (945 – c978) and to Hector, who succeeded his maternal uncle as Bishop of Le Puy. She became the first wife (c927) of Fulk II (909 – 961), Count of Anjou (941 – 961). Surviving charter evidence reveals that Countess Gerberga was living in 952, but died very soon afterwards, perhaps from the rigours of childbirth. Her nine children were,

• Geoffrey II Martel (938 – 987). Surnamed Grisgonelle (Grey-gown), he succeeded his father as Count of Anjou (961 – 987). He was married three times and left descendants.
• Adelaide Blanche of Anjou (c940 – 1026). She was married four times, firstly to Count Stephen of Gevuadan, secondly to King Louis V, thirdly to Count William II of Provence, and fourthly she became the second wife of Otto William of Burgundy, King of Lombardy (c961 – 1026). She left descendants through her first and third marriages only.
• Bouchard of Anjou (c942 – 1007). He received the county of Vendome as Count Bouchard I and left descendants.
• Guy of Anjou (c944 – 989). He entered the church and became a priest, being appointed Abbot of Cormery and of St Aubin at Angers, before becoming Bishop of Le Puy (975 – 989).
• Drogo of Anjou (c947 – 998). He also entered the church and became a priest. He later succeeded as Bishop of Le Puy (993 – 998).
• Fulk of Anjou (c949 – 1000). He became seigneur of Beauval, Briollay and Jarze.
• Isabel of Anjou. She died young.
• Sibyl of Anjou. She died young.
• Humbert of Anjou (died after 957). He either died in childhood or entered the church.

Gere, Margaret – (1878 – 1965)
British watercolour flower painter and figure artist
Margaret was born (Aug 23, 1878) at Leamington Spa. She was raised in Birmingham, Lancashire, and was the half-sister to the landscape and watercolour painter Charles March Gere (1869 – 1957). Margaret Gere studied at the Birmingham School of Art from 1897, and later at the Slade School in London.

Gerenzano, Marchesa di    see   Fagniani, Constanza Brusati, Marchesa di

Gerhardi, Ida – (1867 – 1927)
German Impressionist painter
Gerhardi was born (Aug 2, 1867) in Hagen, Westphalia. She trained as a painter in Munich, Bavaria, and resided there until WW I. Apart from Parisian café scenes, Gerhardi was best known for her portraits such as those of the painter Christian Rohlf and the composer Ferruccio Busoni. Ida Gerhardi died (June 29, 1927) aged fifty-nine, at Ludenscheid.

Gerhardt, Elena – (1883 – 1961)
German-Anglo mezzo soprano concert performer and lieder vocalist
Gerhardt was born in Leipzig, Saxony, and trained at the Conservatory there. She made her stage debut in Leipzig (1903) before travelling on to perform with exceptional success in London and New York in the USA. Gerhardt later taught pupils at the Guildhall School of Music (1934) and then took private students. She published her autobiography Recital (1953). Elena Gerhardt died (Jan 11, 1961) at Hampstead in London, aged seventy-seven.

Gerhardt, Ida – (1905 – 1997) 
Dutch poet and academic
Gardina Margaretha Gerhardt was particularly well educated, producing a translation of De Rerum Natura, by the Roman poet Lucretius. She was later appointed as a teacher of classical languages (1939 – 1963). Considered one of the most important Dutch poets of the twentieth century, her rhetorical style being closely aligned with the rich imagery of nature. Her collection of verse was published as Verzamelde Gedichten (1980) and was awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize. Together with Marie van der Zeyde, Gerhardt translated the bibilical psalms De Psalmen (1972), from the ancient Hebrew into Dutch. Her later works included De zomen van het licht (Seams of Light) (1983) and De adelaarsvarens (The Bracken) (1988).

Gerin, Winifred Eveleen – (1901 – 1981)
British biographer, dramatist and author
Born Winifred Bourne (Oct 7, 1901), she attended secondary school at Sydenham and then went on to Newnham College at Cambridge. Winifred was married firstly to Eugene Gerin (died 1945), a native of Brussels, Belgium, and secondly (1954) to John Lock. During WW II Winifred Gerin was employed by the political intelligence department of the Foreign Office. She had no children and began writing after her second marriage. Apart from plays, some of them written for the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation),  Winifred Gerin’s published works included biographies of such persons as, Anne Bronte (1959), Branwell Bronte (1961), The Young Fanny Burney (1961), Charlotte Bronte (1967), Horatia Nelson (1970), the daughter of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton, and herself an ancestress of the author, Emily Bronte (1971), Elizabeth Gaskell: a biography (1976), for which she received the Whitbread Award, and Anne Thackeray Ritchie: a biography (1981). Gerin was the recipient of several prestigious literary awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1968) and the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize (1968). Winifred Guerin died (June 28, 1981) aged seventy-nine.

Gerin-Lajoie, Marie – (1867 – 1945)
French-Canadian feminist and writer
Born Marie Lacoste in Montreal, she later became a lecturer at Montreal University. She was married (1887) to Herin Gerin-Lajoie. A dedicated supporter of the women’s suffrage movement, she was the author of two published works on the subject, Traite de droit usuel (1902), and La femme et le code civil (1929). Madame Gerin-Lajoie had been appointed as head of the French-speaking contingent within the Provincial Franchise Committee of Quebec, but when the Bishop of Montreal publicly expressed his disapproval of the fight for female equality, she resigned her post, but retained her high profile within the movement. She established the charitable foundation known as the Federation Nationale St-Jean Baptiste (1907).

Gerlach, Agnes – (1888 – 1976)
German feminist and organizational leader
Gerlach was born (Aug 3, 1888) in Nuremburg, the daughter of a tradesman. She established the local branch of the German Women’s Culture in Nuremburg, and served as the first president of this organization for forty years (1916 – 1956). She also served for thirty-five years (1918 – 1954) as the president of the National Association of German Women’s Culture. She joined the German Democratic Party and established the Sales Office for German Craftsmanship in Nuremburg. Agnes Gerlach died (Dec 13, 1976) aged eighty-eight, in Nuremburg.

Gerlinda of Alsace – (c692 – c740)
German nun and abbess
Gerlinda was the third and youngest daughter of Adalbert I, Duke of Alsace (690 – 722) and his wife Ingina. She was sister to dukes Luitfrid I and Eberhard. Her two elder sisters Attala and Eugenia both became nuns and they were all nieces to St Odilia, the blind Abbess of Hohenburg. Her name was recorded as Gerlindam in a genealogy preserved in the cartulary of the abbey of Honau from the fifteenth century. As a child, Gerlinda and her two sisters were placed in the care of their saintly aunt, and raised at the abbey of Hohenburg amongst the nuns there. She later became a nun, and when Odilia founded the abbey of Neidermunster, Gerlinda became a nun in that house.
With Odilia’s death, Gerlinda was appointed as the second Abbess of Neidermunster (723 – c740). She was succeeded at her her own death by Abbess Werentrude. The church venerated Gerlinda as a saint, but the date of her commemoration is now lost. She is mentioned in the Dictionnaire des Abbayes in the Encyclopedie Theologique (1844 – 1866) of Jacques Paul Migne (1800 – 1875), where her name is incorrectly given as ‘Gundelinde.’ Likewise other sources incorrectly name her mother, Duchess Ingina, as Gerlinda and her daughter as Gundelinde, but this is erroneous.

Gerlinda of Aquitaine    see   Ingina

Gerloc of Normandy     see    Adela of Normandy

Germain, Sophie – (1776 – 1831)
French mathematician
Sophie Germain was born in Paris and educated herself at home, studying from notes and lectures acquired from the Ecole Polytechnique, which did not permit female students. Germain adopted the pseudonym of a male student named ‘Le Blanc’ in order to present a paper on analysis to the noted mathematician, Joseph Louis Lagrange. So impressed was Lagrange with her work, and amazed when her true identity was revealed, that he became Sophie’s tutor. Germain worked to produce proof which supported the ‘last theorem’ problem devised by the seventeenth century mathematician Pierre de Fermat (1601 – 1665).
In response to an academic challenge made by the French Academy of Sciences, she developed a mathematical explanation of the ‘Chladni figures,’ discovered by Ernst Chladni in sand sprinkled upon a vibrating plate. Germain‘s research also enabled her to derive a general mathematical descriptions of the vibrations of both curved and elastic surfaces. She was the author of Recherches sur la theorie des surfaces elastiques (1821).

Germaine de Foix – (1488 – 1538)
Queen consort of Aragon (1505 – 1516)
Germaine de Foix was the daughter of Jean de Foix, Viscount of Narbonne and his wife Marie d’Orleans, the daughter of the poet Charles, Duc d’Orleans (1394 – 1465), and was the paternal granddaughter of Leonor of Aragon, Queen of Navarre (1479). She was sister to Gaston de Foix, Duc de Nemours. Germaine was married firstly at Blois in France (1505), becoming the second wife of Ferdinando V (1452 – 1516), King of Aragon (1479 – 1516) who hoped to have a son in order to deprive his son-in-law Philip of Austria of inheriting the throne of Aragon as well as that of Castile. The marriage had been arranged by the Treaty of Blois organized by Louis XII of France who laid down the conditions for the alliance. Ferdinando agreed to pay Louis a million gold ducats in order to compensate the king for what he had lost in his unsuccessful campaign in Naples. Louis also insisted that Germaine’s claims to the kingdom of Naples would revert to France if she died without children.
Germaine and Ferdinando’s only child Juan, Prince of the Asturias died in infancy (1509), but had their son lived the unity of the Spanish state would have been destroyed. According to tradition Germaine was said to have resorted to all sorts of potions and medical quackery in a bid to become pregnant again but to no avail. With Ferdiando’s death she became the Queen Dowager of Aragon (1516 – 1538). Queen Germaine was married secondly (1519) in Barcelona to Margrave Johann of Brandenburg (1493 – 1525) who was appointed as Viceroy of Valencia, the marriage having been arranged by the emperor. She then accompanied the Emperor Charles V on a visit to the English court (May, 1520) of Henry VIII, attended by some sixty ladies. There she met her stepdaughter Catharine of Aragon, and had a private dinner at Canterbury in Kent with Henry, Catharine, Charles and Mary Tudor, the Dowager Queen of France, which was followed by a lavish banquet and various entertainments. After Johann’s death Germaine remarried thirdly in Seville (1526) to Ferdinando of Aragon (1480 – 1559), Duke of Calabria, the son of King Federigo of Naples. As vicereine of Valencia in Aragon the queen ordered the deaths of many condemned by the Spanish Inquisition.
Their court in Valencia was famous for its patronage of musicians, poet and writers. Her second and third marriages remained childless. Queen Germaine died (Oct 18, 1538) aged fifty, at Liria. The queen appears as a minor character in the historical novels Daughters of Spain (1961) and Katharine of Aragon (1968) by British writer Jean Plaidy.

Germaine, Elizabeth Berkeley, Lady – (1680 – 1769)
British Hanoverian society figure and courtier
Elizabeth Berkeley was the granddaughter of George Berkeley (1628 – 1698), first Earl of Berkeley. She became the second wife of Sir John Germaine (1650 – 1718), the notorious rake and adventurer who was reputed to be the illegitimate son of Wilhelm II, Prince of Orange (1647 – 1650). A cultured, educated and fascinating figure ‘Lady Betty’ as she was popularly known was the friend of Jonathon Swift (1667 – 1745).
With Germaine’s death Betty inherited the vast fortune and estates that he had gained from his first wife Mary Mordaunt, Duchess of Norfolk. She never remarried and survived him for five decades (1718 – 1769) as the Dowager Lady Germaine. During her widowhood Lady Germaine indulged in a lengthy liaison with Lionel Sackville (1688 – 1765), first Duke of Dorset, and it was to his favourite son, Lord George Sackville, that Betty left the estate of Drayton in northamptonshire, the ancient home of the Mordaunt family.

Germaine, Mary Mordaunt, Lady    see   Norfolk, Mary Mordaunt, Duchess of

Germana – (c57 – after 138 AD)
Roman Imperial servant
Probably of barbarian origins, Germana was of slave status and was appointed to serve as wetnurse to the son of the Senator Aelius Hadrianus Afer and his wife Domitia Paullina born in Rome (76 AD). This fact was recorded in the life of Hadrian in the Historia Augusta. This child was raised by Germana at the family’s eatate at Italica in southern Spain and in Rome and later became the Emperor Hadrian (117 – 138 AD). Germana was later manumitted and became an Imperial freedwoman. After Hadrian’s accession to the throne Germana remained a member of the inner circle of his private household and survived the death of her foster son at Baiae (July 10, 138 AD). Germana may have been present at the emperor’s deathbed and died sometime afterwards.

Germanilla, Caerellia – (fl. c170 – c200 AD)
Roman patrician and courtier
Caerellia Germanilla was attested by a surviving fragmentary inscription from Mogontiacensis, during the reign of the Emperor Septimius Severus (193 – 211 AD), together with Caerellius Marcianus, as the children of the Imperial legate of Thrace, Moesia, Raetia, and later of Britain, and his wife Modestiana. Germanilla’s father is thought to be identical with Asellius Aemilianus, who held the aforementioned offices and was proconsul of Asia (193 AD).

Germanuik, Uliana Sergievna – (1931 – 1987)
Russian political victim
Uliana Germanuik was one of the leading adherents of the Council of Relatives of Christian Baptist Prisoners of Conscience. Arrested on orders from the Kremlin (1985) she was released when the government learnt that she was suffering from incurable cancer. She died three months after her release.

Germilina – (d. c303 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian martyr
Germilina was killed in Nikomedia in Bithynia, Asia Minor, during the religious persecutions instigated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Her feast (April 27) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Germon, Maria Vincent – (fl. 1851 – after 1870)
Anglo-Indian diarist
The wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Charles Germon, of the 13th Bengal Native Infantry in India, she was born Maria Garratt. She was married in Calcutta (1851), and husband and wife both survived the Indian Mutiny, Maria Germon being present throughout the siege of the Lucknow Residency from May to Dec, 1857. They were evacuated with other refugees to Allahabad and thence by steamer to Calcutta. Her husband retired in 1869, and in 1870 an edited version of Maria’s memoirs the, Journal of the Siege of Lucknow, was privately printed in London. Nothing else is known of Maria Germon personally after this date, and her original manuscript was kept in the India Office Library in London, before being fully published in 1958.

Gerosia, Caterina – (1784 – 1847)
Italian nun and religious founder
Caterina Gerosia was born in Lovere. She never married and spent the first four decades of her life working to care and raise her siblings at home after the deaths of their parents. Gerosia later became a nun, taking the name Sister Vincenza and worked with Bartolomea Capitanio to provide education for poor children. Together they founded the Sisters of Charity of Lovere, which followed the rule of St Vincent de Paul. Caterina Gerosia was canonized a saint (1950) by Pope Pius XII. Her feast was (June 4).

Gerrard, Bertha    see    Lambart, Bertha Madeline Frances

Gerresheim, Anna – (1852 – 1921)
German landscape painter
Gerresheim was born (March 8, 1852) at Ribnitz in Mecklenburg. She trained as an artist in Dresden, Saxony, and at the Berlin Academy under Gussow. Anna Gerresheim resided in Berlin (1881 – 1895) and thereafter at Ahrenshoop in her native Mecklenburg. Apart from murals and etchings her best known work was the cycle Hamburger Stimungen. Anna Gerresheim died at Ahrenshoop.

Gersdorf, Henriette Katharina von – (1648 – 1726)
German pietist and lyric poet
Henriette von Friesen was born (Oct 6, 1648) in Sulzbach, Bavaria, the daughter of the judge Karl von Friesen. Henriette was raised in Dresden and received an exemplary education. She corresponded in Latin and wrote hymns. She was married (1672) to Nikolaus von Gersdorf, an important diplomat. With her husband’s death she retired to Grosshennersdorf, near Zittau. Her best known works were Geistliche Lieder und poetische Betrachungen (1729), which was published posthumously. Henrietta von Gersdorff died (March 6, 1726) aged seventy-seven, at Grosshennersdorf.

Gersende of Fezensac – (c920 – after 957)
Spanish countess
Gersende was the daughter of Guillaume Garcia, Count of Fezensac. She was married (c935 – c940) to Raimondo II (c910 – 970), Count of Ribagorza in Aragon, to whom she bore six children. A surviving charter (Dec 1, 957) from the monastery of San Vicente recorded that Gersende and her husband granted property to the abbey, and the countess was named ‘Eresindis’ in this charter. A Fragmentum Historicum from the cartulary of the Abbey of Alaon named Garsendis de Gallis as the wife of Count Raimondo. Her children were,

• Unifredo (c937 – 981). He succeeded his father as Count of Ribagorza (970 – 981) and was married but left no issue.
• Arnaldo of Ribagorza (c940 – after 990).
• Isarno (c942 – after 981). He succeeded his brother Unifredo as Count of Ribagorza but was killed at the battle of Monte Sion against the Moors, leaving only illegitimate issue.
• Aba of Ribagorza (Ava) (c943 – after 995). She became the wife of Garcia Fernandez (940 – 995), Count of Castile and left issue.
• Odisendo of Ribagorza (died after 975). He became a priest and was appointed as Bishop of Pallars (956).
• Toda of Ribagorza (c950 – after 981). She became the second wife of Count Sunario of Pallars (died 1010) but died without issue.

Gersende of Maine – (c1028 – 1070) 
Norman ruler
Gersende was the daughter of Herbert I Wake-Dog, Count of Maine, and his wife Emma of Blois. She was married firstly to Theobald II, Count of Blois-Chartres, who divorced her (1049), and secondly to Alberto Azzo VII, Marchese d’Este (997 – 1097) as his second wife.
Her second husband installed Gersende as ruler of Maine (April, 1069) regent for their son Hugh V, who was recognized as count, by right of his mother. She was assisted with the practicalities of the regency by Geoffrey de Mayenne, a powerful border lord, who soon took Gersende as his mistress, and remained the dominant figure in the partnership. However, it was an unstable rule, and the citizens of Le Mans revolted against Geoffrey’s rule (March, 1070). Geoffrey routed this uprising at Sille, but the countess remained a prisoner at Le Mans, though she was not harmed. Geoffrey took refuge at Chateau-du-Loir, but sent Count Hugh to safety and his father in Italy. The countess and her lover were soon re-established together as rulers at Le Mans a few months later, but Gersende died very soon afterwards.

Gerster, Etelka – (1855 – 1920)
Hungarian coloratura soprano
Gerster was born (June 25, 1855) at Kaschau, Hungary, the daughter of a factory owner. After initial training at home, Etelka was the pupil of Madame Mathilde Marchesi at the Vienna Conservatoire (1874 – 1875). Her extremely successful debut took place at Venice (1876), and as her career progressed, she gained the reputation of being one of the most remarkable and versatile coloratura sopranos of her era. Gerster married her mentor and director-manager Dr Carlo Gardini. Etelka then toured Europe and America for nearly fifteen years (1878 – 1890) until she officially retired. A few years later she suddenly lost her voice, but regained enough to be able to teach singing in Berlin, Prussia, where she opened and managed a successful school (1896 – 1917). Etelka Gerster died (Aug 20, 1920) aged sixty-five, at Pontecchio, near Bologna, Italy.

Gert, Valeska – (1892 – 1978)
German actress and cabaret performer
Born Gertrude Samosch (Jan 11, 1892) in Berlin, Prussia, she first appeared on stage in Munich (1910 – 1911), and then established herself as a popular pantomime dancer and performer. Gert joined the dance group organized by Erik Charrell, and appeared in such stage productions as Schall und Rauch, by Max Reinhardt, and Katakombe, by Werner Finck. She appeared on films such as, The Beggar’s Opera (1931), and the Italian film Giulietta degli spiriti (1965), and published articles in various magazines.
Valeska Gert established her own nightclub Der Kohlkopp (1932), but this was closed down by the Nazis (1933) and she was forbidden to perform. She continued to work abroad in various European cities before finally immigrating to the USA (1938). Gert established another nightclub the Beggar Bar, in New York (1941 – 1947), after which she retired to Zurich in Switzerland. Gert later returned to Berlin, where she established two more nightclubs, and appeared in the film Der Fangschuss (1976), by Volker Schlondorff. She published her autobiography Katze von Kampen (1973). Valeska Gert died (March 15, 1978) in Kampen, Germany, aged eighty-six.

Gertrud Maria Gisela Elisabeth Ignatia – (1900 – 1962)
Hapsburg archduchess of Austria
HIH (Her Imperial Highness) Archduchess Gertrud of Austria was born (Nov 19, 1900) at Wallsee Castle, the third daughter of Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria-Tuscany (1866 – 1939) and his wife Archduchess Marie Valerie (1868 – 1924), the younger surviving daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Franz Josef I (1848 – 1916). She bore the additional titles of Princess of Hungary and Bohemia and Princess of Tuscany. The archduchess was married (1931) at Bad Ischl, to Count George von Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems (1878 – 1955), the widower of her elder sister, Archduchess Elisabeth (1892 – 1930). Thus she became stepmother to her four nephews and nieces, and was herself the mother of two children. She survived her husband as the Dowager Countess von Waldburg-Zeil (1955 – 1962). Archduchess Gertrude died (Dec 20, 1962) aged sixty-two, at Ravensburg. Her children were,

• Countess Sophie von Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems (born 1932). She married to Baron Wessel von Loe (born 1928) and left issue.
• Count Josef von Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems (born 1934). He married (1960) the Baroness Maria Benedikta von Redwitz (born 1937) and has children.

Gertrude of Austria (1) – (1120 – 1151)
Duchess consort of Bohemia (1140 – 1151)
Gertrude was the daughter of Leopold III, margrave of Austria, and his wife Agnes of Hohenstaufen, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (1056 – 1106), and widow of Friedrich I, Duke of Swabia. Princess Gertrude was married (1140) to Duke Vladislav II (1110 – 1173), as his first wife, and bore him several children. Vladislav only became king of Bohemia after Gertrude’s death. Duchess Gertrude died (Aug 5, 1151). Her children were,

• Friedrich (c1141 – 1189). He succeeded his father as Duke of Bohemia (1174 – 1189) but not as king. He was married and left issue.
• Prince Svatopluk of Bohemia (c1144 – after 1169). He was married and left issue.
• Prince Adalbert of Bohemia (c1145 – 1200). He took holy orders and was twice appointed as Archbishop of Salzburg (1168 – 1177) and (1183 – 1200).
• Princess Ephrasia of Bohemia (c1148 – c1165). She died unmarried and was revered as a saint.
• Princess (name unknown). She became the wife of Prince Jaroslav of Novgorod and Vladimir (c1130 – before 1180).

Gertrude of Austria (2) – (1211 – 1241)
German Babenberg heiress
Gertrude was the third daughter of Leopold VI, Duke of Austria and his wife, the Byzantine princess Theodora Angela. Henry Raspe IV of Thuringia (1202 – 1247) usurped the Thuringian landgraviate from his infant nephew, Hermann II, but this was tolerated by the German emperor Friedrich II, in return for aid to crush the Bohemian rebellion (1236). Raspe then changed sides and was married (1238) to Princess Gertrude, who with her elder sister Margaret, later queen of Bohemia, were the last heiresses of the ancient Babenberg line, in the event of the death of their brother, Duke Friedrich II without surviving issue. At the time that Raspe married Gertrude, Friedrich’s only child was a ten year old girl, so he hoped to gain the Austrian dukedom by marriage with Friedrich’s sister.
This union between Thuringia and the Babenberg dynasty had been attempted some years earlier, when Heinrich Raspe’s sister Agnes had been married to Gertrude’s brother Henry. Dynastically that marriage had proved a failure as Heinrich of Austria had died childless (1228). To counteract these marriages, the Emperor Friedrich II betrothed his own daughter Margaret to Hermann II of Thuringia, Raspe’s displaced nephew, though this engagement was later broken. In all events, this second alliance proved a dynastic failure, as Gertrude, like her brother, remained childless. Landgravine Gertrude died (before March 10, in 1241) aged twenty-nine.

Gertrude of Babenberg – (1228 – 1299)
Austrian princess and heiress
Gertrude was the only child of Henry of Babenberg, duke of Austria and his wife Agnes of Thuringia (later duchess of Saxony as wife of Duke Albert I). Her mother was the sister-in-law of St Elizabeth of Hungary. Gertrude was the last surviving heiress of the Babenberg royal line, and inherited the dukedom of Austria and its dependencies after the death of her uncle Duke Friedrich II in battle, without heirs (1246). King Wenceslas I of Bohemia secured Gertrude’s hand (April, 1246) for his son Vladislav (Vaclav) (1227 – 1247) whom the Austrians were prepared to accept as their ruler, but his early death, without heirs (Jan, 1247), caused Austria to slip from Bohemian control. In the same year Gertrude was remarried to Hermann V, Margrave of Baden, a supporter of the papacy. The German emperor Friedrich II then took over control of Gertrude’s inheritance and attempted to rule Austria by placing it in charge of captains and generals. Pope Innocent IV pressed for recognition of the claims of Princess Gertrude, as the rightful heiress of the Babenberg line. Hermann managed to assert himself to some degree against the Imperial troops, and was later recognized as Duke of Austria in Gertrude’s right (1248). Gertrude bore Hermann two children,

• Friedrich I (1249 – 1268). He later succeeded his father as Margrave of Baden (1250 – 1268) but died without issue, wheereupon his uncle Prince Rudolf, Gertrude’s brother-in-law, succeeded as Margrave of Baden.
• Agnes of Baden (1250 – 1295). She was married twice, firstly to Ulrich III (died 1269), Duke of Carinthia, and secondly to Ulrich II (died 1308), Count von Heunburg.

However he died soon afterwards (1250), and Ottokar II of Bohemia successfully took over the rule of Austria, being backed by Germany after his marriage (1252) to Gertrude’s aunt, the widow of Henry, King of Germany, and the elder daughter of the Austrian duke Leopold VI (died 1230). Gertrude was remarried thirdly to Prince Roman of Galicia (Halicz) in Russia, but this union was ended by divorce (1253). She survived both of her children. Duchess Gertrude died (April 24, 1299) aged seventy.

Gertrude of Brunswick – (1065 – 1117)   
German dynastic heiress
Gertrude was the daughter of Count Eckbert I of Brunswick, Margrave of Meissen, and his wife Irmengarde of Susa. With the death of her childless elder brother Eckbert II (July, 1090), Gertrude inherited the rich and important state of Meissen, which would ultimately be held by all three of her husbands in her right. Gertrude was married firstly to Dietrich II, Count of Katlenburg (c1050 – 1085), secondly to Henry, duke of Nordheim, and thirdly to Henry I of Eilenburg (c1070 – 1103). When her second husband was killed in battle in Friesland (1101) the Annalista Saxo recorded that the countess escaped capture with some difficulty. According to the Annales Sancti Blasii Brunsvicensis Gertrude was the founder of the Church of St Egidius in Brunswick. Through her various dynastic alliances, Gertrude left two daughters and coheiresses by her second marriage, Richenza of Nordheim, who became wife to the Emperor Lothair II, and Gertrude of Nordheim, the wife of Otto I, Count of Rheineck. Gertrude of Brunswick died (Dec 9, 1117) aged fifty-two.

Gertrude of Comburg – (c1097 – 1131)
German queen consort (1127 – 1131)
Gertrude was the daughter of Henry of Comburg, Count of Rothenburg, and his wife Gepa of Mergentheim. She was married (c1115) to Conrad of Swabia (1093 – 1152) who was chosen king of Germany in opposition to Lothair of Supplinburg (1127), as his first wife.  Gertrude accompanied her husband across the Alps, and the couple were crowned king and queen at Monza, in Lombardy (June, 1128).
Queen Gertrude died before her husband’s final defeat (1132) and submission to Lothair (1135), and was interred within the Abbey of Lorch. They had three daughters. The eldest daughter (1116 – before 1128) whose name is unrecorded and was a claimant to the Imperial duchy of Swabia, became the first wife of Izyslav II Mstislavitch, Grand Prince of Kiev (1096 – 1154) but died during childhood. The two younger daughters were Bertha of Hohenstaufen (c1120 – after 1153) who became a nun and was Abbess of Erstein, and Gertrude of Hohenstaufen, who either died young or remained unmarried.

Gertrude of Dagsburg – (c1194 – 1225)
German heiress
Gertrude was the daughter of Albert, Count of Dagsburg and Metz, and his wife Gertrude, the daughter of Herman III, margrave of Baden. Gertrude was married three times, firstly (1206) to Theobald I (c1193 – 1220), duke of Lorraine, secondly (1220) to count Theobald VI of Champagne (1198 – 1253) (later king of Navarre as Theobald I), and lastly (1223) to Simon, count of Leiningen (died 1234).
The question of the succession to the county of Metz was clarified by the local bishops, who ordained that Gertrude would only possess it for her life, but that if she proved childless, it would be retaken. This arrangement caused Gertrude’s first husband, Theobald of Lorraine, to abandon and then divorce her (1222). Gertrude died childless (March 20, 1225), aged about thirty. Her last husband Simon retained Dagsburg after her death, but it was later seized by his brother, Count Friedrich III of Leiningen (died 1287), whose descendants retained posession of it.

Gertrude of Delft     see    Oosten, Gertrude van

Gertrude of Egisheim – (c1006 – 1077) 
Margravine of Friesland
Gertrude was the daughter of Hugh VI, count of Egisheim and Nordgau, and his wife Heilwig, the daughter and heiress of Louis, count of Dagsburg. She was the niece of Pope Leo, and this relationship is mentioned in the Annales Stadenses chronicle at the time of her marriage. Gertrude was married (c1022) to Ludwig of Brunswick (c1002 – 1038), Margrave of Friesland, stepson of the emperor Conrad II (1024 – 1039). Gertrude never remarried and survived her husband forty years. She died (July 21, 1077), aged about seventy, her death being recorded in the Libro Memoriarum Sancti Blasii. Her daughter Agatha of Brunswick, was married to the Anglo-Saxon aetheling Edward the Exile, and was mother to St Margaret, queen of Scotland.

Gertrude of Flanders – (1067 – 1117)
Flemish dynastic heiress
Gertrude was the daughter of Robert I the Frisian, Count of Flanders (1071 – 1093) and his wife Gertrude of Saxony, the widow of Floris I, Count of Holland, and daughter of Duke Bernard II of Saxony. Gertrude was married firstly to Henry III, count of Louvain (died 1095) and bore him several daughters. She remarried (1095) to Duke Theodore II (Thierry) of Lorraine (c1037 – 1115), as his second wife, and was duchess consort (1095 – 1115). She survived him briefly (1115 – 1117) as Dowager Duchess of Lorraine, and left four children,

• Thierry (Theodoric) of Lorraine (1096 – 1168). He became Count of Flanders (1128 – 1168), and was married twice and left descendants.
• Gisela of Lorraine (c1097 – c1130). She was married to Count Friedrich I of Saarsbrucken (c1075 – 1135), and left descendants.
• Henry of Lorraine (c1098 – 1165). He entered the church as a priest and was appointed Bishop of Toul.
• Bertha of Lorraine (c1100 – after 1162). She was married to Herman V, Margrave of Baden and left descendants.

Gertrude of Hackeborn – (1232 – 1291)
German abbess and saint
Gertrude of Hackeborn was born near Halberstadt, and became a nun (1229) at the Benedictine cloister of Rodarsdorf, near Eisleben, and in 1251 was elected second abbess of this community. In 1258 Gertrude moved the nuns to Helfta, as Rodarsdorf sufferred from the want of a decent water supply, the land being a gift to the abbey by her own brothers, and the Hackeborn family remained faithful patrons of this establishment, her sister Matilda also joining the nuns there.  
The abbess placed great importance upon learning, and bought books for the convent, and encouraged her nuns to copy volumes and manuscripts, and ornament them themselves with drawings and paintings. A famous school was established at Helfta, the chief teacher being the gifted and nobly born Matilda von Wippra. Gertrude was abbess for forty years and died at Helfta. Fifty years later the abbey was destroyed during a feud between the Duke of Brunswick and the count of Mansfeldt, and the nuns were forced to remove their community yet again, to a suburb of Eisleben. This Gertrude is often confused with her younger namesake and contemporary, Gertrude ‘the Great’ who also entered Helfta as a nun and was famous for her intellectual attainments.

Gertrude of Helfta      see      Gertrude the Great

Gertrude of Landen – (626 – 659) 
Carolingian abbess and saint
Gertrude of Landen was the younger daughter of Pepin I of Landen, and his wife Iduberga of Aquitaine. With her father’s death, she was raised by her mother, who built the double monastery of Nivelles. Iduberga appointed Gertrude as abbess (651) and entered the house as a nun under her daughter’s rule. Gertrude received many distinguished visitors at Nivelles, including saints Foillan and Ultan on their way to Rome. She granted them land at Fosses on which they built a monastery and hospice. Famous for her extreme austerities, her decline in health was occasioned by her body being worn out by fasting and want of sleep. In 656 she resigned the abbacy to her future successor, her niece Wulfetrude. Gertrude suffered visions before her death (March 17, 659). Canonized, her feast was observed (March 17). Considered the patron of gardeners and of travellers, due to her hospitality to such persons and she was also invoked against mice and rats. Her emblem in religious art is a pastoral staff with a mouse running up it.

Gertrude of Meissen    see   Gertrude of Brunswick

Gertrude of Meran – (1188 – 1213)
Queen consort of Hungary (1203 – 1213)
Gertrude was the daughter of Berthold VI, Duke of Meran and his wife Agnes of Rochlitz. Queen Gertrude was no less pious than her husband, and contemporary historians boasted of her courage and fortitude, which was considered beyond her sex. She was the mother of King Bela IV (1206 – 1270), whilst her famous daughter was St Elizabeth (1207 – 1231) the wife (1211) of Louis IV of Thuringia. The queen was assassinated at the early age of twenty-five (Sept 28, 1213), by her husband’s subjects. The reason for her murder remains uncertain, some sources stating that she was murdered by the Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia, who had thus resolved to avenge the honour of his wife, who had been sexually violated by the patriarch Berthold, the queen’s brother. According to others, she lost her life in a palace conspiracy against King Andrew, and, in order to give him time to escape, exposed herself to the blows of the assassins. Yet other sources maintain that Gertrude was murdered be rebellious nobles who objected to the large number of her German retinue.

Gertrude of Neustria – (c754 – before 768)
Carolingian princess
Gertrude of Neustria was the daughter of Pepin III, first King of the Franks (751 – 768) and his wife Bertrada, the daughter of Carobert, Count of Laon. She was younger sister to the Emperor Charlemagne and his brother Carloman II. Princess Gertrude died during childhood, predeceasing her father, and was probably interred with several of her younger sisters at the Cathedral of Treves. An obscure German legend identifies this sister of Charlemagne as St Gertrude, Abbess of the convent of St Michael at Neustadt, and also Abbess of Karlstadt in Wurzburg which is believed to be a confusion with the famous St Gertrude (626 – 659), Abbess of Nivelles, an earlier member of the Arnulfing dynasty. The Abbey of Neustadt was sacked during the Reformation (1525) and her relics dispersed.

Gertrude of Nivelles     see    Gertrude of Landen

Gertrude of Nordheim – (c1090 – 1165)
German countess palatine, the heiress of Friesland
Gertrude of Nordheim was the daughter of Count Henry of Nordheim (died 1101), and his wife Gertrude of Brunswick, the daughter of Count Eckbert I, Margrave of Meissen and his wife Irmengarde of Turin. Gertrude was the heiress of the important province of Friesland for half a century (1115 – 1165), and was the paternal granddaughter of Henry the Fat, Duke of Nordheim (1061 – 1083) and his wife Richenza of Werle. Gertrude was married firstly (c1107) to Siegfried (1075 – 1113), the Count Palatine of Lorraine, to whom she bore three children,

• Adela of Lorraine (died c1155), Countess of Morle-Kleeburg. She became the second wife of Konrad I (died 1160), Count of Peilstein.
• Siegfried of Lorraine (c1112 – 1124). He became Count of Orlamunde but died during childhood.
• William of Lorraine (c1113 – 1140). He became Count Palatine of Lorraine (1129 – 1140) but died unmarried.

Gertrude was married secondly (1115) to Otto I (c1088 – 1150), Count of Rheineck and Salm. She survived her second husband as the Dowager Countess of Rheineck (1150 – 1165). Through her second marriage she was the direct ancestress of the ancient German countly family of Salm, and of the Plantagenet royal family in England, and many other of the royal and aristocratic families of Europe. Countess Gertrude died (May 14, 1165) aged about seventy-five. Her children by Otto of Salm were,

• Otto of Rheineck-Salm (c1116 – 1149). He became Count Palatine of the Rhine, and was married but died without issue.
• Sophia of Rheineck (1118 – 1179). She became the wife of Dietrich VI (died 1157), Count of Holland and left descendants.
• Beatrix of Rheineck (died after 1150). She became the wife of Wulbrand I, Count von Loccum-Hallermund (c1108 – 1167) and left descendants.

Gertrude of Poland (1) – (1024 – 1107)
Grand duchess consort of Kiev (1054 – 1078)
Princess Gertrude was the daughter of Mieszko II Lambert, King of Poland (1025 – 1031), and his wife Richesa of Lorraine, the daughter of Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lorraine, and granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II (973 – 983). She was the younger sister of Kasimierz I, King of Poland. Princess Gertrude was married (1043) to Grand Duke Izyslav I Jaroslavitch (1025 – 1078), to whom she bore several children. She survived him for three decades as Grand Dowager Duchess of Kiev (1078 – 1107), after he was killed in battle (Oct 3, 1178). Gertrude died (Jan 4, 1107) aged eighty-two. Her children were,

• Yaropolk Izyslavitch (c1045 – 1087). He was Prince of Vladimir and Turov, and was married to Kunigunde of Orlamunde, the widow of Count Kuno of Beichlingen, in Germany, leaving descendants.
• Prince Mstislav Izyslavitch (c1047 – 1069). He was married and left an only son, Prince Rotislav Mstislavitch, who died without legitimate issue (1093).
• Svyatopluk II Izyslavitch (1050 – 1113). He succeeded as Grand Prince of Kiev, and was married three times, leaving many descendants.
• Princess Eupraxia Mstislavna (c1065 – 1089). She became the wife of Prince Mieszko of Poland (1069 – 1089) but died childless.

Gertrude of Poland (2) – (1123 – 1160)
Princess and virgin saint
Gertrude was the sixth daughter of Duke Boleslav III of Poland, and his second wife Salome, the daughter of Henry, Count of Berg-Schelkingen. Princess Gertrude never married and became a nun at the convent of Zwiefalten at the age of sixteen (1139). There she attained a great reputation for religious sanctity during her short life, and declared Venerable at her death, her feast being long observed by the nuns of Zwiefalten. Gertrude died (May 7, 1160) aged thirty-seven, worn out by her religious austerities. She was venerated as a saint (May 7) and her feast was listed in the Acta Sanctorum.

Gertrude of Saxony – (1155 – 1197)
Queen consort of Denmark (1182 – 1197)
Princess Gertrude was the daughter of Heinrich V the Lion, Duke of Saxony (1139 – 1195) and his first wife Clementia of Zahringen, the daughter of Duke Konrad I of Zahringen. Her stepmother was Matilda Plantagenet, the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. The divorce of her parents (1162) did not affect Gertrude’s legitimacy. She appeared, together with her father in a surviving charter (1168) where she gave her consent to his bestowal of property to the Abbey of Loccum.
Gertrude was married firstly (1166) to Friedrich IV of Hohenstaufen (1144 – 1167), Duke of Swabia (1152 – 1167) and Count of Rothenburg, a younger son of Konrad III, King of Germany (1138 – 1152) and his second wife Gertrude of Sulzbach. Duke Friedrich died in Rome (Aug 19, 1167) and was interred within the Abbey of Ebrach. The marriage had remained childless and Gertrude became the Dowager Duchess of Swabia (1167 – 1177) at the age of twelve. She was betrothed (1171) to Prince Knud of Denmark (1162 – 1202), seven years her junior, which engagement was recorded by the Annales Stadenses, but due to the youth of the proposed bridegroom the marriage did not take place for several years. Gertrude then travelled to Denmark and was married to Kund at Lund (1177).
The German chronicler Helmold recorded that the Duchess’s second marriage had been arranged to secure peace between Saxony and King Valdemar I of Denmark (1157 – 1182) but caused a hiatus in good relations between Denmark and the Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa. With the death of king Valdemar I at Vordingborg Castle (1182) Knud succeeded as King of Denmark as Knud VI (1182 – 1202), and he and Gertrude were crowned at Roskilde Cathedral. This marriage produced an only daughter Princess Ingerd Knudsdotter (Ingeborge) (c1188 – after 1236) who became the wife of Kasimir II (1180 – 1219), Duke of Pomerania and left descendants. Queen Gertrude died (June 1, 1197) aged forty-two, and was interred at Wa Gards Harde.

Gertrude of Scheldt (1) – (c572 – 649)
Merovingian abbess and saint
Gertrude was the eldest daughter of Arnoald I, Margrave of Scheldt, and his first wife Ada of Alemannia, the daughter of Duke Gunzo. Her father was a direct descendant of King Pharamond (died c428 AD). Gertrude became the wife of count Richomir of Ostrevant (living 607), a Burgundian patrician by birth, to whom she bore several children. As a widow she built an oratory at Hamage, near Douai in Flanders, which gradually evolved into a convent of nuns, and Countess Gertrude served as the first abbess of that house, her widowed daughter Gerberta becoming a nun under her rule there.
Gertrude was succeeded in office by her granddaughter Eusebia (649 – 680) and was revered as a saint (Dec 6). Her body remained at Hamage until 686 when St Vindician, Bishop of Cambrai and Arras caused it to be transferred to a new church at Hamage, built especially by her granddaughter Eusebia. Her daughter Gerberta of Ostrevant (c588 – after 650) became the wife of Ega (c570 – 646), Mayor of the Palace in Neustria, and was ancestress of the dukes of Alsace.

Gertrude of Scheldt (2) – (c608 – 675)
Carolingian nun and saint
Gertrude was the daughter of Arnulf, Margrave of Scheldt and Bishop of Metz (611 - 640) and his wife Doda of Austrasia, the daughter of Bodesgesil II, Duke of Austrasia, and his wife Oda of Alemannia. She remained unmarried and took vows as a nun, becoming the third abbess of the Benedictine convent of St Mont, near Remiremont in Lorraine. Gertrude died (Nov 7, 675) and her religious cult was approved by Pope Leo IX (1051). Her niece, the more famous St Gertrude of Landen (died 659) was named after her.

Gertrude of Silesia – (1200 – 1268)
Polish princess and saint
Gertrude was the third, but only surviving daughter of Duke Henry I (1231 – 1238), and his wife Hedwig, the daughter of Berthold VI, Duke of Meran, being recorded as such in the Chronicon Polono-Silesiacum. Her two elder sisters, Agnes and Sophia, died young. Piously educated by her devout mother, Gertrude never married and became a nun at the convent of Treibnitz established by her parents (1203). She practised great austerities, and payed extrordinary reverence to all religious persons and objects. Gertrude had the body of her favourite brother Conrad interred in the chapter house at Treibnitz, after he was killed in a hunting accident (c1237).  
During the Tartar invasions (1241) Gertrude and her nuns, together with many of the female members of the royal family were sent for safety to the royal fortress of Krosna. She succeeded her mother as abbess of Treibnitz at her death and ruled in her place for twenty-five years (1243 – 1268). Princess Gertrude died (Dec 30, 1268) aged sixty-eight, her death being recorded in the chronicle Epytaphia ducum Slezie, which referred to her as ‘domina Gertrudis, tercia filia eorum, abbatissa in Treibnitz.’ She was revered as a saint, her feast (Dec 6) being recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Gertrude of Sulzbach – (1118 – 1146)
Queen consort of Germany (1138 – 1146)
Gertrude was the second daughter of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach, and his second wife Adelaide, the daughter of Otto II, Count of Diessen. Her youngest sister Bertha was the first wife of the Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Komnenus (1143 – 1180). Gertrude was married (1134) to Count Konrad of Swabia (1093 – 1152), who was elected to the German throne as Konrad II (1138 – 1152) and Gertrude became queen consort, being crowned with Konrad at Aix-la-Chapelle (March 13, 1138). Queen Gertrude died (April 14, 1146) aged only twenty-seven. Her children were,

• Heinrich of Swabia (1137 – 1150). He was crowned King of Germany as heir to his father (1147) but predeceased him at the age of thirteen.
• Friedrich IV of Swabia (1145 – 1167). He did not succeed to the German throne at his father’s death, on account of his youth, but received instead the dukedoms of Swabia and Rothenburg. He was married but died childless.

Gertrude of Supplinburg – (1115 – 1143)
German Imperial princess and dynastic heiress
Princess Gertrude was born (April 18, 1115) the only child of the Emperor Lothair II (Count of Supplinburg before his election), and his wife Richenza of Nordheim, the daughter of Heinrich I the Fat, Duke of Nordheim. In the right of her mother, Gertrude was the heiress of Eckbert II, Margrave of Saxony and Styria. She was married firstly (1127) to Duke Heinrich IV the Proud (1101 – 1139) of Saxony, the marriage being celebrated with great splendour. A full account of this Imperial wedding has been recorded in the chronicles of the period. The nuptial feast took place on the banks of a river in the plain of Lechrain, which was covered with tents and wooden edifices. A general invitation to the wedding collected twrnty or thirty thousand guests, including princes, barons, and knights, who, with their numerous retinue, continued to keep up a festival, which by the profusion of the hospitality of the duke, was prolonged by several weeks. Gertrude became the mother of Duke Heinrich V the Lion (1129 – 1195).
With the death of the emperor Lothair (1137), Gertrude’s husband had hoped to gain the Imperial crown by right, as husband of the late emperor’s only daughter and heiress, but the clergy refused to choose Heinrich of Saxony, and even the Dowager Empress Richenza was forced to renounce her son-in-law’s cause. Duke Heinrich later died at Quedlinburg (Oct 20, 1139), having been poisoned, though Princess Gertrude remained unconnected with this crime. The duchess ruled as regent for several months for her infant son Heinrich V, but eventually abandoned him to the Saxon nobles (1141) so that she could marry the enemy of his family, Henry II Jasmirgott (1112 – 1177), Duke of Austria, as his first wife. Duchess Gertrude died on her twenty-eighth birthday (April 18, 1143), perhaps from the effects of childbirth. If so, the child died with her.

Gertrude of Thuringia – (1227 – 1297)
German abbess and saint
Gertrude was born (Sept 29, 1227) the daughter of Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, and his wife St Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary. She was born posthumously two weeks after the death of her father at Otranto, whilst engaged on a crusade. Prior to her birth it had been agreed that the princess should be dedicated to the church as a thank-offerring for her parents’ happy marriage, and Gertrude was placed in infancy with the Praemonstratensian canonesses at Altenburg, near Wetzlar, in the diocese of Treves (1229), at the insistence of Conrad of Marburg, her mother’s religious adviser. Gertrude later became a nun there and was abbess for fifty years (1247 – 1297). She used the fortune she had inherited from her uncle, Henry Raspe IV, on the construction of a new church for her monastery, and an almhouse for the poor. During the Seventh Crusade, in honour of her father’s chivalry Gertrude ‘took the Cross’ on behalf of herself and her convent, by binding themselves to support the crusade unwearingly by reason of their prisons and penances. She obtained permission for the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi in her convent (1270) being one of the first to introduce this ritual into Germany. She was venerated as a peacemaker and as a saint like her mother.
Princess Gertrude died (Aug 13, 1297) aged sixty-nine. She was buried at Altenburg, where the sculptor of her tomb represented the princess with a lion under her feet, which may be an allusion to the arms of Hesse and Thuringia. Pope Clement VI (1342 – 1352) ordered her festival to be kept (Aug 13), promising many indulgences to those who should visit her relics, preserved in the monastery.

Gertrude of Vermandois – (c678 – c745)
Merovingian nun and saint
Gertrude was the eldest daughter of Siegfried, Count of Pontivy, and his wife Bertha of Blangy, who was the granddaughter of Earconbert, the Anglo-Saxon king of Kent (640 – 664) in England. Gertrude was married (c693) to Count Ingomar of Vermandois. With the death of her husband sometime after 725, Gertrude became a nun at the convent established by her mother at Blangy in Artois. With the death of her younger sister Deotila, Gertrude succeeded her as abbess (c740 – c745). She was venerated as a saint, together with her sister (July 14).

Gertrude the Great (Gertrude of Helfta) – (1256 – 1302) 
German nun and mystic
Gertrude of Helfta was born (Jan 6, 1256) into an aristocratic family at Eisleben, and was devoted to the church by her parents. Accordingly she was sent to the Benedictine abbey of Helfta, near Eisleben in Saxony (1261) to be educated for her future life as a nun.
At the age of twenty-five (1281) Gertrude experienced her first of her famous mystical revelations, which she recorded in Latin in several volumes as, Legatus divinae pietatis, which was edited and supplemented by her nuns after her death, and published posthumously as Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude: Virgin and Abbess of the Order of St Benedict (1871). Gertrude also wrote the devotional work Exercitia spiritualia. Gertrude was particularly interested in the human aspects of Christ’s character, and her devotion augured the future developement of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. Gertrude died (Nov 17, 1302) aged forty-six, at Helfta. She was canonized (1739) by Pope Clement XII, and her feast (Nov 16) was honoured annually. Gertrude is the patron saint of the West Indies. Gertrude the Great is sometimes confused with her elder contemporary, Gertrude of Hackeborn.

Gertsyk, Adelaide Kazimirovna – (1870 – 1925) 
Russian poet, author and literary critic
Adelaide Gertsyk became involved with the ‘symbolist’ group of poets in Moscow, and adopting the pseudonym ‘Sirin,’ she became a book reviewer with the Symbolist journal Scales (1905 – 1906). Gertsyk produced mystical and experimental poetry, with strong links to Russian folk-lore, and her verses was published in various anthologies and journals before being published in the volume Poems, 1906 – 1909. During WW I she became a friend of the poet, Marina Tsvetayeva, and sufferred a short period of imprisonment on political grounds, but was soon released. She later removed to Latvia, where she continued to write and publish.

Gertz, Alison – (1966 – 1992)
American socialite and public activist
Alison Gertz was born in Manhattan, New York, the daughter of Jerrold Gertz, a wealthy department store owner. She attended the Horace Mann School in New York, and studied art at the Parsons School of Design. Gertz contracted AIDS (1988) from a bisexual lover, and became a leading crusader for the cause, involving such highly placed persons as Diana, Princess of Wales, in philanthropic endeavours organized to raise funds for medical research. Esquire magazine named her as Woman of the Year (1989). Friends of her family established the Concerned Parents for Aids Research foundation, which raised millions in the fight to understand and control the disease. She was portrayed by actress Molly Ringwald in the film Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story (1992). Alison Gertz died (Aug 8, 1992) aged twenty-six, at Westhampton Beach, Long Island, New York.

Geruchia – (fl. 409 AD)
Gallo-Roman patrician
Geruchia was the daughter of Celerinus, a member of a noble Gallo-Roman family, and she was raised by a widowed and devoutly religious Christian aunt. Geruchia became the wife of the nobleman Simplicius. Her husband died prior to 409 AD leaving Geruchia with a young son named Simplicius for his father. Wealthy, beautiful and well-connected, Geruchia was beset by manu suitors hoping to marry her, but she decided to remain a widow. This decision was applauded and supported by St Jerome who wrote his work de Monogamia for Geruchia (409 AD) which was preserved in his Epistulae.

Gestefeld, Ursula Newell – (1845 – 1921)
American novelist and writer
Ursula Newell was born in Augusta, Maine, and was married to Theodore Gestefeld, to whom she bore several children. She was best known for her popular novel, The Woman Who Dares (1892).
Though originally a friend of Mary Baker Eddy and a member of the Christian Science group, when she published her Statement of Christian Science (1888) Eddy expelled her from their group. Gestefeld responded with Jesuitism and Christian Science (1888) which criticized Eddy and her leadership style. She later established the Gestefeld Publishing Company and edited the monthly magazine Exodus (1896 – 1904).

Gesvres, Marie Francoise Angelique du Val de Fontenay-Mareuil, Duchesse de – (1632 – 1702)
French courtier of Louix XIV at Versailles, she was the daughter of the marquis de Fontenay-Mareuil, who served as French ambassador to the Vatican Court in Rome (1647). She was married to the Duc de Gesvres, who wasted vast amounts of her inheritance, and was the mother of Francois Bernard (1655 – 1739), Marquis d’Annebaut who succeeded his father as Duc de Gesvres. Her appearance was rather odd as the court historian, the Duc de Saint-Simon recorded in his Memoires that “She was a tall, gaunt, witch-like person, who stalked like those giant birds called Numidian cranes. “ He also recorded that on one occasion, the duchesse was mocked by Louis XIV’s daughters at the Trianon Palace. Far from being embarrassed, the duchesse loudly rebuked the ladies for their rudeness and unkindness, and reduced them to silence.

Gethin, Grace Norton, Lady – (1676 – 1697) 
English scholar
Grace Norton was the only surviving child of Sir George Norton, of Abbotsleigh, Somersetshire, and his wife Frances Freke. She was married (1697) to Sir Richard Gethin (died 1709), second Baronet, of Gethins Grot, Cork, as his first wife. Lady Gethin died young (Oct 11, 1697) and was interred at Hillingbourne, Kent. A monument to her memory was erected in Westminster Abbey, London. A collection of papers found after her death, were published as Reliquiae Gethinianae (1699), and were printed in two more editions (1700) and (1703). However, many passages are from Francis Bacon’s Essays, copied in Lady Grace’s commonplace book, and were mistaken as being of her original composition.

Getter, Matylda – (c1890 – 1968)
Polish nun and heroine
Matylda Getter became a Franciscan nun and worked mainly in hospitals and organizing homes and care for orphans. She was appointed as the superior of the Order of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary in Warsaw. During WW II (1939 – 1945), Sister Matylda Getter saved the lives of several hundred Jewish children, by hiding them in the orphanages attached to her order, including that at Pludy, several miles outside the city. She resorted to various clever tricks and ruses to hide some children, who looked too obviously Jewish, when the orphanage was raised by the Gestapo on several occasions. Her sacrifice was honoured by Jewish societies after the war.

Getty, Estelle – (1923 – 2008)
American stage, television and movie character actress
Born Estelle Scher (July 25, 1923) in New York, she was the daughter of Polish immigrants. She worked on stage during her childhood in the Yiddish theatre and trained for the theatre under Gerald Russak. She was married (1946) to businessman Arthur Gettleman, to whom she bore two sons. Her stage surname of ‘Getty’ was taken from her married name.
Estelle Getty worked for many years as a stage actress most notably as the Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein’s play Torch Song Trilogy (1985) and also in popular productions such as Blithe Spirit, The Glass Menagerie and Arsenic and Old Lace. However her career remained unremarkable and Estelle was forced to take on office and clerical work as a means of helping support her family.
Estelle Getty was best remembered for her role as the feisty and comic Sophia Petrillo, the mother of Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur) in the popular television series The Golden Girls (1985 – 1992), in which she appeared with Rue McClanahan (Blanche Devereaux) and Betty White (Rose Nylund), in which role she achieved international fame. This character was reprised in the series The Golden Palace (1992 – 1993) and Empty Nest (1993 – 1995). Though originally intended to be a minor character Sophia quickly became a major one for fans of the show which was reflected by the fact that Getty received Emmy (1988) and Golden Globe Awards (1986). This fame also led to her playing the mother of actor Sylvester Stallone, playing a detective, entitled Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992).
Miss Getty’s other film credits included Tootsie (1982), Protocol (1984), Mask (1984) as the mother of Cher, Stuart Little (1999) and The Million Dollar Kid (1999). She published the autobiography entitled If I Knew Then, What I Know Now … So What? (1988). Estelle Getty died (July 22, 2008) aged eighty-four, at her home in Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

Geva, Tamara Levkievna – (1906 – 1997)
Russian dancer and actress
Tamara Geva was born in St Petersburg, the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer, and studied ballet privately. She later became an evening class student at the Mariinski Ballet School, where she met the future famous choreographer, George Melitonovich Balanchine (1904 – 1983), whose first wife she became (1923). Geva and Balanchine left Russia with the Soviet State Dancers (1924) and performed with Sergei Giaghilev’s Ballet Russes and with Balieff’s ‘Chauve-Souris’, a touring revue with which Geva introduced Balanchine’s style of choreography to New York (1927). Together with Ray Bolger she performed in the Rodgers and Hart musical production On Your Toes (1936), for which Balanchine produced some of the choreography.
Geva appeared in works written by George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) such as Misalliance (1953), in Trojan Women (1941) by the classical Greek writer Euripides (480 – 408 BC), and in works by the French philosopher and dramatist, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980) such as, No-Exit (1947), and also performed in various Broadway musicals such as Three’s a Crowd (1930) and Flying Colors (1932), and appeared in several films such as Their Big Moment (1934) and Orchestra Wives (1942). Geva choreographed the dance scenes in Ben Hecht’s tragedy film Specter of the Rose (1946). Her autobiography was published as, Split Seconds (1972). Tamara Geva died (Dec 9, 1997) aged ninety-one, in New York.

Geverhan Osmanoglu – (1642 – 1694)
Ottoman princess of Turkey
Princess Geverhan was the fourth daughter of Sultan Ibrahim Deli (the Mad) (1640 – 1648). She was married firstly, during infancy, to Kapudan Pasha Cavuszade Mehmed Pasha (died 1681), and secondly (1692) to Kapudan Pasha Helvaci Yusuf Pasha (died after 1714), who long survived her. Princess Geverhan died (Oct 27, 1694) aged fifty-two.

Gevheri – (1856 – 1894)
Turkish sultana (1873 – 1876)
Gevheri was born at Hope in the Caucasus (July 8, 1856). She became the first wife (1873) of the Ottoman sultan Abdulazziz I (1830 – 1876) and with the birth of her son Prince Seyfeddin Osmanoglu (1874 – 1927) she received the rank of Haseki Sultan (Princess Favourite). The sultan committed suicide two years later and Gevheri survived him for eighteen years and resided during her widowhood in retirement at the Saray Palace. Her husband served as a rear-admiral with the Ottoman navy. Gevheri died (Sept 20, 1894), aged thirty-eight, at Ortakeuy.

Gex, Elisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon-Conde, Princesse de – (1705 – 1765)
French Bourbon royal
Princesse Elisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon was born in Paris (Sept 15, 1705), the daughter of the Prince de Conde, and his wife Louise Francoise de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan. She never married and was known in society as ‘Madamoiselle de Gex.’ The princesse died in Paris (April 15, 1765) aged fifty-nine.

Gex, Lyonette de – (c1237 – 1302)
French heiress
Lyonette was the daughter of Amadeus II, seigneur de Gex, a small fief in the Jura Mountains near the Swiss frontier, and his wife Beatrix de Bauge. Her brother Conrad died without issue (Nov, 1251) and Lyonette inherited Gex. She was married (1252) to Simon de Joinville, to whom she bore five children and brought control of Gex.
Their elder son Pierre de Joinville (1276 – 1289) died childless, and Gex was later inherited by their younger son Guillaume de Joinville (1276). Her son Guillaume’s daughter Eleonore was married to Hugh, son of Amadeus II, count of Geneva, and she took the ownership of Gex into that family. Finally, Geneva siezed Gex (1595), but it was later annexed by France (1601). Lyonette de Gex died (Nov 15, 1302) aged about sixty-five.

Geyern, Amalia Sophia Caroline Adelaide von – (1832 – 1897)
German courtier and royal
Amalia Schenk von Geyern was born (July 13, 1832) at Furth, the daughter of Karl Friedrich Ernst, Baron Schenk von Geyern, and his wife Amalia Sophia Caroline von Stolterfoht. Amalia was married morganatically at Gorlitz (1850) to Prince Friedrich Wilhlem of Hohenzollern-Hechingen (1801 – 1869) of the Prussian royal house, who had abdicated as ruler of Hechingen in order to marry her. Amalia was his second wife, and four days before the wedding the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV created her Countess von Rothenburg.
This marriage ended in divorce (1863), and Amalia quickly remarried (1863) at Neuenheim, near Soden to Gustav von Meske (1822 – 1902), to whom she bore three children. Countess Amalia died (July 29, 1897) at Wiesbaden, aged sixty-five. She left three children by her first marriage to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm who all held their mother’s rank and titles,

• Countess Elisabeth von Rothenburg (1852 – 1914). She married firstly Arthur von Rosen (1838 – 1919), from whom she was divorced, and secondly to Julius von Lubtow (1837 – 1905). She left two children from her second marriage, both of whom died childless.
• Count Friedrich von Rothenburg (1856 – 1912). He was married three times and left descendants.
• Count Wilhelm von Rothenburg (1861 – 1929). He was married and left descendants.

Geyersburg, Luise Caroline von – (1768 – 1820)
German courtier and royal
Luise von Geyersburg was born (May 26, 1768) at Stuttgart in Wurttemburg, and became the mistress, and then the morganatic second wife (1787) of Karl Freidrich (1728 – 1811), Grand Duke of Baden (1806 – 1811). She was created Countess von Hochburg and two decades afterwards she granted the style of princess of Baden (1817). Due to her malicious and scheming nature, Princess Luise was loathed by both her stepchildren, and her subjects, and was popularly believed to be the evil genius behind the mysterious Kaspar Hauser affair, in a bid to bring the grand ducal throne within reach of her own children.
Princess Luise of Baden died (July 23, 1820), aged fifty-two. Her children were granted the rank and style of princes and princesses of Baden at the same time as their mother (1817). Her two elder sons were Leopold I 91790 - 1852) who succeeded his childless half-brother Ludwig I as Grand Duke of Baden (1830 - 1852) and left descendants, and Prince Wilhelm of Baden (1792 - 1859) who left descendants. Her third son Prince Maximilian (1796 - 1882) remained unmarried, whilst her only daughter Princess Amalia (1795 - 1869) becvame the wife of Prince Karl Egon von Furstenburg.

Geyling, Margarete – (1882 – 1949)
Austrian educator
Geyling was born (July 8, 1882) in Vienna, the daughter of the glass painter, Rudolf Geyling (1839 – 1904). Margarete was sister to the artist and set designer, Remigius Geyling (1878 – 1974) as well as cousin to the painter Franz Geyling (1814 – 1880). Margarete Geyling trained as a teacher and appointed as principal of the boarding school attached to the Institute for Women’s Domestic Industry in Vienna, of which establishment the imperial family were patrons. From 1910 she served as official school inspector for women’s trade centres and home economics schools. Margarete Geyling died (March 2, 1949) aged sixty-six, in Vienna.

Gezari, Temima – (1905 – 2009)
Jewish-American painter, sculptor and educator
Born Fruma Nimtzowitz (Dec 21, 1905) at Pinsk in Russia, she came to Brooklyn in New York with her family as an infant. She attended the Teacher’s Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (1925) and then went on to study art under Howard Giles at the Parsons New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. She travelled to Taos in New Mexico to paint and visited Paris, Egypt and Palestine, usually travelling alone. She was married in Tel Aviv (1938) to Zvi Gezari, the noted industrial engineer. They had two sons including Daniel Gezari, an astrophysicist with NASA.
Temima Gezari was appointed by Professor Mordecai Kaplan to the faculty of the Teachers Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary where she taught painting and art history for over four decades (1935 – 1977). She was then appointed as the director of the Department of Art Education of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York and she held this position for over six decades (1940 – 2003). Throughout her long career Gezari strongly maintained her advocacy of the importance of the role of art in child education and encouraged children to be able to express themselves through this medium. Her published works included Footprints and New Worlds (1957) and several volumes of autobiography. Temima Gezari died (March 5, 2009) aged one hundred and three, at Rocky Point, New York.

Ghadana – (fl. c140 – c143 AD)
Queen of Iberia in Kartli
Ghadana was the wife of King Ghadam (ruled c140 – c143 AD). She was the mother of King P’arsman III, for whom she ruled as regent after her husband’s death, when he succeeded to the throne as an infant. Her period of rule is unknown and details remain sparse. P’arsaman was later succeeded by his son Amazasp II.

Ghaliya – (c1815 – after 1866)
Sultana of Oman
Ghaliya was the daughter of Salim bin Sultan, the ruler of Muscat and Oman. She was married to her cousin, Thuwaini bin Said (c1821 – 1866), who succeeded as sultan (1856 – 1866), and whom she survived. Ghaliya was the mother of Salim bin Thuwaini (c1835 – 1876), who succeeded his father as sultan (1866 – 1868).

Ghanbari, Mokarrameh – (1928 – 2005)
Persian amateur painter
Ghanbari was born in the village of Darikandeh, near Babol, in Mazandaran province. She received no formal artisitc training, and only began working professionally from the advanced age of sixty-three (1991). Favouring bright, bold colours, and natural styles, Ghanbari held her first exhibition (1995) and was laternamed as female painter of the year by the Swedish National Museum (2001). A documentary concerning her life and her work was produced by the Iranian film maker Ebrahim Mokhtari entitled Mokarrameh, Her Memories and Dreams. Mokarrameh Ghanbarri died (Oct 24, 2005) aged seventy-seven.

Ghanee – (c1767 – after 1856)
Sultana of Oman
Ghanee was the daughter of Saif bin’ Muhammad bin Said, bin Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Bu Said. She was married (c1783) to Sultan bin Ahmad (c1761 – 1804), sultan of Muscat and Oman (1792 – 1804). Sultana Ghanee was the mother of Salim bin Sultan (c1785 – 1821) and Said bin Sultan (c1788 – 1856), and survived both her sons.

Ghika, Elena (Helena) – (1828 – 1888)
Romanian author and cultural figure
Princess Elena Ghika was born in Bucharest, the daughter of Prince Michael Ghika. She was married (1849) to the Russian prince Koltsov Mazalskiy, but the union proved unhappy, and in 1855 Elena left the court of St Petersburg, and went to reside in Florence, Italy. Her writing career continued in Florence under the name of Dora d’Istria, and most of her works were published there. Her works such as Peterinage au tombeau de Dante and La Vie monastique dans les eglises Orientales (1844) and La Suisse allemande were characterized by a lightness of touch and a brilliance of description. Other works included Les Femmes en Orient (1859 – 1860, 2 vols) and Des Femmes perune Femme (1869, 2 vols). One of her last works Gii Albanesi in Roumenia; storia dei Principi Ghika nei secoli XVII – XIV, was a history of her own family and was published in 1873.

Ghika, Liane de Pougy, Princess    see   Pougy, Liane de

Ghilany, Johanna von – (1864 – 1888)
German mezzo-soprano
Ghilany was born in Vienna, and trained as a singer during childhood. She began her stage career at the theatre in Lubeck (1883). Ghilany then joined the court opera in Berlin, Prussia (1884), where she attained notable success, especially as Amneris in Aida and as Ortrud in Lohengrin. Her life and career were cut short by lung disease. Johanna von Ghilany died (Jan 7, 1888) aged twenty-three, in Berlin.

Ghisi, Diana Scultori – (1547 – 1612)
Italian painter and engraver
Sometimes known as ‘Diana Mantovana,’ she was born and trained in Mantua, hence her popular surname of ‘Mantovana.’ She was the first woman permitted to place her own signature on her work. When she went to Rome to work (1575), she was granted permission to use the name ‘Mantovana’ to sell her work.

Ghislaine of Monaco    see     Dommanguet, Ghislaine

Ghistelles, Louise Elisabeth de Melun, Princesse de – (1738 – after 1789)
French Bourbon courtier
A prominent courtier at the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI, Louise Elisabeth de Melun was born (Jan 17, 1738) the younger daughter of Jean Alexandre Theodose, Comte de Melun (1710 – 1738) and his wife Louise Elisabeth de Melun, the daughter of Gabriel de Melun, Burgrave of Ghent.
Louise de Melun became the wife (1758) of Philippe de Ghistelles (died 1760), the last Prince de Ghistelles, Marquis de Saint-Floris, and a grandee of Spain. Their only child, Prince Philippe Charles Louis Josephe Florent de Ghistelles (1760 – 1785), born six months prior to the death of his father, died unmarried at the age of twenty-five, and the Ghistelles title became extinct.
Madame de Ghistelles served at the court of Versailles as lady-in-waiting to the Princesses Adelaide, Victoire, and Sophie, the unmarried daughters of Louis XV (1715 – 1774), and was mentioned in the memoirs of the Marquise de Donnissan. The princesse also attended these ladies at their rural residence, the chateau of Bellevue. The princesse was living (June 15, 1788) and disappeared during the upheavals following the outbreak of the revolution.

Ghostley, Alice – (1926 – 2007)
American stage, film, and television actress and comedienne
Ghostley was born (Aug 14, 1926) at Eve in Missouri, the daughter of a telegraph operator. She left the University of Oklahoma in order to pursue an acting career. Alice Ghostley first appeared on the stage on Broadway in the, New Faces of 1952, produced by Leonard Stillman, and reprised this role for the film (1954). She appeared as Mavis Parodus Bryson in Lorraine Hansberry’s play The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, for which she received an Antoinette Perry Award (Tony) (1965).
Ghostley quickly moved to television, where she appeared as one of the ugly step-sisters in the musical production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1957), which starred Dame Julie Andrews in the title role. However, she was best known for her role of the witch housekeeper Esmeralda on, Bewitched (1969 – 1972) with Elizabeth Montgomery, whose nervousness caused her to continually vanish out of shyness, and as cousin Alice in, Mayberry R.F.D. (1970 – 1971). She made quite a number of films, and appeared as Stephanie Crawford in the classic movie To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Alice Ghostley was later well received in the character of Bernice Clifton in the popular television series Designing Women (1987 – 1993) for which she was voted an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actress (1992). She also appeared as the crazy mother-in-law of Bea Arthur in a flashback episode of the popular sitcom The Golden Girls. Alice Ghostley died (Sept 21, 2007) in Studio City, Los Angeles, California, aged eighty-one, having sufferred from cancer and a series of debilitating strokes.

Ghoussoub, Mai – (1952 – 2007)
Lebanese artist, publisher and writer
Mai Ghoussoub was born (Nov, 1952) in Beirut, the daughter of a professional football player. Raised as a Maronite Christian she attended the University of Beirut and then went to London for further study at Morley College. During the Lebanese Civil War she established medical dispensaries to assist the Muslin poor, and worked with the local hospitals. After being injured by an explosion she returned to England where she worked as a journalist for Arabic newspapers. Using the pseudonym ‘Magida Salman’ she co-wrote, Comprendre le Liban (1977), with Andre Gaspard (Selim Accaoui). With Gide she founded the Al Saqi bookshop in London (1979) which specialized in Arab literature, and the Dar al-Saqi publishing house in Beirut (1990). Mai Ghoussoub published her autobiography Leaving Beirut: women and the wars within (1998). Mai Ghoussoub died (Feb 17, 2007) in London, aged fifty-four.

Ghozdary, Rabi’ah    see   Quzdari, Rabi’ah

Ghurka, Madame    see   Gibson, Julia

Giachetti, Ada – (1863 – 1934)
British opera singer and concert performer
Ada Giachetti was strikingly beautiful, and had established herself as a successful singer, when she was herself married when she met became the famous Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso (1873 – 1921), a decade her junior, and became his mistress. Ada bore Caruso four children, of whom two sons survived, but as the Italian law prevented divorce, they could never be formally married. Despite their undoubted affection for each other, their union remained turbulent, and eventually the relationship was taken before the public courts, which created much adverse publicity for Caruso (1912), despite the fact that Ada had run away with his chauffeur to South America. She also claimed that Caruso had stolen her jewellery. Eventually the matter was settled amicably out of court, and Caruso made a monthly allowance to support Ada and their two sons.

Giaconi, Luisa – (1870 – 1908) 
Italian poet and Symblost painter
Giaconi was born in Florence, the daughter of a mathematics teacher and an art copyist. She was educated at the Accademia delle belle arti in Florence, and established a career for herself as a copyist painter. Her verses, which were only published after her death, were strongly influenced by both the pre-Raphaelite group in England, and the work of the Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio. Her written work was published as, Tebaide (1912). Luisa Giaconi died in Florence.

Giannini, Dusolina – (1900 – 1986)
Italian-American soprano
Giannini was born (Dec 19, 1900) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Ferruccio Giannini, and was sister to the composer, Vittorio Giannini (1903 – 1966). Dusolina studied singing under Marcella Sembrich in New York, where she made her stage debut in concert (1920). She made her debut in opera as Aida with the Hamburg Opera (1925), and also performed in Vienna and London. She appeared with the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1936 – 1941). She created the role of Hester in The Scarlett Letter (1938), produced by her brother Vittorio. Dusolina Giannini died (June 26, 1986) aged eighty-five, in Zurich, Switzerland.

Giannopoulou, Ifigeneia – (1964 – 2004)
Greek lyricist and songwriter
Giannopoulou was a talented musician and also wrote several books for children. She wrote the lyrics for such popular songs as ‘O rolos tis gynaikas, which was sung by Iro, and ‘Vitsia gynaikon’ and ‘Kontsia Amazores, both of which were sung by the acclaimed Greek singer, Vlassis Bonatsos (1949 – 2004). Ifigeneia Giannopoulou died suddenly (June 24, 2004).

Gibberd, Kathleen – (1897 – 1992)
British novelist and sociologist
Gibberd was employed as the education correspondent for the Sunday Times (1956 – 1961) and then for the New Statesman (1961 – 1970). She worked in London as a freelance writer and broadcaster, devoting much of her energy to the defence of the rights of the elderly. Gibberd’s published works included Citizenship Through the Newspaper, Politics on the Blackboard (1954) and Teaching Religion in Schools. Kathleen Gibberd died (May 5, 1992) in Lewes, Sussex.

Gibbings, Beatrice May – (1877 – 1963)
Anglo-Australian nurse
Gibbings was born in England, and immigrated to Western Australia with her family. She had trained as a nurse at the Kalgoorlie District Hospital, and with the outbreak of WW I, she sailed with the first contingent of Australian nurses to sail from Albany (1915). Beatrice served the wounded troops at Heliopolis in Egypt, and on the battlefields of France, and for her service was awarded the RRC (Royal Red Cross). She later worked in a military hospital in Britain before her ultimate retirement, when she returned to Western Australia. Beatrice remained unmarried. Beatrice Gibbings died (Jan 30, 1963) aged eighty-five, in Perth.

Gibbons, Abigail Hopper – (1801 – 1893)
American abolitionist, reformer, nurse and letter writer
Abigail Gibbons was a prominent campaigner in the field of social reform, and also worked to improve the conditions endured by prisoners. Her letters were edited by her daughter, Sarah Hopper Emerson. They were published posthumously as the Life of Abby Hopper Gibbons.Told Chiefly Through Her Correspondence (1896 – 1897).

Gibbons, Gladys – (1903 – 1969)
Australian printmaker and artist
Born Gladys Walker in Sydney, New South Wales, she studied at the Julian Ashton School and was married to the painter Henry Gibbons. Gladys Gibbons was taught printmaking by Thea Proctor and was particulalry noted for her linocuts and woodcuts.

Gibbons, Stella Dorothea – (1902 – 1989) 
British novelist, poet and journalist
Gibbons was born (Jan 5, 1902) in London, the daughter of a physician from Kentish Town. She was raised there before attending the North London Collegiate School for Girls and the University College London. Stella Gibbons worked in London as a journalist for such publications as the Lady and the Evening Standard, and was also employed as a cable decoder for the British United Press after the war. She was married (1933) to the actor and vocalist, Allan Bourne Webb, to whom she bore a daughter.
Her first published work was the poetic collection, Mountain Beast (1930), which contained pastoral verses, but she first attracted critical attention with her amusingly satirical novel, Cold Comfort Farm (1932), gained her the Femina Vie Heureuse prize (1933).  Her own favourite work was the novel, Ticky (1943), which satirized army life, and did not prove popular. Her poetic verses was published as, Collected Poems (1950), The Priestess (1951), and, The Lowland Venus (1952). Gibbons was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1950).
Stella Gibbons’ other published works included the comic novels, A Pink Front Door (1959) and The Snow-Woman (1969), the children’s book The Untidy Gnome (1935), and the anthologies of short stories entitled Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm (1940) and Conferences at Cold Comfort Farm (1949), though these works did not prove as popular as the originals. Stella Gibbons died (Dec 19, 1989) aged eighty-seven, in London.

Gibbs, Helena Frances Augusta Cambridge, Lady – (1899 – 1969)
British royal
Born HSH (Her Serene Highness) Princess Helena Frances Augusta of Teck (Oct 23, 1899) at Grosvenor House, London, she was the daughter of Prince Adolphus of Teck, and his wife Lady Margaret Evelyn Grosvenor, the third daughter of Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, the first Duke of Westminster. She was the great-great-granddaughter of King George III (1760 – 1820) and his wife Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and was the paternal niece of Queen Mary, the wife of George V (1910 – 1936).
With the anti-German sentiment aroused by WW I, King George V changed the name of the British royal family to Windsor, and renounced all German titled borne by member of the royal family in England. Prince Adolphus adopted the style of first Marquess of Cambridge, and Princess Helena became Lady Helena Cambridge, with the style and precedence of the daughter of a marquess. Lady Helena Cambridge became the wife (1919) of Colonel John Evelyn Gibbs (1879 – 1932) at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. There were no children and Helena survived her husband for over thirty-five years as the Dowager Lady Gibbs (1932 – 1969). Lady Helena Gibbs died (Dec 22, 1969) aged seventy.

Gibbs, May – (1877 – 1969) 
Australian children’s author and illustrator
Cecilia May Gibbs was born (Jan 17, 1877) in Sydenham, Kent, England, the daughter of a public servant. She immigrated to Australia with her family as a small child (1881), finally settling in Perth, where she attended school. May Gibbs studied art in London and Chelsea (1900 – 1901) and (1904 – 1905), and became an active supporter of the women’s suffrage movement. Gibbs was best known for her children’s book Gumnut Babies (1916), which introduced such beloved characters as Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, and was illustrated with Australian wildflowers and animals. This was followed by the book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (1918), which taught children to be kind to animals, and caused Gibbs to be made a life member of the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) (1919). After marriage with a mining agent, Gibbs moved to Sydney, New South Wales, and established her house ‘Nutcote’ along Sydney Harbour. A successful cartoonist, much of her work was published overseas, and she was also a talented portrait painter, her work being exhibited with the Women Painters’ and the Society of Artists’. She was appointed MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1955) in recognition of her services to literature. May Gibbs died (Nov 27, 1969) aged ninety-two.

Gibbs, Dame Molly Peel – (1912 – 1997) 
British colonial figure
Molly Peel Nelson was born (July 13, 1912), the second daughter of John Nelson, of Bulawayo, South Africa, and was educated at Barnato Park in Johannesburg. She became the wife (1934) of the colonial diplomat, Sir Humphrey Vicary Gibbs (born 1902), younger son of the first Lord Hunsdon, to whom she bore five sons. Lady Gibbs served as first Lady of Rhodesia (1959 – 1969), which later became Zimbabwe during her husband’s term as colonial governor. She was appointed C.ST.J (Commander of the Order of St John of Jerusalem) and was created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1969).

Gibbs, Olive Frances – (1918 – 1995)
British Labour politician and pacifist
Olive Gibbs was born (Feb 17, 1918). She became the first woman chairman of the Oxfordshire County Council and served twice as lord mayor. Passionate concerning world peace, she led the Oxford branch of the CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), and later served as chairman of the organization (1964 – 1967).

Giberne, Agnes – (1845 – 1939)
British children’s evangelical author and scientific writer
Agnes Giberne was born in India and returned to England as a child. She lived and travelled extensively in Europe and never married, remaining under her father’s roof. Her works for children included The Lost Found: Or, Brunhild’a Trials (1876), but she was better known for her well written scientific works such as Sun, Moon and Stars (1879) and The World’s Foundations, or Geology for Beginners (1881).

Gibney, Nancy Flagg – (1922 – 1980)
American magazine editor and writer
Nancy Flagg was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Smith College. She married (1946) the painter and sculptor, Robert Gibney. Nancy Gibney wrote articles for Vogue magazine in New York, which awarded her the Prix de Paris prize, and where she worked under Edna Woolman Chase, and also wrote for McCall’s and the prestigious Red Book. She was a friend of such writers and intellectual figures as Charles Saxon and Thomas Merton. Nancy Flagg Gibney died (Feb 12, 1980) of cancer, aged fifty-seven, at Hawksnest Bay, St John, in the Virgin Islands.

Gibson, Althea – (1927 – 2003)
Black American tennis player and golfing champion
Gibson was born (Aug 25, 1927) in Silver City, South Carolina, the daughter of sharecroppers, and played tennis from an early age. She was forced by family finances to leave school and take a job in order to bring home a wage, but was sponsored by a wealthy black family, which enabled her to gain a college education. Althea Gibson was the first black woman to win the US Open at Forest Hills (1950) and Wimbledon (1957). Gibson won both the French and Italian singles chamionships (1956), and the British (1957) and American titles (1958). She played on a professional basis from 1959, winning the professional singles title (1960), and appearing in several films, including, The Horse Soldiers (1959). She also worked as a night-club singer and wrote the autobiography, I Always Wanted to be Somebody (1958). Gibson was included in the National Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame (1971). A decade afterwards she was also inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame (1980). After retiring from competitive sports she recorded a singing album Althea Gibson Sings (1959), and became the first African-American woman to play in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (1964). She was later appointed as the New Jersey state commissioner of athletics (1975). Althea Gibson died (Sept 28, 2003) aged seventy-six, in East Orange, Jersey.

Gibson, Bessie Dickson – (1868 – 1961)
Australian artist and painter
Elizabeth Gibson was born at Ipswich in Queensland. She studied under Godfrey Rivers in Brisbane, when she became her career as a miniaturist, before travelling to France where she studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Gibson’s works were exhibited at the Paris Salon and at the Royal Academy in London, and included the watercolour and charcoal painting, Interior with table (c1925), which was preserved in the collection of the National Gallery in Canberra. Bessie Gibson lived in France for several decades returning to live in Australia after WW II.

Gibson, Dorothy Winifred – (1889 – 1946) 
American actress
Dorothy Gibson was the daughter of Leonard Gibson and his wife Pauline Boeson. Dorothy became firstly a model, and then an actress, appearing in the 1912 film Easter Bonnet, after which she joined her parents in Europe. Dorothy and her mother boarded the fateful liner Titanic at Cherbourg, but were rescued from the disaster in the lifeboats. Dorothy starred as herself in the silent film Saved From the Titanic, released (May 12, 1912), which was produced by Harry Raver Buntine. Unfortunately, no copies of this movie are known to exist. Dorothy’s career as an actress never really eventuated, despite this early celebrity.

Gibson, Elsie Maud – (1887 – 1970)
Australian nurse
Gibson was born (Aug, 1887) in Tasmania. She trained as a nurse in Hobart at the general Hospital (1909 – 1913) and was later married (1917) to Captain Henry Talbot Hamilton. Just prior to WW I Gibson had been appointed matron of the New Norfolk Bush Nursing Hospital, but she left to join the AIF (Australian Imperial Force), and served aboard hospital ships (1915 – 1918). During the Gallipoli campaign, Gibson served aboard the Sicilla and the Dunbar Castle. Elsie Gibson died (Oct, 1970) aged eighty-three.

Gibson, Julia – (1872 – 1953)
Russian-Australian phrenologist
Julia Gibson was born (Feb 7, 1872) in Odessa. She was married firstly in England to Albert Olsen. She later remarried in Warsaw, Poland (1903) to Zakarie Ermakov, with whom she is said to have become involved in anarchist activities, and been employed by the British secret service. Julia’s second husband adopted the anglicized name of Henry Gibson, and she travelled with him throughout England and South Africa, working as vaudeville performers. Julia Ginson arrived in Australia (1917) and practised as a phrenologist (study of the functions of the human brain) in Melbourne, Victoria. Using the name ‘Madame Ghurka’ she appeared in various famous court cases, and won a libel suit against the Herald & Weekly Times (1951). Julia Gibson died (Sept 14, 1953) aged eighty-one, in Melbourne.

Gibson, Margaret Dunlop – (1843 – 1920)
British traveller, explorer, scholar, orientalist and author
Margaret Dunlop Smith was the daughter of John Smith, a solicitor, and was sister to Agnes Lewis. She was educated in Edinburgh and in London, and was married (1883) to James Young Gibson, a Spanish translator. His early death (1886) left her a childless widow. When her sister Agnes became a widow the two women resided together. They travelled to the monastery of St Catherine at Sinai in Palestine, where her particular fluency with the Greek language greatly assisted their research of ancient Syriac manuscripts. Together they discovered the Sinai Palimpsest manuscripts, several of which Margaret photographed and exhibited at the International Congress of Orientalists (1892). Using her sister’s diaries Margaret wrote and published How the Codex was Found (1898).

Gibson, Ruth – (1901 – 1973)
Australian feminist and educator
Gladys Ruth Gibson was born (Dec 29, 1901) at Goodwood Park, Adelaide, South Australia. She attended school at Unley, and was then trained as a teacher. Her first appointment as such was at Goodwood (1919), and was later appointed as an inspector (1941). Gibson was a member of the University Public Examinations Board, and was a strong supporter of educational opportunities for women. She was a founder member of the Australian College of Education, which later awarded her a fellowship (1963), and served as president of the South Australian Women Graduates’ Committee.
Ruth Gibson was one of the delegates who attended the International Council of Women in Edinburgh, Scotland (1938). She was later the president of the Australian National Council of Women (1953 – 1956) and organized women’s groups to welcome Queen Elizabeth II during her historic first visit to Australia (1954). She was selected as an official guest at the queen’s coronation. Her valuable work was officially recognized when she was appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) (1953) and later CBE (Commander of the British Empire) (1970) by Queen Elizabeth. Ruth Gibson died (Aug 23, 1973) aged seventy-one.

Gideon, Miriam – (1906 – 1996)
Jewish-American composer and teacher
Miriam Gideon was born (Oct 23, 1906) in Greeley, Colorado, the niece of organist Henry Gideon, under who she trained, as well as with musicians Martin Bernstein, Marion Bauer, Jacques Pillois, and others. She also studied composition with Lazare Starminksy and Roger Sessions. Gideon taught firstly at Brooklyn College at the University of New York (1944 – 1954), where she and her husband, Frederic Ewen, resigned during the McCarthy era rather than name names, then at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (1955 – 1967), and finally she taught at the Manhattan School of Music (1967 – 1991). Miriam Gideon composed much vocal music including Lyric Piece for Strings (1942), Mixco (1957), and Of Shadows Numberless (1966). She also composed music to verses penned by the colonial poet Anne Bradstreet, and was the second woman to be elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1975).

Gies, Miep - (1909 - 2010)
Dutch war heroine
Hermine Santrouschitz was born (Feb 15, 1909) in Vienna, but was always known was the diminutive 'Miep.' As a child she was sent to live with a foster family in Amsterdam (1922). She was there employed as a secretary (1933) by the Jewish businessman Otto Frank who ran a spice company. Miep became a personal friend to the Frank family.
With the invasion of Holland by the Nazis (1941) she was threatened with deportation to Austria when she refused to become a member of a Nazi women's organization. In order to avoid this eventuality, Miep and her fiancee Jan Gies (died 1993) were married, which granted her Dutch citizenship.
Miep, together with her husband, and three office colleagues were instrumental in assisting the Frank family, including their two daughters Margot and Anne, and Mr and Mrs van Pels (van Daan) and their son to go into hiding to escape the Nazi round up and deportation of Jews from Holland. These two families resided in a secret annexe in the upstairs part of Mr Frank's company (1942 - 1944). Despite the real threat of retribution from the Nazis if she was caught, Miep brought food and other necessaries to the annexe to keep the familie's going throughout the war. Eventually an anonymous informant alerted the Gestap and the annexe was discovered and the Franks and van Pels family deported to Germany.
Miep herself was not arrested by the Gestapo but later discovered Anne Frank's papers and diary in the annexe which she safely kept intending to return them to the girl after the war. However Anne, her sister and their mother all perished in concentration camps and only Otto Frank survived. With his return to Amsterdam Miep handed Anne's diary back to her father who caused them to be published as The Diary of Anne Frank (1947) and been translated into sixty-five languages.
For the rest of their lives Miep and her husband were honoured by the Jewish and Dutch people alike because of their selfless courage and devotion to their Jewish friends. Madame Gies was the recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg Award for Bravery and the Yad Vasehm medal (1995). She was also created a dame by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1997). Dame Miep Gies died (Jan 11, 2010) aged one hundred years, in Amsterdam.
Miep was portrayed on the screen most notably by Mary Steenburgen in The Attic : The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988) and by Lili Taylor in Anne Frank Remembered (2001).

Giffard, Helen Sheridan, Countess of    see   Sheridan, Helen Selina

Giffard, Martha Temple, Lady – (1638 – 1722)
English Stuart courtier and letter writer
Martha Temple was sister to the noted diplomat Sir William Temple, and was sister-in-law to Dorothy Osborne. Her correspondents included such figures as Dorothy, countess of Sunderland, Waller’s Sacharissa,’ Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Somerset, William Godwin, and Elizabeth, Countess of Chesterfield.
Her own letters and those of her friends were later edited and published in London by Julia G. Longe in Martha, Lady Giffard, Her Life and Correspondence (1644 – 1722).A Sequel to the Letters of Dorothy Osborne (1911).

Giffard, Rohaise (Rohese) – (c1043 – 1114)
Anglo-Norman medieval heiress and religious benefactress
Rohaise Giffard was the daughter of Walter Giffard, Comte de Brionne in Normandy. She was married (c1058) to Richard Fitzgilbert (c1033 – 1090), the first Earl of Clare in England. According to the Domesday Book the countess held lands at St Neot’s in Huntingdonshire, where she founded a religious house, and where her husband was buried at his death. Rohaise appears in a charter with her son Gilbert (1113) and died soon afterwards, having survived her husband over two decades. Her numerous descendants became coheirs of the ancient Giffard estates, and her particular descendant, Gilbert, seventh Earl of Clare inherited the estates (1217) of his,  ‘…grandmother, Maude de St Hilary, and a moiety of the honour of Giffard from his father who had been confirmed in his possession by Richard I as one of the coheirs of his ancestress Rohaise, daughter of Walter Giffard, earl of Buckingham.’ Her children included,

• Roger Fitzrichard (born c1060). He succeeded to his father’s estates of Bienfaite and Orbec in Normandy.
• Gilbert Fitzrichard (c1062 – 1115). He succeeded his father as second Earl of Clare (1090 – 1115) and left many descendants.
• Walter Ritzrichard (c1065 – 1138).
• Adeliza Fitzrichard. She became the wife of Walter Tirel III, Comte de Poix in Normandy.
• Robert Fitzrichard (c1070 – 1134).
• Richard Fitzrichard, Abbot of Ely.
• Rohaise Fitzrichard (died after 1088). She was married to Eudes ‘the Sewer’ (Eudes de Ryes) (c1055 – 1120).

Gigliola da Carrara    see    Cecilia da Carrara

Gigliucci, Contessa Clara     see   Novello, Clara Anastasia

Gila of Margere – (fl. c1180 – after 1205)
Anglo-Norman religious patron
Gila was originally a nun with the Abbey of Margere, in Boulogne, attached to the Norman abbey of Arouaise. Gila came to England with another nun, and she ultimately became the prioress of Harrold in Bedfordshire by 1188, when she is specifically mentioned in a charter with the rank of prioress. Surviving letters from Pope Innocent III reveal that Gila was still in office in 1199 and 1205. She was succeeded in office by her former companion Jelita, who appears to have been joint-abbess. Gila of Margere played a prominent part in gaining some measure of independence for Harrold priory from its’ mother house, the abbey of Arouaise.

Gilbert, Anne Kelledy – (1869 – 1944)
American author
Born Anne Kelledy at Port Gibson in Mississippi, and was educated there and in Baltimore, Maryland. She became the wife of Albert Morgan Gilbert. Apart from a volume of verse, Gilbert wrote articles on a variety of subjects for such periodicals as the Washington Post and the New York Times. Anne Gilbert died (Nov 6, 1944) in Washington, D.C., aged seventy-five.

Gilbert, Elizabeth – (1824 – 1885)
British pioneer of work for the blind
Elizabeth Gilbert was the daughter of the Bishop of Chichester. She was stricken blind after an attack of scarlet fever (1827), but her parents organized an excellent education for her despite her handicap. Elizabeth was taught to read using new books with raised letters, and learned to use the writing frame devised by Foucault. A blind teacher, William Levy, then instructed Elizabeth in a rudimentary form of typewriting, which inspired her to use her considerable inheritance for the help and maintenance of the blind. She travelled to Scotland in order to study the facilities of the Blind School in Edinburgh (1856), and established workrooms on premises she acquired, so that men and women could be tried and supervise in making household goods for sale. Gilbert’s shop in Oxford Street, London, developed to the Institution for the Welfare of Blind People, and the Prince of Wales became the official patron (1869), at his own particular request. She then attempted to have provisions for the blind included in the Education Act (1870), but ill-health forced her eventual retirement from the campaign.

Gilbert, Katherine    see    Champernowne, Katherine

Gilbert, Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna      see      Montez, Lola

Gilboe, Gerda – (1914 – 2009)
Danish theatre and film actress
Gilboe was born (July 5, 1914) and worked in theatre and opera in Aarhus. She later went to Copenhagen and became nationally famous when she appeared as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1960) she appeared in several films early in her career such as Moster fra Mols (1943), En ny dag gryer (1945) and Lise kommer til Byen (1947). Gilboe later taught drama and rhetoric and continued to appear in films until aged almost ninety. Her credits included Kun sandheden (1975), Sidste akt (1987), Isolde (1989), Lad isbjornen danse (1990), Carlo & Esther (1994) considered to be one of her finest performances, Antenneforeningen (1999) and Dybt vand (1999). Her last film role was in A Time for Anna (2003). Gerda Gilboe died (April 14, 2009) aged ninety-four.

Gilbreth, Lillian Evelyn Moller – (1878 – 1972)
American pioneer industrial engineer and industrial psychologist
Lillian Moller was born (May 24, 1878) in Oakland, California, and studied English literature at Berkeley University, and later went on to study at Brown University. She was married to (1904) to Frank Gilbreth (1868 – 1924), to whom she bore twelve children. Lillian Gilbreth was appointed as professor of management at the University of Purdue (1935), and went on to establish and organize the Time and Motion Study Laboratory there, in conjunction with her husband. They became partners in the management consulting firm, Gilbreth, Inc. which they had established together.
Her family life was the subject of the book Cheaper by the Dozen, written by their daughter Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, and which was later made into a successful film (1950) with Lillian and her husband portrayed by Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb. Mrs Gilbreth became the first woman to be elected into the National Academy of Engineering, and The United States Postal Service later placed her portrait on a stamp in her honour (1984). Her portrait (1921) is preserved at the National Portrait Gallery. Lillian Gilbreth died (Jan 2, 1972) in Scottsdale, Arizona, aged ninety-three.

Gilchrist, Anne Burrows – (1828 – 1885)
American letter writer
Anne Gilchrist was the lover and correspondent (1871 – 1885) of Walt Whitman. She later married and bore two children. Her letters, which included several from her children, were later edited and published posthumously in New York as by Thomas Harned as Letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman (1918).

Gilchrist, Connie (1) – (1863 – 1946)
British actress and dancer
Constance Gilchrist was the daughter of David Macdonald Gilchrist, a civil engineer. As ‘Connie’ Gilchrist she first appeared as Harlequin in a pantomime at the Adelphi in 1876, and in 1879 was acting in burlesque in the Gaiety. The artist James whistler painted Connie as The Gold Girl. 
A very popular dancer, she retired from the stage after her marriage (1892) with Edmond Hamilton, the seventh Earl of Orkney (1867 – 1951). She was given way at the wedding by the Duke of Beaufort, and her niece was one of the bridesmaids. Her only child, Lady Mary Constance Hamilton (1903 – 1950) was married (1927) to Edward Lambert Gosling, and in 1939 was heiress presumtive to the earldom of Orkney, but she predeceased her father.

Gilchrist, Connie (2) – (1901 – 1985)
American character actress
Born Rose Gilchrist, her film credits included Billy the Kid (1941), The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit (1956), Auntie Mame (1959), and, A House Is Not a Home (1964). She also appeared in the television series Long John Silver (1955).

Gilchrist, Roma Catherine – (1909 – 1983)
Australian feminist and pacifist
She was born Roma Tuffin (Sept 1, 1909) in England, and immigrated toWestern Australia with her parents as a child. She was married (1931) to John Gilchrist, an active Labour official, to whom she bore five children. Roma Gilchrist joined the Modern Women’s Club founded by Katharine Susannah Prichard. She later left this organization to join the Union of Australian Women (1950), of which she served as vice-president (1954) and then president (1957 – 1971). This organization admitted Aboriginal women as members, and they fought for indigenous rights, and for improved hospital and child care. Gilchrist represented the Peace Council of Western Australia at the Assembly for Peace (1955) in Helsinki, Finland. She later organized peace marches in Fremantle and Perth, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace (1970). Roma Gilchrist died (Oct 29, 1983) aged seventy-four.

Gil da Gama, Leonarda    see    Gloria, Madalena da

Gilder, Jeanette Leonard – (1849 – 1916) 
American editor and critic
Gilder was for some time employed by the New York Herald. Later she co-founded The Critic (1881 – 1906) with her brother and others, Jeanette later became the sole editor of their magazine. She herself contributed articles and columns to this publication including the literary review The Lounger.

Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron – (1877 – 1965)
American academic, scholar, and college administrator
Gildersleeve was born (Oct 3, 1877) in New York, where she attended Columbia University. She then became a teacher at Barnard College, where she served as Dean for thirty-six years (1911 – 1947). Virginia Gildersleeve became an important figure in international affairs, and was the only female US delegate to attend the foundation conference of the United Nations, which was held in San Francisco (1945). She was the author of Government Regulations of the Elizabethan Drama (1908). Virginia Gildersleeve died (July 7, 1965) aged ninety-seven, at Centerville, Massachusetts.

Giles, Boronia Lucy (Bonnie) – (1909 – 1978)
Australian journalist and editor
Born Boronia Sanderson (Aug 25, 1909) at Collie, Western Australia, she was the daughter of an engine driver. She spent nearly five years at the Perth Modern School (1922 – 1927) before studying the arts at the University of Western Australia. Bonnie Sanderson began her journalistic career with the Daily News (1929) and was married in Perth (1932) to fellow journalist Robert Owen Giles. There were five children. Giles wrote for the children’s section of the Daily News, using the pseudonyms, ‘Peg Peggoty,’ and, ‘Auntie Nell.’ She later adopted the pen name, ‘Mary Ferber,’ by which name she became well known as the provider of a popular advice column. With the end of WW II she wrote a regular current affairs column, which proved enormously popular. Bonnie Giles was later appointed to the State Health Education Council (1959), and was for a decade the editor of, Our Children, the magazine of the Slow Learning Children’s Group. She retired in 1969. Boronia Giles died (May 2, 1978) aged sixty-eight, at Maylands, Perth.

Giles, Lily     see     Anderson, Lily

Gilette of Brienne (Gilie) – (b. c1060)
French countess of Anjou
Gilette was the daughter of Gautier I (Walter), Count of Brienne and his wife Eustachie of Bar-sur-Aube, Countess of Tonnerre, the daughter of Milon III, Count of Tonnerre. She was married firstly (c1069) to Coult Fulk IV of Anjou (1043 – 1109) as his second wife, but the marriage was quickly annulled due to her youth (1070). She was returned to her family who later arranged for her second marriage (c1081) to the nobleman Ascelin, who was granted the fief of Chappes in Champagne, probably at the time of his marriage with Gilette. She was the mother of Ascelin’s son and successor Gautier (c1983 – before 1114), Seigneur of Chappes who left descendants. Gilette was the founder of the priory of l’Abbaye-sous-Plancy.

Gilette of Narbonne – (fl. c1300 – c1340)
French medieval physician
Gilette was born in Narbonne, Languedoc, the daughter of an established physician, Gerard de Narbonne. With the death of her father, Gilette took over his practice and treated his patients, and her services were even required by the royal court. The Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio referred to her respectfully as ‘Donna Medica’ in his De Claris Mulieribus.

Gilfillan, May    see   Vale, May

Gilford, Yvonne Ruth – (1941 – 1996)
Australian trained nurse and internationally famous murder victim
Yvonne Gilford was born in South Australia. Whilst working as a registered nurse at the King Fahd Military Medical Complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, she was stabbed to death (Dec 11, 1996) at the age of fifty-five, for money by two British nurses she was working there with. The case dragged on for several years and created much media interest, which reignited the debate concerning capital punishment, to which the two guilty nurses may have been subject under Saudi law. Her family in Australia originally supported the death penalty, but eventually the two nurses were deported to Britain to serve lengthy prison terms.

Giliani, Alessandra – (1306 – 1326)
Italian anatomist
Alessandra Giliani was a native of Periceto. At a young age she attended the University of Bologna, and became the student, and later the assistant, of the famous physician and anatomist Mondino dei Luzzi. Alessandra herself dissected and prepared the corpses used by Luzzi for his lectures, cleaning the veins and filling them with coloured liquid, which was then allowed to solidify. This process allowed the circulatory system to be studied in great detail. Alessandra died young (March 26, 1326), aged only nineteen. Luzzi’s other assistant Otto Agenius, who was probably Alessandra’s betrothed, erected a memorial tablet to her in the church of San Pietro de Marcellino.

Gilkeson, Elizabeth Chapman – (1903 – 1998)
American educator and school founder
Gilkeson was born in Bethel, Me, and attended Vassar College. She was a co-founder of the Poughkeepsie Day School at Vassar (1934), which was organized along modern, more progressive lines, and studied child and adult development at Columbia University. Gilkeson founded the Polly Miller Child Center in Marble Hill, and was associated with the Bank Street College of Education for more than forty years. Elizabeth Gilkeson died (Oct 7, 1998) in Manhattan, New York aged ninety-five.

Gill, Inga – (1925 – 2000)
Swedish film actress
Inga Gill was born (May 2, 1925) in Stockholm. She made her first movie appearance in 1946, and her career continued over several decades, when she appeared in the television mini-series Labyrinten (2000). Inga Gill appeared in over fifty films and her credits included Thirst (1949), The Seventh Seal (1957), The Devil’s Eye (1960), and Cries and Whispers (1972).
Miss Gill also worked in television, appearing in such popular series as Gumman som blev liten som en tesked (1967), Fran A till O (1974), Varuhuset (1987 – 1989), and Snoken (1997), when she played Frida Ahlgren. Inga Gill died (Oct 18, 2000) in Stockholm, aged seventy-five.

Gill, Sarah Prince – (1728 – 1771) 
American colonist and essayist
Sarah Prince was the daughter of Thomas Prince, an American Puritan clergyman, and a British mother. Sarah received a strict education, but had an avid and intelligent capacity for study. Her private religious writings and journal was published posthumously as Devotional Papers (1773) in Norwich, Connecticut.

Gillespie, Ada Maude – (1871 – 1935)
Australian Anglican deaconess
Gillespie was born in Bathurst, New South Wales. She attended Girton College in Cambridge, England, and was married to Gideon Charles Gillespie. Ada Gillespie served as secretary of the Ranyard Mission in London (1925 – 1929) and was a member of the staff of the Poetry Review journal. She was later appointed as principal of the Church of England Deaconesses Training Institution in Newtown, Sydney. Ada Gillespie died (Dec 14, 1935) aged sixty-four, in Sydney.

Gillespie, Eliza Maria – (1824 – 1887)
American Catholic educator
Eliza Gillespie was born near Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Eliza joined the Sisters of the Holy Cross in the United States, and took the religious name of ‘Mother Angela.’ Appointed superior, Eliza remained in office for nearly thirty years, and during that period she supervised the work of her nuns during the Civil War (1861 – 1865). Mother Angela also founded the convent of St Mary, Notre Dame in Indiana. Her personal letters were edited and published posthumously by Anna Shannon McAllister in New Jersey as Flame in the Wilderness: Life and Letters of Mother Angela Gillespie, C.S.C., 1824 – 1887, American Foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Cross (1944).

Gillett, Amy – (1975 – 2005)
Australian sportswoman
Born Amy Safe, in Adelaide, South Australia, she studied at the University of South Australia. She was married world champion athlete and coach, Simon Gillett. Amy Gillett won two gold medals in the world junior rowing titles (1993) and (1994), and was a member of the women’s eight that finished fifth in the Atlanta Olympics (1996). She concentrated more on cycling from 2000, and was a member of the World Cup cycling teams in 2002 and 2003. Amy Gillett died tragically in car collision whilst cycling (July 20, 2005), at Zeulenroda, near Leipzig, in Germany, two of her companions being seriously injured.

Gillian, Kay    see   Smith, Kay Nolte

Gilliatt, Penelope – (1932 – 1993)
British film and theatre critic, novelist and screenwriter
Penelope Gilliatt was born in London, and was best remembered for several relationship exploring novels such as Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) (1971), The Cutting Edge (1978), and the biographical studioes of eccentricity entitled Splendid Lives (1977).

Gillies, Agnes Margaret – (1874 – 1920)
Australian editor
Agnes Gillies was born in Patterson, New South Wales, the daughter of Dugald Gillies. She was raised in the Richmond river district and became postmistress at Tintenbar. Gillies never married and later accompanied her brother, William Neal Gillies, to Atherton in Queensland (1911), where she became editor of the Atherton Examiner in newspaper. Agnes Gillies died (Jan 28, 1920) aged forty-five, in Brisbane.

Gillis, Nannie Ethel – (1873 – 1968)
American educator, historian and author
Gillis was born (Feb 6, 1873) in Mississippi, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. She was trained as a teacher, serving for over five decades (1903 – 1955) as an educator with the public school system. Nannie Gillis remained unmarried and served as superintendent of education for Pike County in Mississippi (1924 – 1940) and was elected as president of the Mississippi Education Association (1928). Nannie Gillis was the author of The History of Pike County and McComb in Story and Pageant: Celebrating the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Charting of McComb, Mississippi (1922). Nannie Gillis died (Nov 10, 1968) aged ninety-five, in McComb.

Gillmore, Inez   see   Irwin, Inez Haynes

Gilman, Caroline Howard – (1794 – 1888)
American author, children’s writer, letter writer and diarist
Caroline Gilman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of a shipbuilder. She was married (1819) to the clergyman Samuel Gilman, with whom she resided at Charleston in South Carolina, and bore him seven children.
Mrs Gilman was the editor of The Rosebud magazine (1832 - 1842), one of the earliest publications for children. Her sketches concerning household management were published as Recollections of a New England Bride (1834) and was followed by Recollections of a Southern Matron (1837). Gilman also published the poetic collection entitled Verses of a Lifetime (1849).
Caroline Gilman had several sons fighting in the Civil War. Her personal correspondence covers a period of seven decades. Extracts from this work for the period of the war years (1861 – 1865) were published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine as Letters of a Confederate Mother: Charleston in the Sixties (1926).

Gilman, Charlotte Anna Perkins – (1860 – 1935)
American feminist, social reformer and writer
Charlotte Anne Perkins was born (July 3, 1860) in Hartford, Connecticut. She was educated at the Rhode Island School of Design and was married to the painter, Charles Stetson (1884), to whom she bore several children, and from whom seperated and was finally divorced (1894). Charlotte Stetson then removed to California, where she supported herself by writing, and became the author of short stories such as ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and the collection of verse entitled In This Our World (1893). She became closely involved with the campaign for women’s suffrage, and gave public lectures. This work culminated in the publishing of the classic work Women and Economics (1898).
Charlotte was married secondly (1902), to her cousin, George Gilman, a lawyer from New York. Charlotte Gilman was the founder and editor of the literary journal Forerunner (1909 – 1916), and she was the author of other works such as, His Religion and Hers (1923). After being informed that she was sufferring from an incurable cancer (1932), Mrs Gilman later committed suicide (Aug 11, 1935), aged seventy-five. Six decades afterwards she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame (1994).

Gilmartin, June    see    Gale, June

Gilmer, Elizabeth Meriwether     see     Dix, Dorothy

Gilmore, Elvir Winter – (1887 – 1970)
American musician and poet
Born Elvir Winter (June 2, 1887) in Elliott, Mississippi, she attended college in Grenada County before studying at the University of Chicago, Illinois. She was married to Millard Gilmore. Elvir Gilmore had trained extensively as a pianist, and was a director of the Chicago Art League. With her husband she later removed to Santa Barbara, California, where eh established herself as a successful piano teacher. She was the author of Home-Made Jingles: Little Rhyming Records of Everyday Life Interwoven with Bits of Home Philosophy and Kindly Humor (1934). Elvir Gilmore died (Nov 10, 1970) in Santa Barbara, aged eighty-three.

Gilmore, Dame Mary Jean – (1865 – 1962)
Australian poet, woman of letters, journalist and social activist
Born Mary Jean Cameron (Aug 16, 1865) at Cotta Walla, near Goulbourn, New South Wales, she was trained as a schoolteacher and was employed as an educator in mining towns, where she made her first contacts with the Labour movement, and became the first female member of the Australian Worker’s Union. Mary Cameron then joined (1896) the Utopian settlement established as ‘New Australia’ by William Lane in Paraguay in South America, and was there married to a fellow Australian shearer, William Gilmore. Husband and wife later returned to Australia (1902) and finally settled in Sydney (1912). For over two decades Gilmore was publisher of the Sydney Worker newspaper and she campaigned continually for a variety of worthy social causes. She dedicated her life and writing to the preservation of Australian folklore and traditions, and was the author of half a dozen published collections of verse such as Marri’d and Other Verses (1910), The Wild Swans (1930), and the controversial Battlefields (1939). Mary Gilmore was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by King George VI (1937) in recognition of her contributions to both literature and social work. She was the subject of the famous portrait by William Dobell (1957), and left two volumes of personal reminiscences entitled Old Days: Old Ways (1934) and More Recollections (1935). The volume of verse Selected Poems (1963) was published posthumously. Dame Mary Gilmore died (Dec 3, 1962) in Sydney, aged ninety-seven.

Gilmour, Mary Cecilia Rhodesia Hamilton, Lady – (1896 – 1984)
British aristocrat
Lady Mary Hamilton was born (Jan 21, 1896), the eldest daughter of James Albert Edward Hamilton (1869 – 1953), third Duke of Abercorn in Scotland, and his wife Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham, the daughter of George Bingham, the fourth Earl of Lucan (1830 – 1914). She was sister to James Edward Hamilton (1904 – 1979), the fifth Duke of Abercorn (1953 – 1979) and was the great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Lady Mary was married firstly (1917 – 1930) to Robert Orlando Rodolph Kenyon-Slaney (1892 – 1965), an officer in the Grenadier Guards, to whom she bore three children, including Vivien Kenyon-Slaney (born 1918) the future Marchioness of Linlithgow. Lady Mary and her husband were later divorced (1930). Lady Mary was married secondly (1932) to the baronet, Sir John Little Gilmour (1899 – 1977), as his second wife, and resided with him on his family estate of Carolside in Earlstown, Berwickshire. She bore Gilmour one son Alexander Clement Gilmour (1931 – 2009) who married twice and left issue, and survived her second husband as the Dowager Lady Gilmour (1977 – 1984). Lady Mary Gilmour died (Sept 5, 1984) aged eighty-eight.

Gilmour, Dame Susan – (1870 – 1962)
British diplomatic figure
The wife of Brigadier-General Sir Robert Gordon Gilmour (died 1939), who was created first baronet by George V (1926), she was born Lady Susan Lygon, the second daughter of Frederick Lygon, sixth Earl Beauchamp, and his first wife, Lady Mary Catherine Stanhope, the only daughter of the fifth Earl of Stanhope. Her stepmother was Lady Emily Annora Charlotte Pierrepoint, the daughter of the third Earl of Manvers. Lady Susan Gilmour became the mother of four children,

• Mary Gilmour (1890 – 1978). She became the wife of Sir Hugh Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen (1886 – 1971) and left issue.
• Margaret Gilmour (born 1892). She became the wife of Sir William Francis Stratford Dugdale (1872 – 1965), first baronet (1936 – 1965), of Merevale Hall, Atherstone, Warwickshire, and left issue.
• Grizel Gilmour (1894 – 1980). She became the wife of Arthur Oswald James Hope (1897 – 1958), second Baron Rankeillour (1949 – 1958). There were no children.
• Sir John Little Gilmour (1899 – 1977), who succeeded his father as second baronet (1939 – 1977). He was married twice and left issue.

Gilmour Wynn, Sally – (1921 – 2004)
Australian prima ballerina
Sally Gilmour was born (Nov 2, 1921) in Singapore, the daughter of a physician, and was sent to England to attend boarding school there. She trained as a dancer under Marie Rambert in Notting Hill, and with Tamara Karsavina. During WW II, together with her friend, fellow ballerina Dame Margaret Scott, Gilmour toured England to perform in the munitions factories in order to raise morale.
Her lover, the avant-garde ballet master Walter Gore, created the ballet, Winter Night especially for her, and she performed in his work, Confessional. Gilmour worked with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, and was particularly noted and acclaimed for her performances as Giselle. After visiting and performing in Australia (1947 – 1949), she remarried to cardiologist Allan Wynn (died 1990), and with him became a leading figure with the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne, Victoria. With her husband’s death in England, she returned to Australia permanently. Sally Gilmour Wynn died (May 24, 2004) in Sydney, aged eighty-two.

Gilpin, Laura – (1891 – 1979)
American photographer
Laura was born in Colorado, and was cousin to the photographer Henry Gilpin (born 1922). With a ‘brownie’ camera that she was given as a child (1903), Laura Gilpin produced the first colour autochromes, which were commercially available in Colorado Springs (1908). Gilpin later photographed the Grand Canyon (1916), and then studied for a year at the Clarence H. Whote School of Photography in New York. After this was completed she opened her own portrait studio (1918), and then held solo exhibitions of her work from 1924. She took photos of New Mexican ruins and during WW II she undertook public relations photography for the Boeing Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas (1942 – 1945). Gilpin then photographed the Rio Grande and made a photopgraphic documentary study of the Navaho Indians. She was the author of The Rio Grande: River of Destiny (1949) and The Enduring Navaho (1968).

Gilukhipa (Khirgipa) – (c1410 – c1365 BC)  
Queen consort of Egypt
Gilukhipa was the daughter of Shuttarna, king of Mittani. She was married (c1395 BC) to Amenhotep III, king of Egypt (c1415 – 1352 BC) as a secondary wife. Her elder sister or half-sister Mutemwiya was the wife of Tuthmosis IV, and mother of Amenhotep III, her own nephew. An historic scarab, issued at this time, announced the arrival of the princess, in the tenth year of his reign (c1396 BC), and revealed that Gilukhipa was escorted by 317 women of her harem, who acted as personal ladies-in-waiting. She was accorded the regal title and had her own court at the palace of Malkarta, but left no recorded children. When her niece Tadukhipa, the daughter of her brother, King Tushratta, was also sent to marry Amenhotep (c1368 BC), her brother wrote proudly to Amenhotep, asking him to compare the dowry he sent with his daughter, which he considered even more lavish than that which had been provided for his sister.

Ginanni, Maria – (1892 – 1953) 
Italian poet, novelist, feminist and dramatist
Born Maria Crisi in Naples, she became the wife of the painter Ginna, and edited the series, Libri di valore (Worthwhile Books), which her husband illustrated. A member of the futurist group of writer, she herself published Montagne trasparenti (Transparent Mountains (1917), Luci trasversali (Transverse Lights) (1917), and Il poema dello spazio (The Space Poem) (1919).

Ginczanka, Zuzanna – (1917 – 1944)
Russian poet
Ginczanka was born in Kiev, Ukraine, of Jewish background. Zuzanna studied at Warsaw University in Poland until she was forced to hide from the Nazis. She was later captured and imprisoned in Krakow, where she was later shot. Her published works included O centaurach (On the Centaurs) (1936), whilst her verses were published posthumously as Wiesze Wybrane (Selected Poems) (1953).

Ginger, Phyllis Ethel – (1907 – 2005)
British painter and lithographer
Ginger was born (Oct 19, 1907) and attended a school for girls at Kingston-upon-Thames before studying at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (1937 – 1939). A talented water colour artist, Ginger’s lithographic work was preserved in collections at the Washington State Library and in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and was elected a member of the RWS (Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours (1958). She designed the book jackets and illustrations for several works including London (1948) and The Virgin of Aldermanbury (1960), written by Mrs Robert Henrey. Phyllis Ginger died (May 3, 2005) aged ninety-seven.

Gingold, Hermione – (1897 – 1987)
British stage, film, radio, and television actress, writer and comedienne
Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold was born (Dec 9, 1897) in London, the daughter of a stockbroker. She was educated in France with a governess and then attended a private school before studying at the Rosini Filippi School of Theatre in England. She was married twice and bore two children. Hermione appeared on the stage from childhood, appearing in Shakespearean productions at Stratford-on-Avon and at the Old Vic Theatre in London, and was best known for her eccentric and usual character portrayals. She received the Donaldson Award for her performance in, Almanac on Broadway (1954) and a Golden Globe Award for her role in, Gigi (1958). Her last Braodway appearance was in, Side by Side by Sondheim (1977). Gingold appeared on various television shows such as The Tonight Show and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and she received a Grammy Award for her appearance in A Little Night Music (1976), and published two volumes of autobiography The World is Square (1958), and How to Grow Old Disgracefully (1988), which were published posthumously. Hermione Gingold died (May 24, 1987) in New York, aged eighty-nine.

Ginidza, Thoko – (c1942 – 1996)
Swazi anthropologist and academic
Thoko Ginidza studied sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as obtaining a master’s degree in teaching English. Her interest in anthropology was fostered and supported by the British anthropologist Hilda Kuper. Thoko was employed with the National Museum, the National Archives at Lobamba, and the ministry of Industry, Mines and Tourism. She later worked as a teacher in various schools, and devoted herself to researching the oral traditions of her people. Thoko came to be recognized internationally as a leading authority on Swazi culture. Her published works included Simbongo, Live Liyeng Cayelwa, and Tibongo Temakhosi Neteti Ndlovukazi.

Ginnasi, Caterina – (1590 – 1660)
Italian painter
Caterina Ginnasi was the daughter of Dionisio Ginnasi and his wife Faustina Gottardi, and was niece to Cardinal Domenico Ginnasi. Her uncle had arranged for Caterina to be married to her first cousin, Francesco Ginnasi, and had obtained a papal dispensation for the union, but her paretns refused to consent. Instead she eventually became a Carmelite nun (1637) in the convent of Corpus Christi in Rome, which had been built within the Ginnasi family palace. With the death of her uncle (1639) he left Caterina and her mother Faustina, as administrators of the convent. Caterina had been the student of Giovanni Lanfranco, who had worked on commissions for her uncle, and the biographer Giovanni Battista Passeri wrote her life. She painted religious works such as Standing St Catherine with a wheel and an Assumption of the Madonna. The church of Santa Lucia in Rome (1630) was designed jointly by Caterina and Orazio Torianni and was destroyed in the twentieth century (1936). Caterina Ginnasi was one of the few women to be made a member of the Accademia si Santa Lucia.

Ginner, Ruby – (1886 – 1978)
British dancer, public performer and dance instructor
Ruby Ginner was born in Cannes, France, the daughter of a physician. She was sent to Brighton, near London, to attend school, but absconded from school in order to become a dancer, and made her first stage appearance in The Comedy of Errors (1903). Ruby rose to become the principal dancer with the Beecham Opera Company (1910 – 1912), and after WW I she co-founded her own dance school in collaboration with noted mime artist, Irene Mawer. She was especially noted for her revival of the Greek classical style, and Ginner and her pupils became famous for their concerts which were performed in Hyde Park and at Stratforf-upon-Avon. Ginner founded the Greek Dance Association (1923), and was the author of The Revived Greek Dance (1933) and Gateway to the Dance (1960).

Ginner, Sarah      see    Jinner, Sarah

Ginori Lisci, Ottavia Strozzi Majorca Renzi, Marchesa – (1825 – 1903)
Italian patrician and courtier
Princess Ottavia Strozzi Majorca Renzi was  born (May 22, 1825) in Florence, the eldest daughter of Ferdinando Strozzi Majorca Renzi (1774 – 1835), Prince di Forano and Duca di Bagnolo, and his wife Comtesse Therese Charlotte de Beaufort-Spontin (1789 – 1857), the daughter of Frederic Auguste, first Duc de Beaufort-Spontin (1751 – 1817).  Ottavia was a descendant of James I, King of Great Britain (1603 – 1625) and his wife Anne, the daughter of Frederik II, king of Denmark. She was married in Florence (1847) to marchese Lorenzo Ginori Lisci (1823 – 1878) and she and her husband were prominent courtiers of King Vittorio Emanuele II (1849 – 1878). She survived her husband as Dowager Marchesa Ginori Lisci (1878 – 1903). The marchesa died (Aug 20, 1903) in Florence, aged seventy-eight. She left four children,

• Marchesa Giulia Ginori Lisci (1847 – 1926). She became the wife of Marchese Pietro Torrigiani (1846 – 1920) and left descendants.
• Marchesa Marianna Ginori Lisci (1850 – 1913). She became the wife of Conte Andrea Digerini Nutti (1848 – 1915) and left descendants.
• Marchese Carlo Ginori Lisci (1851 – 1905). He married and left issue.
• Marchese Ippolito Ginori Lisci (1858 – 1947). He married and left issue.

Ginster, Ria – (1898 – 1985)
German soprano
Ria Ginster was born (April 15, 1898) at Frankfurt-am-Main. She studied at the Hoch Conservatory in her home city before going on to study under Louis Bachner at Berlin in Prussia. Ginster established a formidable reputation as an international oratorio performer and lieder singer. During the 1920’s she performed with great success throughout Europe and England. During the 1937 Salzburg Festival in Austria she was the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. After touring the USA and both performing and teaching in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ginster was appointed a professor at the Zurich School of Music in Switzerland (1938). Ria Ginster died (May 11, 1985) aged eighty-seven, in Zurich.

Ginzburg, Evgenia Semenovna – (1896 – 1980) 
Italian essayist, academic and memoirist
Evgenia Ginzburg was university educated and became the wife of a Communist official, and was appointed a history professor at Kazan University. Ginzburg was caught up in the Stalinist purges, and was sent to prison in labour camps in Siberia, where she sufferred for eighteen years (1937 – 1955) before being released. She was best known for her autobiography Samizdat (Into the Whirlwind) (1967).

Ginzburg, Lidia Iakovlevna – (1902 – 1990) 
Russian literayr critic, theorist and memoirist
Lidia Ginzburg was born into a Jewish family in Odessa. She attended the Leningrad State Institute of History of the Arts from 1922. She became a friend to such noted figures as the poets Joseph Brodsky and Alexander Kushner. Ginzburg remained in Leningrad during the German siege of the city during WW II (1941 – 1944), and produced the famous sketch ‘The Siege of Leningrad.’ Her later published works included On the Lyric (1964), On Psychological Prose (1971), and On the Literary Hero (1977). Some of her work was translated into English and published posthumously as Notes from the Leningrad Blockade and Other Writings (1992).

Ginzburg, Nathalia Levi – (1916 – 1991)  
Italian novelist, translater, biographer and essayist
Nathalia Levi was born (July 14, 1916) in Palermo, Sicily, the daughter of a Jewish academic, and was raised in Turin, Piedmont. The death of her first husband, the Slavic scholar and socialist, Leone Ginzburg, at the hands of the Nazis (1944) caused her to leave Turin, and reside in rural Abruzzi. During this time she produced her first published work La strada che va in citta e altri raconti (Road to the City and Other Stories) (1942). She was friend to the novelist Elsa Morante.
Ginzburg later published the family memoir entitled, Lessico famigliare (Family Sayings) (1963), under the pseudonym ‘Alessandra Tornimparte,’ for which she received the Premio Strega Prize (1963). She also wrote novels and plays, trsnalted the works of Marcel Proust and Vercors, and produced the historical study, La famiglia Manzoni (The Manzoni Family) (1983), and the collection, Cinque romanzi brevi (Five Short Novels) (1965). Her work Mai devi domandarmi (1970) was translated into English as Never Must You Ask Me (1973). Ginzburg was the author of several autobiographical works such as Tutti I nostri ieri (All Our Yesterdays) (1952) and Le voci della sera (Voices in the Evening) (1961).

Giocondo, Lisa de Gherardini del – (1479 – 1516)
Italian beauty and portrait sitter
Lisa de Gherardini was born in Florence, the daughter of Antonio Maria de Gherardini, and his wife Caterina, the daughter of the gonfaloniere Manotto Rucellai. She was married to Francesco del Giocondo (1459 – 1524) as his third wife, and their only daughter Andoca del Giocondo died in infancy. Lisa was the model for Leonardo da Vinci’s famous portrait with the mysterious smile the Mona Lisa.

Giordan, Marion – (c1910 – 1983)
British writer, editor, and consumer advocate
Marion Giordan founded the consumer information newsletter BuyLine (1974). She served as the assistant secretary of the Electricity Consumer’s Council (1978 – 1983). Her published works included The Consumer Jungle and How To Be Exploited. Marion Giordan died (Sept 27, 1983).

Giorgi-Banti, Brigitta   see    Banti, Brigitta

Giorgio, Marosa di - (1932 - 2004)
Uruguayan poet and novelist
Marosa di Giorgio was born in Salto of Italian ancestry. Her was greatly influenced by the works of European surrealists, and much of it has been translated into English. Giorgio's published works included Poemas (1954), Historial de las violetas (1965), Clavel y tenebrario (1979), Mesa de esmeralda (1985), Membrillo de Lusana (1989) and Rosa mistica (2003). Marosa di Giorgio died in Montevideo.

Giovane, Juliana Franziska von Mudersbach, Duchesse di – (1766 – 1805)
German courtier and author
Baroness Juliana von Mudersbach was born (Dec 21, 1766) in Wurzburg, Bavaria, into an ancient noble family. After her marriage, the Duchesse de Giovane served at the court of Queen Maria Carolina, the wife of Ferdinando I, King of Naples, and was appointed as chief lady-in-waiting to her daughter Princess Marie Louise (1795), later the wife (1810) of the Emperor Napoleon. The duchesse was the author of the moral and philosophic work Plan pour faire servis les voyages a’ la culture des Jeunes gens. (1797). The duchesse died (Aug, 1805) aged thirty-eight, at Ofen, near Buda, Hungary.

Giovanna      see also     Joanna

Giovanna of Montferrat – (1107 – 1191)
Italian princess
Giovanna was the daughter of Rainer, Marquis of Montferrat and his wife Gisela, the widow of Umberto III, count of Maurienne and daughter of Guillaume I, count of Burgundy. Giovanna was married (Jan, 1127) to William IV Clito (1101 – 1128), Duke of Normandy, grandson of William I the Conqueror. The Norman chronicler William of Jumieges records that Queen Adelaide (wife of Louis VI of France, and Giovanna’s elder half-sister) gave Giovanna in marriage to William. The French Capetian sources called her Jeanne whilst her Norman subjects called her Adeliza. However, despite the promising politics behind the union, it was fruitless, and proved short-lived. Duchess Giovanna survived her husband over six decades (1128 - 1191).

Giovanna Elisabetta Antonia Romana Maria – (1907 – 2000)
Queen consort of Bulgaria (1930 – 1943)
Princess Giovanna of Savoy was born (Nov 13, 1907) in Rome, the third daughter of Vittorio Emanuele III, king of Italy (1900 – 1946) and his wife Elena, the daughter of Nicholas I, king of Montenegro. She was the younger sister to Umberto III, the last king of Italy. Giovanna was raised at the Villa Savoia and later married in Assissi (1930) to the Bulgarian tsar, Boris III (1894 – 1943), the famous dictator Benito Mussolini being present at the wedding. Upon reaching the capital, Sofia, the new queen was married according to the rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church, her path here being made easier by the assistance of the papal nuncio, Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII. The Bulgarians called her ‘Ioanna’ and the couple had two children, a daughter, Princess Marie Louise (born 1933) and then a son and heir, the future Simeon II (born 1937).
As queen Giovanna was involved with many public charitable institutions and paid for the establishment of a hospital for children. During WW II and the rise of the Nazi menace, the queen quietly arranged for transit visas to be given to Bulgarian Jews to enable then to reach safety abroad in Argentina. With her husband’s mysterious death (Aug, 1943), being probably poisoned by the Nazis, her son was proclaimed king, though the Germans appointed his uncle Prince Kyril as regent, presumably because they considered him easier to manage.With the fall of Hitler (1945) and the subsequent invasion of Bulgaria by the Russian army, Prince Kyril was arrested and executed, whilst Queen Giovanna and the young king remained under house arrest at the Vrana Palace, near Sofia. Several months afterwards the new Communist government gave them and their household two days notice to quit the country for exile. Mother and son then joined Vittorio Emanuele and Queen Elena in Alexandria, Egypt, before moving to Madrid in Spain. She resided in Madrid until her son was married (1962), whereupon Queen Giovanna removed to Estoril in Portugal, where she resided almost four decades, apart from a brief visit to Bulgaria (1993) to visit the grave of Tsar Boris, then dead for five decades. Giovanna had survived her husband as Queen Dowager of Bulgaria for fifty-seven years (1943 – 2000). Queen Giovanna died (Feb 26, 2000) in Estoril, aged ninety-two. She was buried at Assissi in Italy.

Gippius, Zinaida Nikolaievna (Zinaida Hippius) – (1869 – 1945)
Russian poet, novelist, editor and critic
Zinaida Gippius was born (Nov 20, 1869) at Belev in the province of Tula. She was married (1889) the novelist Dmitri Sergievitch Merezhkovsky (1865 – 1941) and went to reside in St Petersburg. Though they originally supported the Russian revolution (1917), Zinaida quickly rjected the atheism of the Bolsheviks, and the couple left Russia (1919) and later settled abroad in Paris. She spelt her surname as Hippius after she went into exile, and she is sometimes called by it.
Gippius became one of the best-known poets of the Russian symbolist movement of the 1890’s. She was greatly influenced by the philosopher of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900), and her verses were designed to make a cult of mysticism, beauty in all forms, and of course, individualism, which was marked by the famous line ‘I love myself as I love God.’  Her prose works were considered inferior to her poetry, and she was a sharp and observant literary critic under the pseudonym of ‘Anton Krainy.’ Her later works included Revolution and Violence (transl. 1907), The Green Ring (1914), and My Journal under the Terror (transl. 1921). She left a portrait of the Russian poet, Alexander Blok entitled Moy lunny drug (My Moonlight Friend) (1925). Zinaida Gippius died (Sept 9, 1945) aged seventy-five, in Paris. Her private diaries were later translated into English as Between Paris and St Petersburg (1975).

Gipps, Ruth – (1921 – 1999)
British composer and conductor
Ruth Gipps was born at Boxhill-on-the-Sea, and studied music at the Royal College of Music, her work being greatly influenced by the style of Ralph Vaughan Williams. She was the choirmaster of the City of Birmingham Choir (1948 – 1950) but gradually turned more and more to conducting. Gipps was appointed as the musical director of the London Repertoire Orchestra (1955) and founded the Chanticleer Orchestra (1961), of which she was also director. She was appointed a professor at the Royal College of Music (1967) and was appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1981) in recognition of her services to music. Apart from choral works and chamber music, Ruth Gipps composed five symphonies as well as concertos for violin, viola, piano, and horn.

Girard, Adele – (1913 – 1993)
American jazz harpist and Dixieland and swing musician
Girard was the daughter of an opera soprano. She later worked as a lounge pianist and performed with the orchestra of singer Harry Sosnik and with Jack Teagarden at the Hickory House. Adele Girard was married (1937) to the jazz clarinetist Joe Marsala (1907 – 1978). Girard went to Hollywood and screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in the classic film Gone With the Wind (1939), and appeared in one film. Adele Girard died (Sept 7, 1993) aged eighty, at Denver in Colorado.

Girard, Nicole – (1878 – 1919)
French physician
Born Nicole Mangin in Paris, she was the author of the medical treatise Essai Sur l’hygiene et la prophylaxie antituberculeuse (1913). Nicole Girard died in Paris.

Girardin, Delphine de – (1804 – 1855)
French poet, novelist and essayist
Delphine Gay was born (Jan 26, 1804) at Aix-la-Chapelle, the daughter of the novelist Sophie Gay. Beautiful and possessed of great personal charm, she was the first wife (1831) of the noted publicist, Emile de Girardin (1802 – 1881). Delphine was the author of the elegiac works Essais Poetiques (Poetic Essays) (1824), and Nouveaux Essais poetiques (1825), and she contributed articles concerning upper class French society to her husband’s newspaper La Presse, using the pseudonym of Vicomte Charles de Launay. These were later collected under the titles of Lettres parisiennes (1843 and 1853).
Delphine Girardin also wrote novels, of which the best known is Le Lorgnon (The Eyeglasses) (1831). Girardin held a popular literary salon in Paris, which attracted most of the notable figures of the day, such as Victor Hugo, Honore de Balzac, Alfred de Musset, and Theophile Gautier. Her poem, ‘Le Devouement des medecins francais et des soeurs de Ste Camille dans la peste de Barcelone’ (‘The devotion of the French Doctors and the Sisters of St Camille during the Plague in Barcelona’) (1822) was honoured by the Academie Francaise. Delphine de Girardin died in Paris (June 29, 1855) aged fifty-one. Her collected works were later published in six volumes (1860 – 1861).

Girardot, Louise   see   Moillon, Louise

Girbes, Josefa Naval – (1820 – 1893)
Spanish saint
Josefa Girbes was born at Valencia. With a talent for embroidery and religious study, josefa taught embroidery to young girls, which she combined with study of religious doctrines, preparing them for marriage or the cloister. Attached to the prayerful contemplation of the works of Teresa d’Avila and St John of the Cross, Josefa took vows as a Third Order Carmelite before her death. Josefa Girbes was later beatified by Pope John Paul II (1988).

Girfalco, Contessa     see     Mori, Paola

Girlani, Archangela – (c1510 – 1561)
Italian nun and saint
Archangela Girlani joined the Order of the Barefooted Carmelites, in the convent of Santa Maria di Paradiso in Mantua, where she was later elected as superior. Particularly noted for her penitence and ascetism, she died aged about fifty (Jan 25, 1561). Her veneration was authorized by Lodovico Gonzaga, Bishop of Mantua, whilst her Vitae was written over a nundred years after her death (1686).

Girling, Mary Anne – (1827 – 1886)
British religious zealot
Mary Anne was born in Suffolk, the daughter of a farmer. She was married to a seaman named Girling of Ipswich, to whom she bore several children. Girling began to experience religious revelations and seperated from her husband. She bore the marks of the stigmata and believed herself to be a new incarnation of God. She proclaimed the ‘New Coming’ and established the People of God sect, with herself as leader. The sect believed in hard physical work and celibacy. Girling died of cancer, though she remained firm till the end in the belief that she was immortal. The sect then dissolved. She was author of the tract The Close of the Dispensation.

Girones, Maria de Lourdes Lucia Antonia Pichot   see   Gay, Maria

Giroud, Francoise – (1916 – 2003)
French politician and journalist
Born Francoise Giroudji, of Turkish parentage in Geneva, Switzerland, she attended the Lycee Moliere and the College de Groslay in Paris. She left school at fourteen in order to train as a secretary, and adopted the French surname Giroud. During WW II she worked for the Resistance movement. Francoise was originally employed as a typist, but began writing her won screenplays. She was co-founder and editor of the news magazine L’Express (1953 – 1971) with Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, and wrote a weekly column with Le Nouvel Observateur for the last two decades of her life (1983 – 2003).
Giroud had been appointed the junior Minister of Women (1974 – 1976) under President Giscard d’Estaing, during which time the liberalisation of abortion was the most significant reform that was passed. She then served for two years in the Barre cabinet as minister of culture (1976 – 1978), and left memoirs of this period of her life entitled, La Comedie du Pouvoir. Francoise Giroud was author of the bestselling novel entitled Les hommes es les femmes (1993), amongst other published works such as Antoine et Antoinette (1947), Julietta (1953), and La quatrieme pouvoir (1985). Francoise Giroud died aged eighty-six.

Giroust, Marie Suzanne – (1734 – 1772)
French painter
Marie Suzanne Giroust studied under Maurice Quentin de La Tour. Suzanne became the wife of the Swedish painter Roslin. Her pastel portrait of the sculptor Pigalle was preserved in the Louvre Museum, Paris. She was elected to the Academie Royale (1770) and died of breast cancer not long afterwards.

Gisberga of Bigorre – (1015 – 1049)
Queen consort of Aragon
Sometimes called Gelberda and Ermesinde in ancient genealogies, she was the daughter of Bernard Roger, Count of Bigorre, and his wife Clementia of Foix. Gisberga was married at Jaca (1036) to Ramiro I Sanchez (c1012 – 1064), King of Aragon, as his first wife.
Admired by contemporary chroniclers for her beauty, Gisberga was the mother of five children, of whom the eldest son was King Sancho IV Ramirez (1043 – 1094) and the yougest, the Infante Garcia Ramirez, who took holy orders and was appointed as Bishop of Jaca.
Queen Gisberga left three daughters, the eldest Infanta Teresa Ramirez (1037 – c1053), became the wife of Count Guillaume IV Bertrand of Toulouse (died 1067), the second Infanta Urraca Ramirez (c1046 – c1078) became a nun, whilst the third Infanta Sanchia Ramirez (c1048 – 1097) (called Matilda by the French) was the third wife of Pons III Guillaume, Count of Toulouse, and then remarried to Armengol III, Count of Urgel. Queen Gisberga died (Dec 1, 1049) at the Palace of Jaca, aged thirty-four. She was interred in the royal monastery of San Juan de la Pena at Huesca.

Gisborne, Maria – (1770 – 1826)
British literary figure and journal writer
Maria Gisborne was friend to the poet Percy Shelley and his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of Frankenstein. She kept a private journal of trip from England to Italy (1820). This work and several letters from the period (1818 – 1823) were later edited and published by Frederick L. Jones in the USA as Maria Gisborne and Edward E. Williams, Shelley’s Friends: Their Journals and Letters (1951).

Gisela Capet (Gisele) – (c969 – 1002)
Princess of France
Princess Gisela was the eldest daughter of Hugh Capet, King of France (987 – 996), and his wife Adelaide, the daughter of William of Poitiers, Duke of Aquitaine, and was the eldest sister of King Robert II the Pious (987 – 1032). Gisela was married to Hugh I, Count of Ponthieu (died 1000), to whom she bore several children, and whom she briefly survived as Dowager Countess of Ponthieu (1000 – 1002). She was the ancestress of Agnes of Ponthieu, the ill-treated wife of the Norman baron Robert de Belleme.

Gisela of Alsace – (c985 – after 1021)
Flemish noblewoman
Gisela was the daughter of Gerhard of Alsace, Count of Nordgau and his wife Eva of Luxemburg, the daughter of Siegfried I, Count of Luxemburg. She became the wife (c999) of Gerhard III of Metz (c982 – 1045), Duke of Upper Lorraine, who she predeceased. Gisela and her husband were both interred within the Abbey of Bouzonville. Through her son Gerhard the duchess was the ancestress of Beatrix of Burgundy, the wife of the Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa and mother of the Emperor Heinrich VI (1190 – 1197).
The duchess was named as matrisque meae Gislae in a surviving charter of her son Gerhard (1067) which granted property to the Abbey of Echternach in Luxemburg. The Notitae Fundationis Monasterii Bosonis-Villae named Gerhardus comes marchio et coum uxore sua Gisela as the parents of Count Odelrich. Duchess Gisela was the mother of twelve children the most important of whom were,

• Adalbert III of Metz (c1000 – 1048). He succeeded his father as Duke of Upper Lorraine (1045 – 1048) and left descendants.
• Gisela of Metz (c1002 – c1040). She became the first wife of Gerald I (c984 – 1045), Count of Geneva and left descendants.
• Gerhard of Metz (c1005 – 1070). He succeeded his brother as Duke of Upper Lorraine (1048 – 1070) and left descendants.
• Beatrix of Metz (died after 1045). She became a nun at the Abbey of Remriemont in Lorraine.
• Oda of Metz (c1015 – 1070). She became a nun at the Abbey of Remriemont and was later elected abbess (1047 – 1070).
• Odelrich of Metz (died after 1065). He remained unmarried and became a priest.

Gisela of Bavaria (1) – (c835 – before 876)
Carolingian princess
Gisela was the fourth daughter of Louis the German, King of Bavaria and his wife Emma of Altdorf, the daughter of Count Welf II of Altdorf, and sister to Empress Judith, the second wife of the Emperor Louis I the Pious (816 – 840). Her father gave Gisela in a politically motivated marriage (c839) with Erchanger of Alsace (c810 – after 862), Count of Breisgau and Sundgau, as his second wife.
By this marriage Gisela became the stepmother of the Empress Engilberga, the wife of Emperor Louis II (855 – 875). Her own daughter, whose name remains unrecorded, became the wife (c865) of Berthold III (c842 – 910), the Count Palgrave of Swabia. Gisela’s granddaughter Kunigunde of Swabia became the wife of Konrad I (died 918), King of Germany.

Gisela of Bavaria (2) – (985 – 1065)
Queen consort of Hungary (1001 – 1038)
Gisela was the youngest daughter of Heinrich II, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Gisela, the daughter of Conrad I, King of Burgundy, and sister to the German emperor, Heinrich II (1002 – 1024). Gisela and her brother Heinrich were tutored by the Benedictine monk Wolfgang, who was said to have forseen their destinies, and strove to educate them fittingly for their future positions in the world. Gisela was married as a child (996) to Stephen of Hungary (969 – 1038) of the Arpad dynasty, who succeeded his father Geza as duke the following year (997). He crushed the leading opposition to his rule with the assistance of armoured Bavarian knights, the services of which Stephen secured through his marriage. Stephen and Gisela were crowned as the first king and queen of the Hungarians (1001) after Stephen secured the crown as a gift from Pope Sylvester II.
Queen Gisela was devoted to the church, and with her husband she erected many monasteries and convents, and was noted for her kindness to the poor and needy, rivalling even her saintly husband in her religious devotions. Their only surviving son Emeric died without issue (1031), and their next male heir was his cousin Vazsuly (Basil). However, the queen favoured instead the claims of Stephen’s nephew, Pietro Orseolo, the Doge of Venice, and according to tradition Gisela is said to have Vazsuly blinded and molten lead poured into his ears. This story is spurious.
King Stephen on his deathbed (1038) made his successor Pietro, promise to maintain Queen Gisela in her possessions, but he broke his faith (1040) and the Queen Dowager returned to her native Bavaria. There she became a nun under the rule of her aunt, Abbess Helica, at the Benedictine monastery of Nassau. Gisela eventually succeeded her aunt as abbess, and was venerated as a saint, her name appearing in the Acta Sanctorum. Her tomb at Passau was long venerated by the Hungarians. Her two surviving daughters, Hedwig and Agatha, both became nuns. Queen Gisela died aged eighty.

Gisela of Burgundy (1) – (955 – 1007)
German duchess consort and later queen mother (1002 – 1007)
Princess Gisela was the daughter of Conrad I the Peaceful, King of Burgundy (937 – 993) and of his first wife Adela, who was perhaps the sister of Konrad, Duke of Alsace. Gisela was married (969) to her cousin Duke Henry II the Quarrelsome (951 – 995), Duke of Bavaria, nephew to emperor Otto I. Her son Henry of Bavaria was later elected as Holy Roman emperor as Henry II (1002). Both her son and his wife Kunigunda of Luxemburg were canonized as saints. Duchess Gisela died aged fifty-two (July 21, 1007). The abbey of Regensburg in Bavaria kept a crocus donated by the queen of Hungary in memory of her mother. Her children were,

• Heinrich II (973 – 1024). He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria (995 – 1002) and was then elected as Holy Roman Emperor (1002 – 1024). He died childless.
• Prince Bruno of Bavaria (975 – 1029). He took holy orders and was appointed as Prince-Bishop of Augsburg (1006 – 1029).
• Princess Birgitta of Bavaria (c978 – after 1004). She became a nun and was an abbess in Regensburg.
• Princess Gerberga of Bavaria (c980 – after 1004). She became a nun and was Abbess of Chiemsee.
• Princess Gisela of Bavaria (985 – 1065). She was married to St Stephen I (969 – 1038), King of Hungary, and left issue.

Gisela of Burgundy (2) – (c1074 – after 1133)
French dynastic wife
Gisela was the daughter of Guillaume I Tete-Hardi, Count of Burgundy and Macon, and his wife Stephanie of Metz-Longwy, the daughter of Adalbert III of Metz, Duke of Upper Lorraine and his wife Clementia of Foix. Gisela was married firstly (1090) to Umberto III the Fat (Il Grosso) (c1069 – 1103), count of Maurienne (Savoy) and Marquis of Turin, and then secondly to marquis Rainier of Montferrato (c1061 – 1136).
With the death of her first husband Umberto, Countess Gisela ruled Maurienne as regent for their son Amadeus until he came of age (1103 – 1109). Her second marriage occurred (1105) during the period of her regency. She retained control over the marriages and dynastic allainces of her many daughters, was responsible for arranging the marriage of her daughter Adelaide with Louis VI of France (1115). She was the grandmother of Count Umberto III the Saint (1148 – 1189) and was still living in 1133. The children from her first marriage were,

• Amadeus III (1091 – 1148). He succeeded his father as Count of Maurienne and Savoy (1103 – 1148) and was married and left descendants.
• Adelaide of Maurienne (1092 – 1154). She became the second wife of Louis VI, King of France (1108 – 1137) and was the mother of King Louis VII (1137 – 1180).
• Guglielmo of Maurienne (William) (c1095 – 1114). He died unmarried.
• Umberto of Maurienne (Humbert) (c1097 – 1114). He died unmarried.
• Rainaldo of Maurienne (c1099 – after 1150). He became a monk and was appointed as Abbot of St Maurice, Aosta.
• Agnes of Maurienne (c1101 – after 1140). She became the wife of Archimbaud V, Seigneur de Bourbon (c1105 – 1171) and left descendants.

The children of Gisela’s second marriage were,

• Giovanna of Montferrat (1107 – 1191). She became the second wife of William IV Clito (1102 – 1128), Duke of Normandy, the grandson of William I the Conqueror, King of England (1066 – 1087). This marriage remained childless and she never remarried.
• Guglielmo VI (William) (1110 – 1191). He succeeded as Marquis of Montferrat (1136 – 1191) and died in Palestine whilst on a crusade. He was married and left descendants.
• Adeliza of Montferrat (Adelaide) (1111 – 1169). She remained unmarried and became a nun.
• Constanza of Montferrat (Constance) (c1113 – after 1148). She became the wife of Guido IV, Count of Biandarate (c1105 – 1172).
• Matilda of Montferrat (c1115 – after 1148). She became the wife of Alberto Zueta (c1105 – 1166), Marquis di Parodi.

Gisela of Friuli – (820 – 874)
Carolingian princess
Gisela of Neustria was the elder daughter of the Emperor Louis I the Pious (816 – 840) and his second wife Judith of Altdorf, the daughter of Welf II, Count of Altdorf, and was full sister to the Emperor Charles II the Bald (875 – 877). The Emperor Louis caused Gisela to be married (c836) to Count Eberhard (c810 – 866) the son of Unruoch, a count of the empire. The marriage was designed to gain the support of the powerful Unruoching family for the weakening power of the Imperial crown.
In consequence of this marriage with an imperial princess, Eberhard was given the government of the region of Friuli, north of Venice, and was created the first hereditary duke. At Eberhard’s death Duchess Gisela inherited his entire private library, and three of their daughters inherited legacies of specific books. Gisela of Friuli made her will (July 1, 874) and died soon afterwards, being interred with Eberhard within the Abbey of St Calixtus at Cysoing.
Through her daughter Heiliwich of Ostrevant Gisela was the direct ancestress of Aethelred II, King of England (978 – 1016), and of the noble English family, the Tracys of Toddington, whose coat of arms proudly displays their descent from the Emperor Charlemagne (800 – 814). Her children were,

• Eberhard of Friuli (c837 – before June 2, 840). He died in infancy.
• Ingeltrude of Friuli (c839 – after 874). She became the wife of Henry of Saalgau and Grabfeldgau (c830 – 886), Duke of Austrasia and left descendants.
• Unruoch II (c840 – 874). He succeeded his father as Duke of Friuli (866 – 874) and was married to Ava of Alsace, the daughter of Luitfrid II of Alsace, Count of Sundgau and left issue.
• Judith of Friuli (Waldrada) (c842 – c902). She married firstly to Konrad II of Auxerre, Margrave of Burgundy, and secondly to Adalbert II (c837 – c905), Count of Thurgau and left descendants from both marriages.
• Berengar I of Friuli (c843 – 924). He became Holy Roman Emperor (905 – 924) and was married three times and left issue.
• Bertha of Friuli (c844 – after 874). She became the second wife of Sigisbert (died c885), Count of Razes and left issue.
• Adalhard of Friuli (c845 – after 874). He became Marquis of Friuli and was lay Abbot of St Amand. He was married and left issue.
• Gisela of Friuli (c847 – after 863). No husband is recorded for her and she may have died unmarried.
• Rudolf of Friuli (Raoul, Ralph) (c850 – 892). He took holy orders and became the Abbot of the abbeys of St Vaast and St Bertin.
• Heiliwich of Friuli (c857 – 936). She was married firstly to Count Hucbald of Ostrevant (died c891) and secondly to Count Roger I of Laon (died 898), and left issue from both marriages.

Gisela of Lluca – (c1010 – after 1079)
Spanish countess
Gisela was the daughter of Gunifredo II, Seigneur of Lluca and Villanova and his wife Ermesinde de Balsareny. She was married (1027) to Count Berengar Ramon (1005 – 1035) of Barcelona as his third wife. This marriage marked the termination of a feud between her kinsman Hugo of Ampurias and Berengar Ramon’s mother, the countess regent Ermesinde, which had begun a decade earlier (1019).
Gisela and her mother-in-law made donations to the Cathedral of Girona between 1027 and the consecration of the basilica (1038). Countess Gisela survived her husband for over forty years as Dowager Countess of Barcelona.

Gisela of Lorraine – (c861 – 907)
Queen consort of Norway (882 – 885)
Gisela was the daughter of Lothair II, the Carolingian ruler of Lorraine and his mistress Waldrada of Nordgau, whom he later married. She was married (882) to Godfrey of Friesland, King of Haithabu, dorestad, and Rustringen in Norway, who was killed in battle only a few years later (885). Their eldest daughter Reinhilda of Friesland became the wife of Count Theodoric of Westphalia and their daughter, Mathilda of Westphalia, became the scond wife of the Holy Roman emperor Henry I the Fowler (919 – 936). After her husband’s death Queen Gisela attempted to rule as regent, and restore peace to the kingsom, but her efforts were not successful. She then returned to Francia with her young daughters, and was appointed abbess of Nivelles, in Austrasia. Her younger daughter Frederuna became the first wife of King Charles III the Simple to whom she bore six daughters. Queen Gisela died aged about forty-six (before Oct 26, 907).

Gisela of Neustria (1) – (757 – 810)
Carolingian princess
Gisela was the only surviving daughter of Pepin III, King of the Franks (751 – 768) and his wife Bertrada, the daughter of Caribert, Count of Laon. She was the younger sister to Charlemagne and Carloman II. With the death of her father (768) Gisela’s mother Queen Bertrada attempted to arrange a marriage for her with Adelchis, the son of King Desiderius of Lombardy. Pope Stephen V condemned this proposed marriage, and when Charlemagne repudiated his own marriage with the Lombard princess Gepurga, the sister of Adelchis (770) any plans for Gisela’s marriage ended.
Gisela was dedicated to the religious life from early childhood according to the chronicler Einhard. She was the favourite sibling of the emperor and became a nun at the Abbey of St Marie at Chelles, near Paris, where she was eventually appointed to rule as abbess. There remains record of the princess making grants to the Abbey of St Denis at Rheims. Her niece Rotrude later joined her at Chelles, and both women died during a virulent plague which carried off several members of the Imperial family at this time.

Gisela of Neustria (2) – (781 – c808)
Carolingian princess and astronomer
Gisela was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy, one of the younger daughters of the emperor Charlemagne (800 – 814) and his third wife Hildegarde, the daughter of Gerard I, Count of Vinzgau and his wife Emma of Alemannia. She was born during one of her father’s military campaigns and was baptized in the basilica of St Ambrose by Archbishop Tommaso, and was named for her more famous aunt, the abbess Gisela of Chelles.
Gisela received an excellent education at the court school under the guidance of the Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin of York, who noted and encouraged Gisela’s interest in scholarly pursuits, especially her keen interest in astronomy. Her religious education was organized by her aunt at the abbey of Chelles. She supposedly died unmarried, though it is possible that she was married to a count of the Lahngau family and left descendants. Gisela apparently died before her father, though this remains unclear.

Gisela of Neustria (3) – (c834 – 862) 
Carolingian princess
Gisela was the daughter of the Emperor Lothair I (840 - 855), and his wife Ermengarde of Tours, the daughter of Hugh II of Alsace, Count of Tours and Orleans. In 848 she succeeded her mother in the office of rectrix of the abbey of San Salvatore, Brescia, in Italy. An Imperial chater, confirmed by her father and brother Louis II (851), prohibited the abbess from interfering with Gisela’s rights concerning all the cells of the monastery.
Gisela succeeded Amalburga (861) as abbess, but died herself soon afterwards (Jan 12, 862). An extant charter granted to the abbey on the day of her death by her brother emperor Louis II, asked the nuns to pray for her soul in perpetuity, and in recognition of this service, the emperor made further grants to the nuns.

Gisela of Neustria (4) – (852 – 868)
Carolingian princess
Gisela was the elder daughter of the Emperor Louis III (855 – 875) and his wife Engilberga of Alsace, the relative of Erchanger of Alsace, Count of Sundgau. Gisela died unmarried, perhaps having taken vows as a nun prior to her death. Her only sibling Ermengarde of Neustria became the wife of Boso II of Vienne, King of Provence and was the mother of Louis III of Arles, Holy Roman Emperor (901 – 905).

Gisela of Normandy – (c894 – 919)
Carolingian duchess
Gisela was the illegitimate daughter of Charles III the Simple, King of France (893 – 922) and his first wife Frederuna of Frisia, the sister of Bishop Bavo of Chalons. She is not to be confused with the king’s fourth legitimate daughter by Queen Frederuna, Gisela of Neustria (c913 – after 929) whose husband remains unrecorded.
King Charles offered Gisela as a bride to the Viking leader Rollo (c853 – 932), in an effort to halt the murder and violation that had taken place since Rollo had become master of the city of Rouen. He also offered Rollo all of the maritime district between the River Eure and Mont Saint Michel if he would renounce paganism, be baptized in the Christian faith and do homage to the crown. Rollo accepted this arrangement and was married to Gisela at St Clair-sur-Epte, near Gisors (912).
The chronicle of Dudo of Saint-Quentin referred to Gisela as of ‘ tall stature, most elegant.’ However, the marriage proved a dynastic failure as Gisela bore no children, and Rollo continued to cohabit with his former mistress Poppa of Evreux, the mother of his son William. Gisela’s death at Rouen is said to have been hastened by Rollo’s ill-treatment of her.

Gisela of Spoleto (Willa) – (c925 – after 978)
Italian marchesa of Tuscany
Gisela was the daughter of Boniface of Spoleto (died 953), Margrave of Camerino, and his wife Waldrada, the daughter of Rudolf I, King of Burgundy (888 – 912) and Gisela of Vienne. Gisela became the wife (c942) of Umberto of Arles (Humbert) (c915 – 970), marquis of Tuscany, who ruled parts of Spoleto, which may have formed Gisela’s dowry. Sources which state that she was married firstly to Alberic II, Duke of Spoleto (died 954) before her marriage with Umberto of Arles are incorrect. Gisela survived her husband as the Dowager Marchesa of Tuscany. Gisela was living (Jan 7, 978). Her children included,

• Waldrada of Tuscany (945 – 997). She became the wife of Pietro Candiano IV, Doge of Venice, who left surviving female issue.
• Oberto I (c948 – c1014). He succeeded his father as Marquis of Tuscany. He was married and left descendants.
• Adalbert of Tuscany (c955 – after 996).
• Albert of Tuscany (c959 – after 996). He became Margrave of Ivrea and left descendants.
• Bertha of Tuscany (c961 – c1012). She became the wife of Arduino of Ivrea, King of Italy (1002 – 1013) and left issue.

Gisela of Swabia – (990 – 1043)
Holy Roman empress
Gisela was born (Nov 11, 990) the daughter of Hermann II, Duke of Swabia and his wife Gerberga of Burgundy, the widow of Count Bernard I of Werle, and the daughter of Conrad I the Peaceful, King of Burgundy (937 – 993) and his second wife Matildaof France, the daughter of King Louis IV (936 - 954). Gisela was married firstly (c1003) to Count Bruno I of Brunswick, who had been a candidate for the Imperial throne in opposition to Heinrich IV of Bavaria (1002) (Heinrich II). By Bruno Gisela was the mother of Liudolf of Brunswick (c1006 – 1038) Margrave of Friesland and left issue, and of an unnamed daughter who became the wife of Thiemo II, Count of Formbach.
Gisela was remarried secondly to Ernst I (971 – 1015), Duke of Swabia, to whom she bore two sons before his death in a hunting accident (May 31, 1015). The Emperor Heinrich II granted the dukedom of Swabia to Gisela’s posthumously born son Ernest II (1015 – 1030) with the duchess as his guardian, but he died without issue. Her third marriage (1016) with Conrad II of Germany (990 – 1039) was a political and dynastic alliance and soon afterwards the emperor gave Swabia to Archbishop Poppo of Treves, the infant duke’s uncle. Her younger son became Duke Hermann IV of Swabia (1015 – 1038) and was ancestor of the Counts of Sulzbach.
Her marriage with Conrad was within the prohibited degrees and was not sanctioned by the church. The emperor, jealous of Conrad’s personal influence, used this as an excuse for forcing Conrad into temporary exile. With the death of Heinrich II (1024) Conrad succeeded to the Imperial throne as Emperor Conrad II (1024 – 1039), and accompanied by Gisela, travelled to Camba on the Rhine, where he presented himself to the elected council present. Because of her unsanctioned marriage Archbishop Ariberto of Mayenne denied Gisela the right to be crowned with her husband, and it was only after an interval of several days that Archbishop Pilgrim of Cologne (Koln) offered to perform the ceremony in his own city (Sept 8, 1024).
Conrad and Gisela were then crowned in Rome (March 26, 1027) by Pope John XIX, and at Aachen (1028) the imperial couple’s son Heinrich III (1017 – 1056) was elected and anointed as German king in the prescence of his parents. Gisela bore Conrad two daughters, Beatrice (1020 – 1036) who died unmarried, and Matilda (1027 – 1034) the first wife of Henry I, King of France, who died as a child. At Niemuegen (1036) the empress officially received her son’s bride Gunhilda, the daughter of King Knud of England, with much impressive ceremony.Gisela was praised by her contemporaries for her efforts to negotiate peace and bring harmony to the emperor’s subjects, and her share in public affairs during her husband’s reign was considerable, even taking into account the important part usually assigned to the emperor’s consort. Gisela survived Conrad as the Dowager Empress (1039 – 1043).
In addition to wealth and power the Empress Gisela was possessed of great beauty, and force of character and mind. During her son’s reign her power and influence dwindled, and there are indications of misunderstandings between mother and son.  The chronicler Hermann of Reichenau wrote of the empress dying ‘disappointed by the sayings of soothsayers who had foretold that she would survive her son.’ Empress Gisela died (Feb 16, 1043) aged fifty-two, at Goslar, near Gandersheim. Her three husbands were recorded in the Annalista Saxo whilst her death was recorded in the necrology of the Abbey of Fulda.
A surviving book of periscopes preserved at Bremen, commemorated the visit of Gisela and her son Heinrich III (1040 – 1041) to the Abbey of Echternach. This work contains two miniatures which portray the imperial couple, showing the Emperor accompanied by Abbot Himbert and Abbot Beppo of Stoveiot, whilst the Empress Dowager is supported by the same abbots and followed by a mixed retinue. A portrait from the Codex Aureus of Speyer (1045 – 1046) shows Christ in majesty adorned by Conrad and Gisela.

Gisela of Vienne (Willa) – (873 – 929)
Queen consort of Italy (912 – c923)
Gisela of Vienne was born (Dec, 873) the elder daughter of Boso II of Vienne, King of Provence, and his first wife Hildegarde of Neustria, the daughter of the Carolingian emperor Charles II (875 – 877) and his wife Ermentrude of Orleans. Gisela was married firstly (888) to Rudolf I (c857 – 912), King of Burgundy, and secondly (912) to Hugh of Arles (c880 – 947), King of Italy, as his first wife.
Her second marriage remained childless, and Hugh later divorced Gisela (c923). By Rudolf she was the mother of Rudolf II (889 – 937), King of Burgundy, whilst her granddaughter, Adelaide of Burgundy became the second wife of the Holy Roman emperor Otto I. Queen Gisela died (June 14, 929).

Gisela Agnes of Kothen – (1722 – 1751)
German princess and heiress
Princess Gisela Agnes of Anhalt-Kothen was born (Sept 21, 1722) the only child and sole heiress of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Kothen (1694 – 1728) and his first wife Princess Frederica Henrietta of Anhalt-Bernburg, the daughter of Karl Friedrich, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg (1668 – 1721).
Gisela was married at the age of fourteen (May 25, 1737) to her cousin Prince Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau (1700 – 1751) and became Princess consort of Anhalt-Dessau (1737 – 1751). Princess Gisela Agnes died (April 20, 1751) aged twenty-eight, eight months before the death of her husband. Her children were,

• Leopold III (1740 – 1817). He succeeded his father as reigning Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1751) and was later created Duke of Anhalt-Dessau (1807 – 1817). He was married and left descendants.
• Princess Louise of Anhalt-Dessau (1742 – 1743). She died in infancy.
• Princess Agnes of Anhalt-Dessau (1744 – 1799). She became the wife of Baron Johann von Loen (1737 – 1803).
• Princess Leopoldine of Anhalt-Dessau (1746 – 1769). She became the first wife of Count Simon August of Lippe-Detmold (1727 – 1782).
• Prince Johann George of Anhalt-Dessau (1748 – 1811). He remained unmarried.
• Princess Kasimira of Anhalt-Dessau (1749 – 1778). She became the second wife of her widowed brother-in-law Simon August of Lippe-Detmold.
• Prince Albert of Anhalt-Dessau (1750 – 1811). He was married but left no issue.

Gisela Louise Marie – (1856 – 1932)
Hapsburg archduchess
Archduchess Gisela was born (July 12, 1856) at the Castle of Laxenburg, the second but elder surviving daughter of Holy Roman emperor Franz I Josef (1848 – 1916) and his wife Elisabeth, the daughter of Maximilian, the Wittelsbach duke in Bavaria. She received the additional title of Princess of Bohemia and Humgary.
Archduchess Gisela was married (1873) in Vienna, to Prince Leopold of Bavaria (1846 – 1930), the younger brother of King Ludwig III of Bavaria (1913 – 1918), in a double dynastic alliance with the Wittelsbach dynasty, as Ludwig was married to Gisela’s kinswoman, the Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este. The marriage was suitable though not brilliant, but there was a dearth of Roman Catholic princes available. Her cousin, the mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria, remained affectionately attached to Gisela, and until his death she was the only member of the roayl family to whom he showed affection. Till her own death, Archduchess Gisela remained devoted to Ludiwg’s memory. The closest to her brother, Crown Prince Rudolph, it was Gisela, who accompanied her father to the prince’s funeral in Vienna (Feb, 1889).
Gisela survived her husband as Dowager Princess of Bavaria (1930 – 1932). Princess Gisela died in Munich (July 27, 1932) aged seventy-six, in Munich. Her children were,

• Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria (1874 – 1957). She was married to Otto, Count von Seefried auf Buttenheim (1870 – 1951) and left descendants.
• Princess Augusta of Bavaria (1875 – 1964). She was married to Joseph, Archduke Palatine of Austria-Hungary (1872 – 1962) and left issue.
• Prince George of Bavaria (1880 – 1943). He was married and divorced, and died childless.
• Prince Konrad of Bavaria (1883 – 1969). He was married and left issue.

Giselperga – (fl. 735 – 742)
Italian duchess
Giselperga was of Lombard birth, and became the wife of Gregorius, Duke of Benevento, who was placed on the ducal throne through the intervention of King Liutprand of Lombardy. It was Liutprand who arranged Giselperga’s marriage to Gregorius, as a sign of their political association. Paulus Diakonus (Paul the Deacon) records her marriage in his chronicle Historia gentis Langobardorum.

Gish, Dorothy – (1898 – 1968)
American silent and sound actress
Born Dorothy de Guiche (March 11, 1898) in Springfield, Ohio, she was the younger sister of actress Lillian Gish, with whom she appeared in her first film An Unseen Enemy (1912). Dorothy Gish appeared in films produced by W.D. Griffiths such as Hearts of the World and, Orphans of the Storm (1922). She later worked on stage in such plays as Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1944) and The Cardinal (1963). Dorothy Gish died (June 4, 1968) in Rapallo, Italy, aged seventy.

Gish, Lillian Diana – (1893 – 1993)
American silent film star and television actress
Born Lillian de Guiche (Oct 14, 1893) at Springfield, Ohio, into a theatrical family, she was the elder sister of actress Dorothy Gish. She made her stage debut at the age of five in the production of, In Convict Stripes (1898), and her talent as an actress was discovered during her childhood by the famous producer, W.D. Griffiths, with whose name she always remained associated. She was most famous in the silent days for her appearance in Griffith’s classic The Birth of a Nation (1914). Other famous silent film appearances included Intolerance (1916), Broken Blossoms (1918), and Way Down East (1920). Her later film roles included Duel in the Sun (1946) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, and Night of the Hunter (1955). Her last films included the family movie Hambone and Hillie (1985) and The Whales of August (1988), at the age of ninety-two, in which she appeared with Bette Davis and Vincent Price. Like her sister Dorothy, Lillian also worked consistently on the stage, and appeared in plays such as The Trip to Bountiful (1953), Romeo and Juliet (1965) and Uncle Vanya (1973). She later conducted lecture tours of the USA and Europe (1969 – 1970). Gish directed only one film, Remodelling Her Husband (1921), and was the recipient of a special Academy Award (1970) for her lifetime contribution to the cinema. Lillian Gish died (Feb 27, 1993) aged ninety-nine, in New York, having made over one hundred feature films.

Gish, Sheila – (1942 – 2005)
British stage and screen actress
Sheila Gish was born (April 23, 1942) in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She made her stage debut with a repertory company. Sheila was married firstly to actor Roland Curram. They were the parents of two daughters, Kay Curram and Lou Gish, who both established themselves as successful actresses in their own right. Sheila married secondly (2004) only a year before her death, the actor and film director Denis Lawson.
Gish made her screen debut in, Darling (1965) opposite her future first husband, and then appeared as Mrs Garner in, The Reckoning (1969). She appeared in the television series The First Churchills as Mary, Duchess of York (Queen Mary of Modena) in the same year. Other notable roles included that of Frau Christian in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) and Princess Betsy in the televison mini-series of Anna Karenina (1977). Later roles included that of Rachel Ellenstein in the highly popular Highlander (1986) and again in Highlander: Endgame (2000). Her later screen roles included the unlikeable Aunt Norris in Patricia Rozema’s production of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park (1999), with Embeth Davidtz and Harold Pinter, and Lady Montdore in the mini-series Love in a Cold Climate (2001). Sheila also made appearances in such popular television shows as Helen: A Woman of Today (1973), Inspector Morse (1993), Jonathon Creek (1997), and Pie in the Sky (1997).
With a long career in the theatre, Sheila was presented with the Laurence Olivier Theatre award (1996) as Best Supporting Performance in a Musical, for her role in Company (1995) at the Donmar Warehouse. One of her last stage performances was at Chichester, where she played Arkadina in The Seagull (2003). During her last years she sufferred from facial cancer, and lost an eye (2003). Sheila Gish died (March 9, 2005) in London, aged sixty-two.

Giso – (fl. 482 – 487 AD)
Germanic queen
Giso was the wife of King Feletheus of the Rugians, and was the mother of King Fredericus (486 – 487 AD). She was noted for her harshness and cruelty, Eugippus in his Vita Severini records that the queen visited St Severinus shortly before his death (482 AD). She was later taken prisoner, together with her husband, by Odoacer, and died in captivity in Italy.

Gisors, Helene Julie Rosalie Mancini-Mazarin, Comtesse de – (1740 – 1780)
French courtier
Helene Mancini-Mazarin was married (1753) to Louis Marie Fouquet de Belle-Isle, Comte de Gisors. She was a prominent figure at the courts of of Louis XV, and later of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at Versailles. She was mentioned in the correspondence of the British letter writer Horace Walpole.

Gitana, Gertie – (1887 – 1957)
British music-hall performer and vocalist
Born Gertrude Astbury at Hanley in Staffordshire, she appeared on stage as a child singer at the Tivoli where she was billed as ‘Little Gitana.’ Gitana was especially popular in the provinces and was best remembered for her renditions of such favourite songs as ‘The Star that Never Fails to Shine’ and ‘Nellie Dean’ with which she became most associated. She performed at the Royal Variety Performance at the Palladium Theatre (1948). Gertie Gitana died (Jan 5, 1957) in London, aged seventy-nine.

Giuliani, Veronica – (1660 – 1727)
Italian Capuchin nun, mystic and saint
Born Ursula Giuliani (Dec 27, 1660) in Mercatello, near Urbino, and her religious piety was evident from early childhood. Ursula was said to have received visitations from the Virgin Mary before she became a Capuchin nun at Citta del Castello (1677) where she adopted the religious name of Veronica. Sister Veronica spent much time in contemplation and meditation, and received the marks of the stigmata and the crown of thorns (1697). She later served as mother superior of Citta del Castell (1716 – 1727) and left a private diary of forty-four volumes (1695 – 1727) of which selections have beem edited and published (1954). Sister Veronica died (July 9, 1727) aged sixty-six, at Citta di Castello. She was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI (1839).

Giuppio, Pellina – (1418 – 1470)
Italian papal courtier
Pellina Giuppio was born in Savona the third daughter of Leonardo della Rovere and his wife Luchina Monteleoni, and was sister to Pope Sixtus IV (1471 – 1484). She was married (1435) to the patrician Pietro Giuppio and their children took on the surname of Giuppo della Rovere. Pellina Giuppio died in Savona.

Giusti, Gentilia – (1471 – 1530)
Italian saint
Gentilia Giusti was born in Ravenna, the daughter of Tommaso Giusti, a goldsmith, and his wife Domenica. She was married to a Venetian tailor named Jacopo Pianella but the union was not successful, and she suffered from domestic violence and other abuse. Her husband later deserted her during a time of famine, but Gentilia forgave him and eventually converted him from his cruel ways. He died repentant and forgiven, and Gentilia was then veiled as a nun by Jerome Maluselli, whom she later adopted after the death of her own son (1528). Together with Maluselli and Margaret of Ravenna, Gentilia was joint founder of the Society of the Order of the Good Jesus, which followed the Augustinian rule. Gentilia Giusti died (Jan 28, 1530) aged fifty-eight. The order was later suppressed by Pope Innocent X (1651) after membership had severely dwindled.

Giustina of Padua (Justina) – (d. 303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
The brief facts of her case were that she was the daughter of a Roman citizen called Vitalcino. Her father apparently received baptism before his death, whereupon Giustina was condemned as a Christian, by order of the Emperor Maximian, being pierced through the breast by a sword. Giustina’s Acts are not authentic, and in some versions of the tale her father is called a ‘king.’ She is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology and the Acta Sanctorum, and the church venerated her memory (Oct 7). St Giustina was considered the patroness of Padua, Venice, and Piacenza, being the official patron of the dogaressas of Venice. In religious art Giustina is usually depicted with a unicorn, the emblem of virginity, and with a dagger at her breast.

Givry, Margeurite Victoire de – (fl. 1789 – 1792)
French courtier and memoirist
Born Margeurite Pascaud, she was the daughter of the secretary of King Louis XVI (1774 – 1792). Her husband served in the palace guard. Madame Givry left an account of the infamous massacre of the clergy in the church at Carmes (Sept, 1792), when around two hundred priests were slaughtered in the gardens of the church be revolutionary assassins. Entitled ‘Les Massacres de septembre 1792 a la prison des Carmes,’ it was eventually published by the Le Carnet historique et literarire journal (1898).

Gizawka, Barbara – (c1550 – 1589)
Polish courtier
Barbara Gizawka was the daughter of Jan Gizawki and became the mistress of Sigismund II Augustus (1520 – 1572), king of Poland. She was the mother of his daughter Barbara Jagiella (1571 – 1615) who became the wife of Jacob Zawadzki. Barbara Gizawka died aged almost forty (May, 1589).

Gjika, Elena     see    Ghika, Elena

Gjorv, Inger Lise – (1938 – 2009)
Norwegian politician
Inger Strand was born (May 26, 1938) in Oslo, the daughter of a physician. She studied at the University of Oslo where she met her future husband. Inger Gjorv was then employed as a secondary teacher and joined the executive committee of the Inderoy local council (1975 – 1979). She then joined the Labour Party and was elected to the Norwegian Parliament (1977) being re-elected three times. Gjorv served as the vice-president of the Council of Europe (1989 – 1993).
Gjorv was a chairman of the board of the Concerts of Norway (1993 – 1998) and then became a member of the National Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics (1994). Her last appointment was as county governor of Nord-Trondelag (1991 – 2008) when she became the first Norwegian woman to hold the office of governor. Inger Gjorv died (March 28, 2009) aged seventy.

Gladstone, Catherine – (1812 – 1900)
British political wife, courtier and philanthropist
Catherine Glynne was the elder daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne and his wife Mary Neville. She was educated at the family home at Hawarden under the supervision of governesses. She travelled to Italy where she met William Ewart Gladstone, the future prime minister of Queen Victoria, whom she married (1839). Despite obvious differences in temperament Catherine’s marriage proved to be a long and congenial one, and she was famous for her loyalty to her husband and her admirable disgression. Mrs Gladstone necame involved in various worthy philanthropic causes such as organizing relief during the Lancashire cotton famine, and work with the House of Charity on Soho, London, which through efforts was transformed into the Newport Market Refuge and Industrial School. She established a home at Woodford, Essex, for survivors of the great cholera epeidemic which afflicted London Hospital (1866) and founded an orphanage and a home for elderly women at Hawarden.
Catherine Gladstone was appointed as president of the St Mary’s Training Home for the Protection and Care of Young Girls (1882) and agreed to serve as president of the Women’s Liberal Federation (1887 – 1893), in order to further her husband’s career in politics, though she greatly disliked public speaking. During her husband’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey, the Prince of Wales kissed her hand, an action which greatly angered Queen Victoria, who had intensely disliked William Gladstone. She was portrayed by Rosamond Byrne in the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) series Edward VII (1975) with Timothy West in the title role and Sir Michael Hordern as William Gladstone.

Gladstone, Helen – (1849 – 1925)
British educator
Helen Gladstone was born (Aug 28, 1849) the daughter of William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of England, and his wife Catherine Glynne, the daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne. She was educated at home under the supervision of a governess before going on to study at Newnham College at Cambridge. Miss Gladstone never married and served for fourteen years (1882 – 1896) as the principal of Newnham. She later served as the warden of the Women’s University Settlement (1901 – 1906). Helen Gladstone died (Aug 19, 1925) aged seventy-five, at Hawarden in Chester.

Gladys of Wales    see    Gwladus Ddu

Glamis, Charlotte Grimstead, Lady – (1798 – 1881)
Scottish aristocrat and figure of tradition
Charlotte Grimstead was the daughter of Joseph Valentine Grimstead (1757 – 1809), from an important Hertfordshire landowning family, and his wife Charlotte Sarah Walsh. Charlotte Grimstead was married at Westminster, London (1820), to George Bowes-Lyons (1801 – 1834), Lord Glamis, the son and heir of the eleventh Earl of Strathmore. The couple had five children,

• Son (born and died Oct 18, 1821).
• Thomas George Bowes-Lyons (1822 – 1865), who succeeded as twelfth Earl of Strathmore. He was married but died childless.
• Claude Bowes-Lyons (1824 – 1904), who succeeded his brother Thomas as thirteenth Earl of Strathmore (1865 – 1904). He was married and left descendants.
• Hon. (Honourable) Charlotte Bowes-Lyons (1826 – 1844). She died unmarried.
• Lady Frances Bowes-Lyons (1828 – 1903). She was married to Hugh Charles Trevanion of Cornwall (1829 – 1901), and left descendants.

It was the eldest child of Lady Glamis that died in infancy that remains shrouded in Scottish tradition and folk-lore. According to popular belief the eldest son did not died in infancy, but had been born hideously deformed and mutated. It was said to have been locked up in the tower of Glamis Castle, away from prying and curious eyes. The story has persisted until the present day, but no proof has been discovered apart from garbled ‘eye-witness’ accounts, which could not be verified.
With her husband’s early death (1834), Lady Charlotte never remarried and survived him for forty-seven years as the Dowager Lady Glamis (1834 – 1881). Her portrait remains at Glamis Castle. Through her second son, who proved the main beneficiary in her will, she was the paternal great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of George VI (1936 – 1952) and of Queen Elizabeth II and her descendants. Lady Glamis died (Jan 18, 1881) at Redbourn, aged eighty-two.

Glandiosa    see   Glaudiosa

Glanusk, Editha Elma Sergison, Lady – (1867 – 1938)
British volunteer worker and peeress
Edith Sergison was the daughter of Major Warden Sergison, of Cuckfield Park. She was married (1890) to Sir Joseph Henry Russell Bailey (1864 – 1928), who succeeded his father as second Baron Glanusk (1906). During WW I Lady Glanusk was involved with organizing medical aid for the soldiers at the front, and for work with the Red Cross. In recognition of this service she was created CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by King George V (1920). She survived her husband a decade as the Dowager Baroness Glanusk (1928 – 1938). Lady Glanusk died (April 19, 1938) at her home in Westminster, London, aged seventy. She left four children,

• Sir Wilfred Russell Bailey (1891 – 1948). He succeeded his father as third Baron Glanusk (1928 – 1948). He was married twice but died childless, and the Glanusk title passed to a cousin, a descendant of the first Baron (1899 – 1906).
• Lieutenant Hon. (Honourable) Gerald Sergison Bailey (1893 – 1915). He served with the Grenadier Guards and was killed in action in France during WW I, unmarried.
• Hon. Dulcie Editha Bailey (1896 – 1957). She was married to Captain Alastair Robertson Cooper (died 1951), and left children.
• Hon. Bernard Michael Bailey (1899 – 1916). He served as a midshipman in the Royal Navy during WW I, and was killed in action, aged only seventeen.

Glanville-Hicks, Peggy – (1912 – 1990)
Australian-American composer
Glanville-Hicks was born (Dec 29, 1912) in Melbourne, Victoria, where studied at the Conservatorium of Music (1927 – 1931). She went on the travel to England where she completed her musical education at the Royal College of Music in London, under the instruction of Nadia Bouloanger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and other famous names. With her husband, the British composer, Stanley Bate, Peggy founded the ballet company Le Trois Arts in London (1940).
However, during WW II Peggy lived and worked in New York, USA, becoming a citizen (1948). There she organized public concerts of contemporary music, was employed as a critic with the New York Herald Tribune (1948 – 1958), and co-founded the International Music Fund with Carleton Sprague Smith, to assist struggling artists. She later went to reside in Greece, and her own opera, Nausicaa was produced at the Athens Festival (1961). Glanville-Hicks wrote several operas such as The Transposed Heads (1953), Etruscan Concerto, and Concerto Romantico.
Her ballet music entitled The Masque of the Wild Man (1958), was commissioned for the first Spoleto Festival. She later returned to Australia and served for over two decades as director of Asian studies at the Australian Music Centre in Sydney (1975 – 1990). Peggy Glanville-Hicks died (June 25, 1990) aged seventy-seven, in Sydney.

Glaphyra – (fl. c490 AD – 503)
Roman Christian patron
Glaphyra was the wife of Faustus Albinus, consul 493 AD (living in 522). The couple owned an estate called the ‘fundus Pacinianus’ near Rome, where they jointly erected the basilica of St Peter, which they asked Pope Symmachus to dedicate.

Glaphyra of Amasia – (c300 – c324 AD)
Greek courtier and Christian saint
Glaphyra was born in Pontus, Asia Minor, and was appointed as lady-in-waiting to the Augusta Constantia, the wife of emperor Licinius and sister to Constantine I. (306 – 337 AD). Licinius had attempted to ravage Glaphyra but she had appealed to the empress for protection. Constantia sent Glaphyra away secretly in male disguise, with money and attendants. She travelled to Amasia where she was received by Bishop Basileus. However, the empress was detected sending Glaphyra more moneym and the governor of Amasia was ordered by the emperor to hand over Glaphyra and the bishop in chains. Glaphyra died before this could take place, but Basileus was killed. The church venerated Glaphyra as a saint (Jan 13) and her feast as recorded in the Roman Martyrology and in the Acta Sanctorum.

Glaphyra of Cappadocia (1) – (c78 – after 36 BC)
Queen of Cappadocia
Glaphyra was probably the half-sister or daughter of Ariobarzanes III, King of Cappadocia. Glaphyra was married (c62 BC) to Archelaus I of Pontus, king of Cappadocia (c90 – 55 BC) as his first wife, and was the mother of his son, Archelaus II Sisinnes (c60 BC – 17 AD), later installed as king of Cappodocia. Perhaps because her husband had divorced her (c58 BC), in order to make an important marriage with the Ptolemaic queen Berenike IV, the Roman historian Cassius Dio called her an hetaira, or professional concubine, but a surviving inscription from Magnesia on the Meander river, revealed that she used the royal title (basileia) and was indeed of royal rank.
With this inscription was found part of the statue of a woman, probably meant to represent the queen. She was also said to have been the mistressof the Roman triumvir Marcus Antonius, famous for his subsequent connection with Queen Cleopatra, and Antonius certainly assisted her young son to become king (c50 BC). She was the paternal grandmother of Glaphyra, the wife of Juba II, King of Mauretania.

Glaphyra of Cappadocia (2) – (34 BC – c5 AD)
Queen consort of Mauretania
Glaphyra was the daughter of Archelaus II Sisinnes, king of Cappadocia. Her grandmother and namesale was Glaphyra, the first wife of Archelaus I, King of Cappadocia. She was married firstly (17 BC) to Prince Alexander (35 – 6 BC), the elder son of Herod the Great of Judaea. A beautiful and haughty woman, she was much favoured by her father-in-law King Herod, but she caused dangerous rifts in the royal household, because of her insistence that she, the daughter of a king, was of higher rank than the women of Herod’s family. These squabbles assisted Herod’s sister Salome in her conspiracy to bring about the destruction of her husband Alexander, despite the fact that he discredited his aunt when she began rumours of incest between Glaphyra and the elderly king.
When Alexander was put to death in Samaria (6 BC), Glaphyra had been involved, and was forced to flee Judaea to her father’s court at Elaeusa before travelling on to visit the Imperial court of Augustus and Livia in Rome. She was permitted to return to her father’s court, and King Herod repaid her dowry from his own resources, but her two sons remained at the court of their grandfather in Judaea. Glaphyra was later remarried (c4 BC) to Juba II, king of Mauretania (50 BC – 23 AD) as his second wife, and the people and council of Athens in Greece honoured the queen with an inscription. The marriage remained childless and quickly ended in divorce.
Queen Glaphyra returned to Judaea, where another of Herod’s sons, the ethnarch Herod Archelaus (c20 BC – 18 AD), divorced his wife Mariamne in order to marry her. The union was unpopular and was viewed as incestuous. According to the historian Josephus in his Antiquitates Judaicae, Glaphyra was reproached in a dream by her husband Alexander, on account of her marriages, and died several days later. The Greek historian Strabo places her death prior to 6 AD. By her first husband Alexander, she left two sons,

• Prince Alexander of Judaea (c15 BC – c20 AD). He was the father of Tigranes VI (c10 – c70 AD), King of Armenia.
• Tigranes V (13 BC – 36 AD), King of Armenia.

Glaser, Dorothy   see   Wrinch, Dorothy

Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson – (1873 – 1945)
American novelist and essayist
Ellen Glasgow was born (April 22, 1873) in Richmond, Virginia, to an old and respected colonial family. With the death of her mother, Ellen assumed her position in southern society. Her first story The Descendant was published in 1897 at the age of twenty-two. All her many subsequent novels were set in the American south where her reputation as a novelist was quickly established.
Recovery from a suicide attempt (1918) was to prove the inspiration behind the story of the strong and independent Dorinda Oakely, the admirable heroine of Barren Ground (1925) considered to be one of the most powerfully moving of Ellen Glasgow’s works.
Her works included The Miller of the Old Church (1911), and the comic trilogy The Romantic Comedians (1926), They Stooped to Folly (1929) and, The Sheltered Life (1932). She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1941) for In This Our Life (1932). Her work The Shadowy Third (1923), was a collection of highly regarded supernatural tales.
Ellen Glasgow corresponded with such literary figures as Maxwell Perkins, Carl Van Vechten, Paul Revere Reynolds, and Hunter Stagg, amongst others, and several collections of her letters have been published. Her autobiography The Woman Within (1954) was published posthumously. Ellen Glasgow died (Nov 21, 1945) at Richmond, aged seventy-two.

Glasier, Elizabeth Stine    see    Glasier, Elizabeth

Glaspell, Susan Keating – (1876 – 1948) 
American actress, journalist, novelist and dramatist
Glaspell was born (July 1, 1876) in Davenport, Iowa, and received her education at Drake University. Susan was married firstly (1913) to George Cram Cook, and secondly to Norman H. Matson. Susan Glaspell was the co-founder of the Provincetown Players with her husband and the famous playwright, Eugene O’Neill (1888 – 1953). Her plays included, Suppressed Desires (1915) and, Tickless Time (1918). Glaspell was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1931) for her portrait of the poet Emily Dickinson entitled, Alison’s House (1930), which was first produced on the stage in New York by Eva LeGallienne. Her novels included The Glory of the Conquered (1909), Brook Evans (1928), and The Fugitive’s Return (1929).
Susan Glaspell died (July 27, 1948) aged seventy-two, at Princetown in Massachusetts.

Glass, Leslie – (1963 – 2000)
American model, porn actress and animal preservationist
Glass was born (Oct 4, 1963) in Baltimore, Maryland. She became the Penthouse Pet of the Year Runner-Up (1994) and appeared in the porn film Vagablonde (1994). Leslie Glass died (Aug 4, 2000) aged thirty-six, in Baltimore, after a long battle with breast cancer.

Glass, Ruth Adele – (1912 – 1990)
German-Anglo sociologist and writer
Born Ruth Lazarus in Berlin, Prussia, she was of Jewish origins. She originally worked as a journalist, but with the rise of the Nazi regime, and the threat against the Jews, she fled to safety in London, where she studied at the School of Economics there. Particularly interested in public housing and planning, and the placement of ethnic minorities within the urban development of modern cities, Glass was appointed as director for the Centre for Urban Studies at the University College in London, a position she held for over three decades (1958 – 1990). She was author of the collection of essays entitled Cliches of Urban Doom (1988). Ruth Glass died (March 7, 1990).

Glasse, Hannah – (1708 – 1770)
British cook and culinary author
Born Hannah Allgood in Holborn, London, she was married to a solicitor Peter Glasse, to whom she bore eight children, and may have been attached to the household of the Dowager Princess of Wales, mother of George III. Hannah’s published collection The Art of Cooking made Plain and Simple, which achieved great popularity, was the first ever cooking guide written by an Englishwoman, and remained in print until 1824. Her other published works were The Compleat Confectioner (c1770) and The Servant’s Directory or Housekeeper’s Companion (1760). Hannah died in Newcastle.

Glaudiosa (Gaudiosa, Glandiosa) – (d. c303 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian martyr
Glaudiosa was arrested in Constantinople during the Christian purge instigated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. She was killed together with the soldier Acacius, and the female martyr Agatha. Revered as a saint, her feast was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum (May 8).

Glazarova, Jarmila – (1901 – 1977)
Czech novelist and memoirist
Born Jarmila Posivinska at Mala Skala, she attended boarding school in Prague, Bohemia, and became a rural housewife. With her husband’s early death Madame Glazarova published the memoir Roky v kruhu (The Cycle of the Years) (1936). She later served (1946 – 1948) as the cultural attache for the Czech embassy in Moscow, Russia. Her novels included Vlci jama (The Wolf Pit) (1938) and Chuda pradlena (The Poor Spinner) (1940). Jarmila Glazarova died in Prague.

Gleeson, Margaret – (1875 – 1932)
Australian Roman Catholic nun and missionary
Margaret Gleeson was born in Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland, and was sister to Edmund Gleeson (1869 – 1956), Bisbhop of Maitland in New South Wales (1931 – 1956). Margaret was educated by Dominican nuns and came to Australia with her family as a young woman (1893). She joined the Order of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Kensington, and became Sister Mary Kevin. Sister Gleeson was later sent to New Guineas as a missionary worker (1900), and founded the St Patrick’s School on Yule Island in Papua. Margaret Gleeson died (July 18, 1932) on Yule Island.

Gleichen, Lady Feodora Georgina Maud – (1861 – 1922)
British sculptor
Feodora Gleichen was born (Dec 20, 1861) in London, the elder daughter of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and his morganatic British wife, Laura Williamina Seymour. She attended the Slade School of Art in London and also attended the University College. Her sculpture was exhibited with the Royal Academy from 1898 and with the New Gallery, and she was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours.
Feodora was known as Countess von Gleichen, the rank and style of her mother until 1917, when she received the rank of a duke’s daughter by order of King George V, becoming Lady Feodora Gleichen. When her work was exhibited in Paris, she received the medal for sculpture (1900). Her best known works were the life-size group which included Queen Victoria surrounded by children, commissioned for a children’s hospital in Montreal, Canada, and the memorial for Edward VII at Derby. Feodora was posthumously inducted as a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, the first woman ever to be so honoured. Lady Feodora Gleichen died (Feb 22, 1922) at her apartments at St James’s Palace, London, aged sixty.

Gleichen, Lady Helen Emily – (1873 – 1947)
British memoirist and biographer
The younger sister to Lady Feodora Gleichen, Helen was the younger daughter of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and his morganatic British wife, Laura Williamina Seymour, Countess von Gleichen. Helen was styled HSH (Her Serene Highness) Countess von Gleichen until 1917, when she was granted the style and rank of the daughter of a marquess by King George V and was known as Lady Helen Gleichen. She remained unmarried.

Gleichen, Sylvia Gay Edwardes, Lady – (1880 – 1942)
British courtier
The sister-in-law to ladies Feodora and Helen Gleichen, and daughter-in-law of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife, Countess Laura von Gleichen, Sylvia was born (Feb 16, 1880) the daughter of Henry George Edwardes (1844 – 1896), secretary of the British Legation at Buenos Aires, Washington, and Rome, and his wife Cecilia Douglas Bayley. Sylvia was the niece of William Edwardes (1835 – 1896), fourth Baron Kensington, and served at court as maid-of-honour to Queen Victoria (1897 – 1901) and then to Queen Alexandra (1901 – 1910). Sylvia then married HSH (His Serene Highness) Count Albert Edward von Gleichen (1863 – 1937) but the couple had no children.
Her husband later relinquished his German titles and dignities and was granted in return the style and precedence of the younger son of a marquess (1917) by King George V and was styled from then as Lord Albert Gleichen. By the same warrant the countess Sylvia received the style and precedence as the daughter of a marquess, and was known officially as Lady Sylvia Gleichen. She survived her husband as the Dowager Lady Gleichen (1937 – 1942). Lady Sylvia Gleichen died (Oct 27, 1942) aged sixty-two.

Gleitze, Mercedes – (1900 – 1979)
British swimming champion and sportswoman
Gleitze was born (Nov 18, 1900) at Brighton, London, the daughter of a baker, and was partly raised by German relatives in Bavaria. She trained as a swimmer in the Thames River, accompanied by an oarsman. Gleitze set a women’s first record for swimming the Thames in just over ten hours (1927) and then became the first Englishwoman to swim the Channel from France to England in fifteen hours. She was the person to ever swim the dangerous Straits of Gibraltar (12 hrs) (1928), and she also swam around the Isle of Man. She braved the cold of Scotland to swim Loch Ryan and the Firth of Forth, and swam difficult routes in Asia Minor and South Africa. She held the British record for endurance swimming for several years before her retirement (1932). With the money earnt from her races she established the Mercedes Gleitze Homes for Destitute Men and Women in Leicester, which was run by the Leicester Rotary Club and provided temporary accomodation for homeless families. During WW II the home houses Czech refugees until it was destroyed by enemy action. Mercedes Gleitze died (Feb 9, 1979) in Kingsbury, London, aged seventy-eight.

Glen, Esther – (1881 – 1940) 
New Zealand journalist, editor and children’s author
Born Alice Esther Glen, she worked as a newspaper journalist and wrote a section for children in the two Christchurch newspapers papers. She also produced several children’s novels such as the very popular Six Little New Zealanders (1917) and the sequel Uncles Three at Kamahi (1926). She wrote two other novels and after her death the New Zealand Library Association established the annual Esther Glen Award for children’s literature in her memory (1945).

Glenarthur, Janet Stevenson Bennett McGrigor, Lady – (1858 – 1946)
Scottish civic leader and philanthropist
Janet McGrigor was the younger daughter of Alexander Bennett McGrigor, of Cairnoch, Stirlingshire. She was married (1879) to Sir Matthew Arthur (1852 – 1928), who was later created a baronet (1903) by Edward VII, and then first Baron Glenarthur (1918) by King George V.
Lady Glenarthur served as a Justice of the Peace in Ayrshire, and was honorary president of the Ayrshire branch of the BRCS (British Red Cross Society), and was appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) in recognition of her public service. She survived her husband as the Dowager Baroness Glenarthur (1928 – 1946). Lady Glenarthur died (Oct 3, 1946) aged eighty-eight. Her two children,

• Hon. (Honourable) Elizabeth Muriel Arthur (1880 – 1960). She was married to Major Ian Archibald Finlay (died 1925), and left children.
• James Cecil Arthur (1883 – 1942). He succeeded his father as second Baron Glenarthur (1928 – 1942). He was married and left descendants.

Glenarvon    see    Davis, Norma Lochlenah

Glenbervie, Catherine Anne North, Lady – (1760 – 1817)
British Hanoverian courtier
Lady Catherine North was the eldest daughter of Frederick North (1732 – 1792), second Earl of Guildford and Prime Minister of England (1770 – 1782) and his wife Anne Speke, the daughter of George Speke of White Lackington in Somerset. She was married (1789) at her father’s house in St George’s Hanover Square to Sylvester Douglas (1743 – 1823) first Baron Glenbervie and became the Baroness Glenbervie (1789 – 1817). Her children included Hon. (Honourable) Frederick Sylvester North Douglas (1791 – 1819) who was Member of Parliament for Banbury, but predeceased his father without issue.
Lady Glenbervie was invited by Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales to become her Mistress of the Robes (Dec, 1807) as a replacement for Lady Townshend who had left royal service on becoming a widow. Due to the princess’s wild and unpredictable behaviour Lord Glenbervie viewed the offer with some foreboding, despite the generous salary of five hundred pounds annually. She was granted apartments at Kensington Palace and at the princess’s residence at Blackheath but her behaviour at table in front of guests was said to be such that ‘made Lady Glenbervie hang down her head and look grave.’ Lady Glenbervie died (Feb 6, 1817) aged fifty-six, at her residence in Marylebone, London.

Glencross, Eleanor – (1876 – 1950)
Australian political organizer
Born Eleanor Lyons (Nov 11, 1876) in Sydney, New South Wales, she was the daughter of a politician. She attended school in Sydney. Eleanor Lyons became an organizer for the Liberal and Reform Association and travelled wideley to speak at various meetings. She later moved to Melbourne, Victoria, where she became the general secretary and chief speaker of the Australian Women’s National League. She then left to join the People’s Liberal Party. She was married (1917) to Andrew William Glencross (died 1930), a grazier.
Eleanor Glencross was a lifelong supporter of the WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union), and formed the Housewives’ Association of Victoria. She became president of the Federated Housewives’ Association of Australia (1923), and served as president of the Victorian National Council of Women. Mrs Glencross entered politics and three times stood unsuccessfully for election in federal politics (1922), (1928), and (1943). After being appointed to the Commonwealth Film Censorship Board (1928), Mrs Glencross moved to Sydney, where she again worked as a political organizer. Eleanor Glencross died (May 2, 1950) aged seventy-three.

Glenlyon, Emily Frances Percy, Lady – (1789 – 1844) 
British heiress and peeress
Lady Emily Percy was born (Jan 7, 1789) the second daughter of Hugh Percy (1742 – 1817), second Duke of Northumberland (1786 – 1817) and his second wife Frances Julia Burrell, the daughter of Peter Burrell, of Langley Park, in Beckenham, Kent, and was the sister of the first Baron Gwydir. Lady Emily was married in London (1810) to James Murray (1782 – 1837), first Baron Glenlyon in her right (1821), and left issue.
Lady Emily survived her husband as Dowager Baroness Glenlyon (1837 – 1844). Her grandson John James Hugh Henry Murray, the seventh Duke of Atholl, inherited the ancient medieval barony of Percy and became co-heir of the feudal baronies of Latimer, Scales, Plaiz, Badlesmere, and L’Isle, through her (1865). Lady Glenlyon died (June 21, 1844) aged fifty-five, at Dunkeld in Scotland. Her children were,

• Lady Charlotte Augusta Leopoldina Murray (1811 – 1889). She became the wife of Reverend Court Granville (died 1871), canon of Durham.
• George Murray (1814 – 1864). He succeeded as sixth Duke of Atholl (1846) and left issue.
• Lady Frances Juliet Murray (1817 – 1868). She became the wife of Hon. Charles Maynard (1814 – 1865).
• Lord James Charles Plantagenet Murray (1819 – 1874). He was married to Elizabeth Margery Fairholme (1826 – 1888) but left no issue.
  He served in the Crimea and was groom-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.
• Lady Augusta Mary Minna Catherine Murray (1821 – 1886). She became the wife of Henry fitzalan-Howard (1815 – 1860), fourteenth Duke of Norfolk and left issue.

Glenorchy, Willielma Campbell Maxwell, Lady – (1741 – 1786)
Scottish religious zealot and evangelical supporter
Willielma Campbell Maxwell was born in Galloway, the younger and posthumous daughter and co-heir of William Maxwell of Preston. She was married (1761) at St George’s in Hanover Square, London, to John Campbell (1738 – 1771), Viscount Glenorchy, a wealthy landowner, the son and heir of John Campbell (1695 – 1782), third earl of Breadalbane. Their marriage remained childless.
With the early death of her husband, Lady Glenorchy refused to consider remarrying, and decided to devote herself to the patronge of the Protestant evangelical faith. Lady Glenorchy held services in her own home, and built two chapels for the the purpose in Edinburgh. Of these, one was built with the intetnion of attracting preachers of other denominations, whilst the other was connected with the esatablished Church of Scotland. In her will she made considerable bequests for the maintenance of chapels and schools, and to pay for the training of future evangelical ministers. Lady Glenorchy died (July 17, 1786) at her house in St George’s Square, Edinburgh, aged forty-three, and was buried there in the chapel she had founded.

Gliceria   see    Glyceria

Glinska, Teofila – (1765 – 1799)  
Polish poet
Teofila Glinska was best known for penning the poem ‘Hymn Peruvanow o smierci’ (The Peruvian Hymn to the Dead) (1785), which she had adapted from the novel Les Incas (1778), by the French writer Jean Francois Marmontel (1723 – 1799).

Glismoda – (fl. 455 AD)
Gallo-Roman religious patron
Glismoda was attested by a surviving inscription from Narbonne in Gaul (455 AD), and was perhaps of Visigothic origins. She bore the rank of comitissa (countess) and provided financial assistance for the erection of a public building during the period of office held by Bishop Rusticus who had been Bishop of Narbonne since 427 AD.

Gloag, Isabel Lilian – (1865 – 1917)
British artist and flower painter
Gloag was born in London. Gloag specialized in painting flowers and was a member of the Ridley Art Club. Examples of her work were preserved at the Paris Art Moderne. Isabel Gloag died in London.

Gloria, Madalena da – (1672 – after 1760)
Portugese poet and nun
Sister Madalena Gloria published several works using the pseudonym, ‘Leonarda Gil da Gama.’ These works included the novel Reino de Babilonia (Reign of Babylon) (1749), and the collection of verse entitled Orbe Celeste (Celestial Orbe) (1742).

Glory, Marie – (1905 – 2009)
French film actress
Raymonde Louise Marcelle Toully was born (March 3, 1905) at Mortagne-au-Perche in Orne, Normandy. She made her silent film debut in the historical epic Le Miracle des Loups (1924) produced by Raymond Bernard. Until 1927 she used the stagename ‘Arlette Genny.’ She then adopted the name ‘Marie Glory’ which she retained. She appeared in the lead role in L’Argent (1928) with Brigitte Helm and in The Count of Monte Cristo (1929) directed by Henri Fescourt in which she appeared with Lil Dagover and Jean Angelo.
Glory successfully made the transition to sound films such as Le Roi de Paris (1930), Le Morte en fuite (1936), Napoli che non muore (1939), Una Moglie in pericolo (1939) and Dagli Appennini all Ande (1943). Her career declined after 1939 and during WW II she fled from occupied France. For the next two decades Glory appeared in several Italian films such as La Folla (1951) and Lo Scapolo (1955) and also worked in television where she appeared in the popular series Les Beaux yeux d’Agatha (1964). Marie Glory died (Jan 24, 2009) aged one hundred and three.

Gloucester, Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of    see   Bohun, Eleanor de

Gloucester, Eleanor de Cobham, Duchess of     see   Cobham, Eleanor de

Gloucester, Maria Walpole, Duchess of    see   Walpole, Maria

Glover, Elizabeth Rosetta Butler-Scott, Lady – (1852 – 1927)
British memoirist and author
Elizabeth Rosetta Butler-Scott was the maternal granddaughter of John Bolton-Massy of Ballywire, Tipperay and Dublin in Ireland. She became the wife of Captain Sir John Hawley Glover of the Royal Navy, to whom she bore an only daughter and whom she survived as the Dowager Lady Glover. Her published works included a biography of her late husband, Lest We Forget Them and Memories of Four Continents. Lady Glover died (Feb, 1927) in London.

Glover, Jean – (1758 – 1801)
Scottish poet
Jean Glover was born (Oct 31, 1758) at Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, the daughter of a weaver. As a very young woman she joined a troupe of traveling actors and was married to the leader. Possessed of pleasing singing voice she played the tambourine and sang in the treets, dressed in stage attire in order to attract customers. She was best known for the Scottish ballad ‘Ower the muir among the Heather’ the lyrics being written down by Robert Burns as he listened to Jean perform the melody. Jean Glover died at Letterkenny in Donegal, Ireland.

Glover, Julia – (1779 – 1850)
Irish stage actress
Born Julia Betterton (Jan 8, 1779) at Newry into a theatrical family who claimed descent from the famous Stuart actor, Thomas Betterton, she worked on the stage from an early age, and acted with her father. Julia Betterton appeared as Elwina in Hannah More’s play Percy (1797) at Covent Garden Theatre and was the heroine of Thomas Dibdin’s play Five Thousand a Year (1799). She performed well in comic roles, but though Julia appeared in serious dramatic roles such as the Queen in William Shakespeare’s Richard III, this genre was not her particular style. She was said to resemble the actress Frances Abington in looks.
Her father had arranged her marriage (1800) with Samuel Glover, in somewhat mercenary circumstances, and she made her first adult stage appearance at the Drury Lane Theatre in London (1802). Julia Glover was the original Alhadra in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s play Remorse (1813). She excelled in comic roles such as Lydia Languish and Mrs Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s famous play The Rivals (1775). She had a long and illustrious career and became a leading lady of the theatre. She was the mother of the noted composer and conductor William Howard (1819 – 1875). Julia Glover died (July 16, 1850) aged seventy-one, a week after a benefit performance at Drury Lane Theatre. She was interred near her father in the churchyard of St George the Martyr, in Queen Square, Bloomsbury, in London.

Gluck, Alma – (1884 – 1938)
Romanian-American operatic soprano and concert vocalist
Born Reba Pierson (April 11, 1866) in Bucharet, Romania, she studied singing under Buzzi-Peccia. Alma Gluck made her stage debut in New York (1909) and was then associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1909 – 1912). She later became the wife of the Russian violinist Efrem Zimbalist. Her rendition of ‘Carry Me Back to Ol’ Virginny’ sold nearly two million copies. Alma Gluck died (Oct 26, 1938) in New York, aged fifty-four.

Gluck, Babette Elisabeth   see   Paoli, Betty

Gluckel von Hameln    see    Hameln, Gluckel von

Glumer, Claire von – (1825 – 1906)
German traveller and writer
Claire von Glumer was forced to flee abroad because of the nature of her father’s political involvements. Claire later returned to work as a governess before taking up a career as a parliamentary journalist. Arrested because of her involvement with a plan to break her brother out of prison, she was herself imprisoned for three months. Glumer wrote the novel Fata Morgana (1848), and translated the autobiography of French author George Sand, Histoire de ma vie, into German. Glumer also produced travel-logues of her various journeys through the Pyrenees Aus den Pyrenean (From the Pyrenees) (1854).

Gluyas, Constance – (1920 – 1983)
American-Anglo romantic and historical novel writer
Her published works included Born to Be King (1974), Rogue’s Mistress (1977), Madame Tudor (1979), and The Passionate Savage (1980). Constance Gluyas died in New York.

Glyceria (Gliceria) – (d. c177 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Glyceria was born into a noble senatorial family, being the daughter of a consul named Martinus. She resided with her father at Trajanopolis in Greece. Raised as a practising Christian she was arrested for her adherence to her faith by order of the local prefect Sabinus during the persecution organized by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180 AD). She refused to deny her religion and was condemned to be killed by the wild beasts in the arena.
The church honoured Glyceria as a saint (May 13). Her feast was recorded in the Roman Martyrology, the Arabico-Egyptian Martyrology and the Vite dei Santi amongst other works. She was also listed in the Acta Sanctorum. Her Acts appear highly exaggerated but the basic facts of her martyrdom seem genuine.

Glyn, Alice Coralie - (1867 - 1928)
British writer and housing advocate
Hon. (Honourable) Alice Coralie Glyn was the daughter of Admiral Hon. (Honourable) Henry Carr Glyn and his wife Rose Mahony, the daughter of Denis Mahony of Dromore in Ireland, and was sister to Frederic Carr Glyn (1864 - 1932), the fourth Baron Wolverton (1888 - 1932). She remained unmarried.
Miss Glyn was closely associated with the housing movement to provide better accomodation for the poor of London, and gave lectures concerning important questions to do with the rights of workers in industry. She founded a Sunday Institution for the benefit of working women. Her published works were A Woman of Tomorrow and The Idyll of the Star Flower, which was a study of the Norwegian sagas. Miss Glyn died (Sept 28, 1928) at Ernstein House in Tunbridge Wells.

Glyn, Elinor – (1864 – 1943)
British popular novelist
Born Elinor Sutherland in Jersey in the Channel Islands, she was the daughter of a civil engineer and was raised in Canada by her maternal grandmother. Her elder sister was Lady Lucy Sutherland Duff-Gordon, who with her husband Cosmo survived the Titanic disaster (1912). With her mother’s remarriage (1871) Elinor returned to Jersey with her family.
Of strikingly beautiful appearance, with masses of red hair, she was married (1892) to a local landowner, Clayton Glyn, to whom she bore two daughters. As a popular novelist, Elinor was particularly remembered for her romantically passionate novels such as The Visits of Elizabeth (1900), Three Weeks (1907) and Did She? (1934). Glyn went to the USA amidst great media hype (1920), and was photographed on leopard skin rugs.
Her later work It (1927), provided that pronoun with a new and racy significance, which craze would culminate in the USA with actress Clara Bow popularly referred to as the ‘It Girl.’ With her return to England (1929), Glyn continued writing, and published her autobiography Romantic Adventures (1936).

Glyn, Isabella Dallas – (1823 – 1889)
British Victorian actress
Isabella Dallas Gearns was the daughter of an architect. She was married firstly to Edward Wills and performed in amateur theatricals in London, before traveling to France in order to study acting in Paris. She received further instruction from Charles Kemble and as ‘Isabella Glyn’ she made her stage debut in the role of Constance in King John at the Theatre Royal in Manchester (1847). Her second marriage (1853) with Eneas Sweetland Dallas ended in divorce on Isabella’s petition (1874).
Glyn appeared in such Shakespearen roles as Lady Macbeth and Volumnia in Coriolanus, as well as portraying heroines such as Queen Cleopatra and the Duchess of Malfi. Miss Glyn appeared at the Drury Lane and St James’s theatres and at Sadler’s Wells, and from 1870 gave public Shakespearean recitals in the USA and in London. Isabella Glyn died (May 18, 1889) at her residence in Grosvenor Square, London. She was interred in Kensal Green Cemetery.

Glynne, Mary – (1898 – 1954)
British actress
Mary Aitken was born (Jan 25, 1898), the granddaughter of a physician attached to the East India Company. She appeared on stage during childhood in the role of Little Rosalie in The Merry Peasant at the Strand Theatre (1909). She made her official stage debut as Curly in Peter Pan (1910) at the Duke of York’s Theatre, taking the professional name of ‘Mary Glynne.’ Mary then appeared as Jacqueline in Joan of Arc (1911) with Ellaline Terriss in the title role and Cinderella in The Golden Land of Fairy Tales at the Lyceum Theatre (1911).
Mary Glynne played the role of the French Dauphin in The Women of France (1912) and then replaced Hilda Trevelyan as Wendy in Peter Pan (1912) which role proved to be considerably popular and successful. Her other roles included the title role in Tilly of Bloomsbury (1919) by Ian Hay, Annabella in The Cat and Canary (1922), Mary Redmayne in The Terror (1927) and as Helena Warwick in Family Affairs (1934). Mary Glynne died (Sept 19, 1954) aged fifty-six.

Gobineau, Marie Caroline Hippolyte de – (1820 – 1884)
French society figure and letter writer
Marie Caroline de Gobineau became a nun as Mere Benedicte (Mother Benedicte). Her private correspondence with her brother Comte Joseph Arthur de Gobineau survives, and was later edited and published posthumously in Paris by A.B. Duff (1958) as Le Comte de Gobineau et Mere Benedicte de Gobineau, Correspondance (1872 – 1882).

Godbold, Lucile – (1902 – 1981)
American athlete
Lucile Godbold was born in Estill, South Carolina, and attended Winthrop College at Rock Hill. There she trained in various forms of athletics and became a proficient performer, breaking two world’s records during a track meet (1920). She won six first places and established a new American record in the shot put (1922). Goldbold attended the Paris Olympic Games (1924) where she competed in track and javelin, and set a new world’s record in the shotput. She was then employed for almost six decades as an athletics instructor at Columbia College in South Carolina. Lucile Godbold died (April 5, 1981).

Goddard, Arabella – (1836 – 1922) 
British pianist
Arabella Goddard was born (Jan 12, 1836) at St Servan, near St Malo, Brittany. From infancy she showed great proficiency at the piano, and at the tender age of four, played in public for the first time. In 1842, at the age of six, she studied in Paris, under the musical instruction of Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner, son of the composer Charles Kalkbrenner. Arabella performed before Queen Victoria (1844) at the age of eight, and she had published six waltzes of her own composition. She studied further with the pianist Lucy Philpot Anderson in England, and then had further training with Sigismund Thalberg, the famous German piano-virtuoso. In 1848 Arabella performed at the Grand National Concerts, and from 1850 – 1853 she was the pupil of thecritic, pianist, and composer, J.W. Davison (1813 – 1885) whom she eventually married (1860). Arabella toured Germany and played at the Leipzig Gewandhaus (1855) in Saxony. During 1873 – 1876 she mad a successful world tour, and retied in 1880. The couple retired to Tunbridge Wells, in Kent. Arabella Goddard survived her husband over thirty-five years, dying (April 6, 1922) aged eighty-six, at Boulogne-sur-Mer, in France.

Goddard, Mary Katherine – (1738 – 1816)
American printer and newspaper publisher
Mary Katherine Goddard was born in Connecticut, the daughter of the printer and postmaster William Goddard and his wife Sarah Updike. She was educated at home, but with her father’s death (1762) she went to reside in the household of her brother William in Rhode Island. Mary Goddard later worked jointly with William in Philadelphia, where they published the Pennsylvania Chronicle, and then in Baltimore, where they edited and published the Maryland Journal (1773). Two years later she began publishing the Maryland Journal herself. Her own press printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence (1775) complete with signatures. After a quarrel with her brother she retired from publishing (1784) and established a bookshop. She had inherited the position of postmaster from her father (1775 – 1789), and was probably the first woman in the USA to hold that title. She retired in 1810.

Goddard, Paulette – (1905 – 1990)
American film actress
Pauline Marion Levy was born (June 3, 1905) at Whitestone Landing on Long Island, New York, and began her career in the chorus of the Ziegfeld Follies. After divorcing her wealthy industrialist husband Mrs Edgar James became financially independent. She then joined the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Hollywood where she took the professional name of ‘Paulette Goddard’ and appeared in such films as The Girl Habit (1931), The Mouthpiece (1932) and The Kid from Spain (1932). Particulalry known for her scandalous association with Charlie Chaplin, to whom she may or may not have been actually married, he began her successful career when he cast Goddard as Hannah in Modern Times (1936). She also appeared in one other Chaplin film The Great Dictator (1940).
Paulette Goddard starred in the all female film classic The Women (1939) with Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell but was passed over for the role of Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939) in favour of Vivien Leigh. Her best film was Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and her other famous roles included Mary Carter in The Ghost Breakers (1940), Loxi Claiborne in Reap the Wild Wind (1942) and Joan O’Doul in So Proudly We Hail (1943) for which role she was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actress.
Always a glamorous figure, she possessed an impressive and valuable collection of jewellery and paintings, and was the lover of the producer Anatole Litvak (1902 – 1974). Her husbands included actor Burgess Meredith (1908 – 1997) and the writer Erich Maria Remarque (1898 – 1970). She appeared as the mother of actress Claudia Cardinale in the Italian film Time of Indifference (1964) and one of her last film appearances was in the television movie The Snoop Sisters (1972). At her death Paulette Goddard bequeathed her entire fortune of twenty million dollars to New York University.

Godden, Rumer – (1907 – 1998)
British novelist and poet
Margaret Rumer Godden was born (Dec 10, 1907) in Eastbourne, Sussex, into a colonial family. She spent much of her youth in India, and after her marriage, she again resided there for several years. She and her children later left India to reside in England, after a servant attempted unsuccessfully to poison mother and children. Godden’s writing career spanned six decades and two of her novels Black Narcissus (1945). about nuns living in the Himalayan Mountains, and The River (1946) were adapted into successful films.
Godden also produced books for children such as The Doll’s House (1947) and, The Little Chair (1996), whilst her novel The Diddakoi (1972), received the Whitbread Prize. Her novels for adults included, An Episode of Sparrows (1955), and The Greengage Summer (1958), and the romance, Coromandel Sea Change (1991) which was set in India, and Pippa Passes (1994). Rumer Godden was appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1993) in recognition of her services to literature.
Godden published the memoir Two Under the Indian Sun (1966), and her autobiography A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep (1987). Godden wrote a biography of Hans Christian Andersen and compiled a children’s edition of the verses of Emily Dickinson. Rumer Godden died (Nov 8, 1998) aged ninety, at Dumfriesshire in Scotland.

Godebska, Misia – (1872 – 1950)
Polish literary and society figure
Born Maria Zofia Olga Zinaida Godebska (March 30, 1872) at Tsarskoie-Selo, she was the daughter of the Polish sculptor, Cyprian Godebski (1835 – 1909) and his wife Zofia, the daughter of the Belgian musician, Adrien Francois Servais (1807 – 1866). Known to her family as ‘Misia,’ she studied the piano and became a accomplished pianist. She was married firstly to the Polish politician Thadee (Tadeusz) Natanson, the director of La Revue blanche, and secondly (1904) to Alfred Edwards (1857 – 1914), co-founder and director of the Matin publication, whom she had formerly resided with as his mistress.
Godebska later seperated from her second husband and established her own salon in an apartment on the Quai Voltaire, where she entertained writers, musicians, and painters, such as Maurice Revel, Igor Stravinsky, Edouard Vuillard, Claude Debussy, and Pierre Auguste Renoir, amongst many others, and she was responsible for introducing Coco Chanel to French society. She was a patron of the Ballets Russes, established by Sergei Diaghilev, and was friend to novelist Marcel Proust, who based his character, Princess Yourbeletieff, on her in his novel Remembrance of Things Past. Godebska was one of the models for Toulouse-Lautrec’s poster for Le Revue blanche (1896) and her portrait, by Renoir, is preserved in the Tate Gallery in London. Her third marriage with the Spanish painter, Jose Maria Serf (1876 – 1945) proved no more successful than her others.

Godefroid, Marie Eleonore – (1778 – 1849)
French portraitist and artist
Godefroid was born in Paris, and studied at the Louvre under Joseph Vernet and his brother Charles, and under Jacques David. She then became a pensioner at the school run by Madame de Campan, the former lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette. Godefroid’s best known works included Les Fils du marechal Ney (The Sons of Marechal Ney) (1810), La Reine Hortense et ses enfants (Queen Hortense and Her Children) (1812), and Les Enfants du duc d’Orleans (The Children of the Duc d’Orleans) (1827). Her portrait of Madame de Campan is preserved at the Museum of Versailles. Marie Eleonore Godefroid died in Paris during a cholera epidemic.

Godeleva – (c1049 – 1070)
Flemish saint
Godeleva was born at Londeforte-lez-Boulogne, the daughter of Infrid and his wife Ogeva. She was married to Bertulf, Lord of Ghistelles (1067). Her husband deserted her on their wedding day, and left her in the care of his mother, who treated her cruelly. She fled to her parents who took up the matter before the Bishop of Tournai and Baldwin VI of Flanders. Bertulf was ordered to take her back. He pretended remorse, but instead arranged for two servants to strangle her at Ghistelles, during his convenient absence. Miracles were soon reported where she had been killed, including the curing of blindness, of the daughter of Bertulf by a previous marriage. After a pilgrimage to Rome and Palestine, Bertulf spent the remainder of his life in penance for his crime, becoming a monk at the abbey of St Winnoc. Godeleva’s remains were exhumed (1084) and enshrined in the church at Ghistelles. The church venerated Godeleva as a saint (July 6).

Godfree, Kitty – (1896 – 1992)
British tennis player and sportswoman
Born Kathleen McKane in London, she was raised at Henley. During her childhood she was taken on cycling holidays to Berlin in Prussia with her family. Whilst playing under her maiden name Kitty was defeated by the French lawn tennis champion Suzanne Lenglen at Wimbledon (1923), but defeated the American champion Helen Wills the next year (1924). As Kitty Godfree she won the Wimbledon title a second time when she defeated Lilli de Alvarez (1926). As a legendary champion it was Godfree who presented a silver salver to Martina Navratilova to commemorate her own impressive seventh victory at Wimbledon (1986).

Godgifu     see also     Godiva

Godgifu of England – (c1007 – 1056)
Anglo-Saxon princess
Godgifu (Godgiva) was the only daughter of Aethelred II the Redeless, King of England (978 – 1013) and (1014 – 1016), and his second wife Emma, the daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy (942 – 996). She was the full-sister of Edward the Confessor (1042 – 1066) and with her father’s death, her mother remarried to the Danish king, Canute, who succeeded Edmund II, Godgifu’s much older half-brother. The princess was partly raised in the safety of the Norman court at Rouen, amongst her maternal relatives, and for some years, her brothers remained there with her. She was married (c1022) to Drogo of Mantes, count of the Vexin (died 1035), and left two sons, Walter, and Ralph of Mantes, who was created earl of Hereford in England, by his maternal uncle, King Edward. Her first husband died at Nikaia in Palestine whilst on crusade (1035), and Godgifu’s second marriage (1036) to the youthful Eustace II, Count of Boulogne (c1022 – 1087), who was fifteen years her junior, as his first wife, was a dynastic alliance. Eustace ruled the county of the Vexin for her son Walter. When her brother Edward went to England to take up his crown (1042), Godgifu’s son Ralph accompanied his uncle to the English court, and settled there. Through him the princess is an ancestress of the famous Tracy family of Toddington, who leave descendants.

Godila of Rothenburg – (c963 – 1015)
German dynastic wife
Godila was the daughter of Count Werner of Rothenburg. She became the wife of Lothair III (c937 – 1003), Count of Walbeck and Margrave of Nordmark. Her marriage had been arranged by the emperor Otto II (973 – 983), and she bore her husband three sons. With her husband’s death (1003) Godila worked tirelessly to secure the inheritance of their eldest son Werner. She later remarried to Hermann II, count von Arnsberg-Werle. Godila’s children were,

• Werner of Walbeck (c980 – 1014). He succeeded his father as Margrave of Nordmark (1003 – 1010). He was married to Luitgarde of Meissen but left no issue.
• Lothair IV (c982 – 1033). He succeeded his father as Count of Walbeck (1003 – 1033) and left issue.
• Berchtold, Count of Walbeck (c985 – after 1018). He was married to Irmengarde of Aspel (died after 1041) and left issue.

Godina – (c895 – c960) 
Portugese virgin saint
Godina was probably the sister of Alfonso de Sousa, count de Belfajal. She became a Benedictine nun at the abbey of San Joao de Vieira, at Basto, Entre Minho y Douro, becoming abbess of that house before 930. She later trained her niece Senorina (924 – 982) to be her successor in office. The church honoured her memory (April 22).

Godisthea – (fl. c430 – c470 AD)
Byzantine patrician
Godisthea was the daughter of Ardabur, consul (447 AD) and the granddaughter of Flavius Ardaburius Aspar, consul (434 AD). She was married to Flavius Dagalaiphus, consul (461 AD), and was the mother of Flavius Dagalaiphus Areobindus (c440 AD – c512), consul (506) and magister militum in the East (503 – c505) whose wife was the Princess Anicia Juliana, the daughter of the Roman emperor Olybrius (472 AD).

Godiva (Godgifu) – (c995 – c1067)
Anglo-Saxon heroine and religious patron
Godiva was the sister of Thorold of Bucknall, sheriff of Lincolnshire, and became the second wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia and Chester (c980 – 1057). She was mother to the powerful Aelfgar, earl of East Anglia and Mercia. According to the thirteenth century chronicler, Roger of Wendover, Godiva rode naked through the market place of Coventry (1040), with most of her body covered by her long hair, in order to persuade her husband to reduce the taxes her had imposed on the people of the town. A later addition to the story suggested that the countess requested the townspeople to remain indoors throughout her ride, which they all did, except for a tailor, who was struck blind, and thus became the first ‘peeping Tom.’ Struck with admiration for her courage and determination, Leofric granted the village’s release from his imposed toll by charter.
With her husband Leofric, Godiva built and endowed the Benedictine Holy Trinity Church, Coventry, which was dedicated to St Mary, St Peter, St Osburga and All Saints by Eadsige, Archbishop of Canterbury (Oct 4, 1043) and also the abbey of Stow, Lincolnshire. She later founded the abbey of Spalding in Lincolnshire with her brother Thorold (1051), and was benefactress of the monasteries of Leominster, Herefordshire and Wenlock, in Shropshire, St Werburga at Chester, and Evesham, Worcestershire.
Godiva died survived Leofric for about a decade, and nearly twenty years before the Domesday survey (1085 – 1086) in which she is listed as a considerable landowner, her estates not having been sequestered or confiscated by William the Conqueror. She was interred within one of the porches of the abbey church of Coventry. Her story is commemorated by a statue that was erected to her (1949) in Broadgate, the centre of the modern city of Coventry.
The countess was portrayed by actress Maureen O'Hara in the film Lady Godiva (1955), and appears in the historical novel King Hereafter (1982) by Dorothy Dunnett.

Godlee, Emily Mary – (1888 – 1927)
Australian nurse
Godlee was born in Adelaide, South Australia. She trained as a nurse at the Adelaide Hospital, and was then appointed to run the opthalmic ward in Port Augusta, South Australia (1914 – 1916). After this she served as matron in rural hospitals, before being appointed as the relieving matron of Bedford Park Hospital in SA. Emily Godlee died (March 1, 1927) aged thirty-eight, in Bordertown, from an accidental gunshot wound.

Godley, Charlotte Griffith Wynne – (1821 – 1907)
Anglo-New Zealand traveller, immigrant and letter writer
Probably born at Voelas in Denbighshire, Charlotte Wynne was the great-grandddaughter of Heneage Finch (died 1777), the third Earl of Aylesford. Charlotte became the wife (1846) of John Rupert Godley (1814 – 1861), and left with him to sail to New Zealand aboard the Lady Nugent (1849 – 1850). Charlotte Godley was a leader of the Canterbury Association Settlement established at New Canterbury, where she resided with her husband and children. Charlotte left a written account of this two year period of her life (1850 – 1852), which was edited and published posthumously in Christchurch by John R. Godley (1951) as Letters from Early New Zealand, 1850 – 1853. She survived her husband for forty-five years (1861 – 1907). Her only son, Sir John Arthur Godley (1847 – 1932) became the first Baron Kilbracken (1909 – 1932) who left descendants. Charlotte Godley died (Jan 3, 1907) aged eighty-five, in London, England.

Godolphin, Margaret – (1652 – 1678)
English Stuart courtier
Margaret Blagge was born (Aug 2, 1652) the daughter of Thomas Blagge of Horningsheath in Suffolk, the Governor of Wallingford and Yarmouth and his wife Mary North, the daughter of Sir Roger North of Mildenhall. She was raised a Protestant and lived in France but resisted efforts to make her hear mass. With her return to England Margaret was appointed as maid-of-honour to Anne Hyde, Duchess of York the sister-in-law of Charles II (1660 – 1685) and resisted the efforts of the Duke of York to make her his mistress.
With the death of the duchess (1671) Margaret transferred her services to the queen, Catharine of Braganza and she appeared as the Greek goddess Diana in the court masque Calisto (1674). It was during this period that Margaret was introduced to her great friend the diarist John Evelyn. Miss Blagge became involved in a liaison with Sidney Godolphin (1645 – 1712) (later first Earl Godolphin) and they were privately married (1675). Margaret Godolphin died (Sept 9, 1678) aged twenty-six, at Scotland Yard in Whitehall, a week after giving birth to her only child, Francis Godolphin (1678 – 1766) who succeeded his father as the second Earl Godolphin and was married to Lady Henrietta Churchill, eldest daughter of the famous Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. Margaret was buried at Breage in Cornwall.

Godowsky, Dagmar – (1896 – 1975) 
American silent film actress and author
Dagmar Godowsky was the daughter of the pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky. Between 1923 – 1925 she appeared in half a dozen silent films including The Sainted Devil (1924), with Rudolph Valentino, who became her lover, and Story Without a Name with Tyrone Power. Long a member of the international jetset crowd, her loves included actor-singer Enrico Caruso, actor Charlie Chaplin, and composer Igor Stravinsky. She later made brief television appearances in London and America, and her autobiography First Person Plural, appeared in 1958. Her early marriage to fellow film star Frank Mayo in Tijuana, Mexico (1921) was annulled in 1928, when it was revealed that Mayo was a bigamist. Dagmar Godowsky died in New York.

Godoy y Alcayaga, Lucila     see     Mistral, Gabriela

Godwin, Dame Anne – (1897 – 1992)
British BBC governor
Beatrice Anne Godwin was born (1897) and served as the general secretary of the Clerical and Administrative Worker’s Union (1965 – 1962). She served as chairman of the TUC (Trades Union Congress) (1961 – 1962) and was then appointed as a governor of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) (1962 – 1968) as well as being a member of the Industrial Court (1963 – 1969). In recognition of her valuable civic work she was created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) (1962) by Queen Elizabeth II. Dame Anne Godwin died (Jan 11, 1992) aged ninety-four.

Godwin, Catherine Grace – (1798 – 1845)
British poet
Catherine Grace Garnett was born (Dec 25, 1798) at Glasgow in Scotland. With the early deaths of her parents she was raised by a family friend near Kirkby Lonsdale in Westmorland. She was married (1824) to Thomas Godwin, an official in the service of the East India Company. Mrs Godwin published several collections of verse including The Night before the Bridal, and Other Poems and The Wanderer’s Legacy (1829). Her style reflected the influences of Byron and William Wordsworth who admired them. Mrs Godwin died (May, 1845) aged forty-six. Her collective works were published posthumously by A. Cleveland Wigan, together with a memoir, as The Poetical Works of Catherine Grace Godwin (1854).

Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft   see    Wollstonecraft, Mary

Goegg, Marie – (1826 – 1899)
Swiss feminist and writer
Born Marie Pouchoulin in Geneva, she was the daughter of a clockmaker. She received a minimal education prior to her first marriage, which ended in divorce (1856). She then remarried to the notorious German revolutionary, Armand Goegg, whose political beliefs and aspirations she accepted as her own. Marie assisted Armand with the establishment of the International League of Peace and Freedom in Geneva (1867), but believed that women could be truly equal within the structure of their own separate organization, to which end she organized the Association Internationale des Femmes (1868) (later to be renamed Solidarite 1870). Madame Goegg also successfully campaigned for the admittance of women to the University of Geneva (1872).

Goeppert-Mayer, Maria – (1906 – 1972)
German-American photographer
Maria Goeppert was born (June 28, 1906) at Katowice, Poland into an academic family. She was educated at the University of Gottingen, and later immigrated to the USA with her family. Her husband (1930) was the prominent academic, Joseph Mayer, professor of physics at John Hopkins University, and whose surname she added to her own. Maria Goeppert-Mayer immigrated to the USA (1931) and worked inscientific research at John Hopkins and Columbia Universities, before being appointed to the Institute of Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago (1945), which stimulated her interest in nuclear physics. She was later appointed as a professor at the University of California (1960), and discovered the shell structure of the atomic nuclei, for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize (1963), which she shared with Eugene Wigner and Hans Jensen, being the first woman to win the prize since Marie Curie six decades earlier (1903). Maria was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1956). Maria Goeppert-Mayer died (Feb 20, 1972) at San Diego, California, aged sixty-five.

Goethe, Johanna Christina Sophia von – (1765 – 1818)
German literary figure, letter writer and salon hostess
Born Johanna Vulpius, she became the mistress, and later the wife (1806) of the noted poet and dramatist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832), to whom she bore several children. Madame Goethe’s private correspondence with Nicholas Meyer was later edited and published posthumously in Strasburg by K.J. Trubner as Briefe von Goethes Frau an Nicholas Meyer (1887), which includes her portrait.

Goethe, Katharina Elisabeth von – (1731 – 1808)
German literary figure, letter writer and salon hostess
Born Katharina von Textor, she was beautiful in person, and vivacious by nature. Katharina was married to Johann Caspar Goethe, a wealthy official, and was mother of Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749 – 1832). Madame von Goethe was a prolific letter writer and corresponded with many illustrious figures including the Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar, the political reformer Friedrich von Stein (1757 – 1831), and the writer Christoph Wieland (1733 – 1813), amongst others. Her personal letters were edited and published posthumously by A.S. Gibbs in New York as Goethe’s Mother: Correspondence of Catherine Elizabeth Goethe (1880).

Goff, Cecile Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, Lady – (1874 – 1960)
British biographer
Lady Cecile was born (June 24, 1874) the fourth daughter of Sir Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (1830 – 1910), first Earl of ancaster and his wife Lady Evelyn Elizabeth Gordon, the daughter of charles Gordon (1792 – 1863), tenth Marquess of Huntley. She was married (1896) to Thomas Clarence Edward Goff (1867 – 1949) to whom she bore two children. She published the work A Woman of the Tudor Age (1930). Lady Goff died (July 27, 1960) aged eighty-six.

Goffage, Lucy Charlotte – (1856 – 1949)
Anglo-Australian nurse and matron
Lucy Goffage was born in England, and after coming to Australia as a young woman, she resided in the rural towns of Roma, Gympie, and Toowoomba in Queensland, where she worked as a nurse. Lucy Goffage was later appointed as the matron of the Lady Musgrave Lodge in Brisbane. Matron Goffage later served as the immigration secretary of the Girls’ Friendly Society, and was a member of the National Council of Women. She remained unmarried. Lucy Goffage died (June 10, 1949) aged eighty-nine, in Brisbane.

Gogorza, Emma de    see   Eames, Emma Hayden

Goharara Begum – (1631 – 1706)
Indian Mughal princess
Princess Goharara Begum was born (June, 1631) at Burhanpur, the daughter and fourteenth child of the Emperor Shah Jahan and his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. She was the youngest sister of the Emperor Aurangzeb. Her mother died at her birth and she was raised by Salima Begum, daughter to Sulaiman Shukoh. Her aged brother the Emperor Aurangzeb lamented her passing as the last survivor of his siblings.

Goharshad    see    Gauhar Shad

Goisvintha – (c524 – 589)
Visigothic queen
Goisvintha was the daughter of prince Hoamer, the nephew of the Vandal king Hilduin (527 – 530). She was married firstly (c540) to the Visigothic king Athanagild, to whom she bore two daughters, Galswintha, wife of the Merovingian king Chilperic I, and Brunhilda, wife of his brother, Sigebert I of Austrasia. With Athanagild’s death (567) Goisvintha remarried to his brother and successor, the widowed Leovigild, becoming the stepmother to King Hermenegild of Seville. A pious and devout Arian, the queen persecuted her Catholic subjects, and was the chief protagonist against her granddaughter and stepdaughter-in-law Ingunde (the daughter of Brunhilda), whom she most cruelly persecuted because of her refusal to adopt the Arian faith. Goisvintha supported the rebellion of her stepson Hermenegild against his father (580), whom she survived.  Her death is thought to have been suicide to avoid harsh punishment for her involvement with a conspiracy with Bishop Vldida, directed against Leovigild’s successor Reccared.

Gojawiczynska, Pola – (1896 – 1963)
Polish novelist and story writer
Pola Gojawiczynska was born in Warsaw, the daughter of an artisan. Pola had a patchy education and later worked as a kindergarten teacher and librarian. She made her literary debut with the story Two Fragments (1915), and the writer Zofia Nalkowksa later interceded to assist her in gaining a grant. Gojaeiczynska later returned to Warsaw and continued writing, but her works were banned by the Nazis and she was imprisoned at Pawiak. Her published works included Opowia dania (Short Stories) (1933), Rajska Jablon (The Apple Tree of Paradise) (1937) and Slupy ogriste (Pillars of Fire) (1938).

Gokhale, Avantika Bai – (1882 – 1949)
Indian social reformer and political activist
Avantika Bai was born in Indore, the daughter of a railway worker. She was married at the age of nine years (1891) and was taught to read and write by her husband. With the permission of her husband’s family, she was permitted to study to become a midwife. Avantika Bai established herself in practice, and later joined the Social Service League (1913). After she and her husband met Mahatma Gandhi for the first time (1916) they became his devoted supporters, and Avantika wrote his autobiography (1918). A tireless worker for the reform of laws regarding women, she became active in politics, and sufferred periods of imprisonment on several occasions. She established the women’s institution, Hind Mahila Sangh in Bombay (Moombai) (1916).

Goldberg, Dora   see   Bayes, Nora

Goldberg, Leah – (1911 – 1970) 
Jewish lyric poet and critic
Goldberg was born in Kovno, Lithuania, and was educated at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Kovno. She later studied philosophy and Semitic languages at the German universities of Bonn and Berlin, and was trained as a teacher. She was later employed as a university lecturer before she settled in Palestine (1935), where she became a prominent figure in Jewish literary circles. Leah Goldberg became known for her translations into Hebrew of such epic works at Leo Tolstoy’s, War and Peace, as well as works by William Shakespeare, Petrarch, Dante, and Henrik Ibsen, amongst other literary giants.
Goldberg wrote the play Ba’alat Ha’armon (The Castle Owner) (1974), works for children such as Gan ha-Hayyot (The Zoo) (1941), and Yalkut Shirim (The Back-Pack of Poems) (1970), literary criticism, and collections of poetry such as Taba’ot He’Ashsn (Rings of Smoke) (1935) and Im Ha’Layla Haze (With this Night) (1967). She was awarded the Irving and Bertha Neuman Literary Prize (1969) by the Institute of Hebrew Studies at New York University. Her memoirs were published posthumously as Sheerit ha-Hayyim (Remnants of Life) (1971). Leah Goldberg died (Jan 14, 1970) aged fifty-eight, in Jerusalem.

Golden, Mignonne – (1904 – 1997)
American film actress
Golden was born (Feb 27, 1904) in London, England. She was the younger sister to actresses Olive Carey and Ruth Fuller Golden, and was the aunt of actor Harry Carey Jr. Her career consisted of half a dozen silent films including Sundown Slim (1920), West Is West (1920), where she was credited under her Christian name only, Hearts Up (1921) in which she played Lorelei Drew, and Canyon of Fools (1923). Mignonne Golden survived her film career over seven decades. Mignonne Golden died (Sept 22, 1997) in New York, aged ninety-three.

Golden, Ruth Fuller – (1901 – 1931)
American film actress
Ruth Fuller Golden was born (May 19, 1901) in New York, and was the sister to actresses Olive Carey and Mignonne Golden. Her nephew was the actor Harry Carey Jr. Her career was short and confined to a handful of silent films including Cupid Forecloses (1919), Over the Garden Wall (1919), Pegeen (1920) as Norman Moran, and Blue Streak McCoy (1920), as Diana Hughes.

Goldfield, Randy    see   Goldsmith, Olivia

Goldi, Anna – (c1740 – 1782)
Swiss witchtrial victim
Anna Goldi worked for nearly two decades as a maidservant in the household of the physician Jakob Tschudi at Glarus. Tschudi apparently had an affair with Goldi after which he accused her of trying to kill one of his daughters by magical means, before she could report him for adultery which would have resulted in Tschudi being stricken as a physician. Anna fled by was captured after advertisements were placed in local newspapers.
Under torture Anna confessed to being in league with Satan whom she claimed appeared to her in the guise of a black dog. She withdrew this confession afterwards but was condemened instead for the murder of her child who may have been fathered by her employee. She was sentenced to be executed and was beheaded (June 18, 1782) at Glarus. Goldi’s execution ignited outrage throughout Europe and she was the last woman to be executed for accusations of withcraft. Two hundred and twenty-five years later (2007) the Swiss Parliament officially acknowledged Anna Goldi’s death as a miscarriage of justice.

Golding, Dame Monica – (1902 – 1997)
British matron
Cecilie Monica Johnson was born (Aug 6, 1902), and attended secondary school in Croydon before training as a nurse at the Royal Surrey County Hospital at Guildford (1922 – 1925) and at the Queen Victoria Institute of District Nursing. Monica Johnson joined the Army Nursing Services and served in India, France, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Johnson was appointed as matron-in-chief and director of the Army Nursing Services (1956 – 1960) and was a Queen’s Honorary Hursing Sister (1956 – 1960).
Johnson was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1958) in recognition of her valuable service, and she became Dame Monica Johnson. She received the rank of brigadier at her retirement (1960) and then served as the colonal commandant of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (1961 – 1966). After her marriage (1961) to Brigadier Harry Golding, an army chaplain, she became known as Dame Monica Golding. Dame Monica Golding died (June 6, 1997) aged ninety-four.

Goldman, Emma – (1869 – 1940)
Russian-American anarchist and political agitator
Popularly known as ‘Red Emma,’ she was born (June 27, 1869) in Kaunas, Lithuania, of Jewish parentage. She was raised in Konigsberg, Prussia and then in St Petersburg, Russia. Emma orignally worked in a factory, during which time she absorbed the nihilist beliefs she would retain for the rest of her life.  She then immigrated to the USA (1885). Emma Goldman joined the anarchist group in New York, and publicly protested against the execution of several of their members for involvement in the Haymarket bomb attack in Chicago (1886). She later campaigned against the tyranny of employers and was jailed in New York (1893). Goldman lectured publicly, sometimes at the risk of violence to her own person, and was the founder and editor of the periodical, Mother Earth (1906 – 1917). Her partner in this enterprise, Alexander Berkman, had unsuccessfully attempted to carry out the assassination of the wealthy financier, Henry Clay Frick (1892).
A rousing public speaker, she attended anarchist congresses held in Paris (1899) and in Amsterdam (1907), during WW I she was fined and imprisoned (1917 – 1919) for opposing the registration of army recruits. Upon her release she was deported to Russia but managed to return five years later (1924). She supported the anarchist cause during the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) and was the author of several works including Anarchism and Other Essays (1910) and My Disillusionment in Russia (1923) as well as her autobiography Living My Life (1931). Emma Goldman died (May 14, 1940) aged seventy, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, after having sufferred a stroke.

Goldman, Hetty – (1881 – 1972)
American archaeologist and author
Goldman was born (Dec 19, 1881) in New York of German-Jewish descent. She produced the three volume work entitled Excavations at Gozlu Kule, Tarsus (1950 – 1963). Hetty Goldman died (May 4, 1972) at Princeton, aged ninety.

Goldmark, Josephine Clara – (1877 – 1950)
American social reformer
Josephine Goldmark was the daughter of Czech immigrants, and attended Bryn Mawr College and then Barnard College, where she was employed as a tutor. Goldmark became the research director of the National Consumer’s League (1903), which had been established by Florence Kelley. With information provided her by her brother-in-law, the Supreme Court Judge Louis Brandeis, Goldmark researched the constitutional aspects of protective legislation within the general work industry. This culminated in the publication of the Child Labour Legislation Handbook (1902), and she was co-author of Fatigue and Efficiency (1912). Goldmark was a member of the team sent to investigate the deaths of almost one hundred and fifty women and girls in the horrendous Triangle Shirt-Waist Fire (1914). Later, as secretary of the Rockefeller Committee in Cleveland, she assisted with the compilation of the report on Nursing and Nursing Education in the United States (1923). Josephine Goldmark later wrote a biography of Florence Kelley which was published posthumously (1953).

Goldring, Winifred – (1888 – 1971)
American palaeontologist
Goldring was born (Feb 1, 1888) at Kenwood, near Albany, New York. She became the first president of the Paleontological Society (1949). She was elected vice-president of the Geological Society of America (1950). Winifred Goldring died (Jan 30, 1971) in Albany, aged eighty-two.

Goldschmidt, Jean   see    Kenpton, Jean Goldschmidt

Goldsmith, Grace Arabell – (1904 – 1975)
American physician and nutrionist
Goldsmith was born (April 8, 1904) in St Paul, Minnesota, the daughter of an accountant. She was a co-founder of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (1967) and served as president of the American Institute of Nutrition (1965), the American Board of Nutrition (1966 – 1967), and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition (1972 – 1973). Grace Goldsmith died (April 28, 1975) in New Orleans, Louisiana, aged seventy-one.

Goldsmith, Olivia – (1949 – 2004)
American novelist
Born Randy Goldfield in Dumont, New Jersey, New York, after a bitter divorce in which her husband won financially, she write her best-selling novel The First Wives Club (1992), which was made into a movie of the same name with Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton (1996), which made over one hundred million dollars at the box-office. Goldsmith, who worked as a management consultant, wrote books for children using the pseudonym ‘Justine Rendal,’ and published several other popular novels such as Flavor of the Month (1994), a satire of the Hollywood system Young Wives (2000), and Wish Upon a Star (2004). Olivia Goldsmith died (Jan 15, 2004) from complications after undergoing plastic surgery, aged fifty-four.

Goldstein, Vida Jane Mary – (1869 – 1949)
Australian feminist and suffrage campaigner
Vida Goldstein was born (April 13, 1869) in Portland, Victoria. Her mother was the women’s activist and civic leader, Isabella Goldstein, nee Hawkins (1849 – 1916). Vida attended the Presbyterian Ladies’ College and Melbourne University. After organizing a school in St Kilda with her sister she became involved with the campaign for female equality, registering as a member of the Woman’s Suffrage Society, and founding the WFPA (Women’s Federal Political Association) (1903). Goldstein campaigned for poverty rights for women, reform of the divorce laws, the improvement of working conditions for shop assistants, and slum clearance. She also founded the feminist publication The Australian Woman’s Sphere (1899), and became involved in local politics, standing five times as an independent candidate in Victoria (1903 – 1917). She represented Australia and New Zealand at the Women’s Suffrage Conference in Washington, DC, (1902) and a made a highly successful speaking tour in England (1911). During her later years she became increasingly interested in Christian Science. Vida Goldstein died (Aug 15, 1949) in Melbourne, aged eighty.

Golitsyna, Varvara Vasilievna Engelhardt, Princess – (1757 – 1845)
Russian aristocrat and courtier
Varvara Engelhardt was the third daughter of Vasily Engelhardt and his wife Marfa Elena Alexandrovna Potemkina. Varvara was the niece and reputed mistress of her maternal uncle, Prince Grigori Alexandrovitch Potemkin, the lover of empress Catharine II. Varvara was married to Field-Marshal Prince Sergei Fyodorvich Golitsyn, and left descendants.

Goll, Claire – (1891 – 1977) 
German poet, letter writer and feminist author
Claire Goll was born (Oct 29, 1891) in Nuremburg, into a wealthy Jewish family. She was raised in Munich, Bavaria, and later studied philosophy in Geneva, Switzerland. Claire was involved during her youth in a romantic liasion with the painter, Rainer Rilke, but was married (1911 – 1917) to the Swiss publisher, Heinrich Studer, to whom she bore a daughter. She was then married the poet Ivan Goll (1891 – 1950).
Apart from several volumes of Expressionist poety, she also published the collection of anto-war stories, Die Frauen erwachen (Women Awake) (1918). She and her husband later settled in Paris where they entertained the painters Braque and Picasso, and author such as James Joyce and Andre Gide. During WW II the couple lived in the USA but returned to Paris after the war (1947). After Ivan’s death, Calire engaged upon a lecture tour of the USA (1952 – 1954). Claire Goll published several autobiographical works including Der gestohlene Himmel (The Stolen Heaven) (1962), and Memoiren eines Spatzen des Jahrhunderts (Memoirs of a Sparrow of This Century) (1978). Her poetic works included Lyrische Films (Lyric Films) (1922) and Les larmes Petrifies (1951). Claire Goll died (March 30, 1977) aged eighty-five, in Paris, France.

Gollock, Georgina Anna – (1861 – 1940)
British missionary, traveller, devotional writer and letter writer
Georgina Gollocl worked variously in Egypt, India, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as a missionary teacher. She wrote and published an account of her experiences in London entitled A Winter’s Mails from Ceylon, India and Egypt: Being Journal Letters Written Home (1895).

Golovina, Varvara Nikolaievna Golitsyna, Countess (Barbe) – (1756 – 1821)
Russian courtier and memoirist
Princess Varvara Golitsyna was born (Feb 12, 1756) the daughter of Prince Nikolai Fedorovich Golitsyn, and his wife Praskovia Ivanovna Shuvalova. Varvara was maid-of-honour to Catharine the Great in 1783, and married (1786) Count Nikolai Nikolaievich Golovin (1759 – 1821) to whom she bore four daughters. After her marriage the countess continued to serve Catharine II as lady-in-waiting (1783 – 1796). She eventually became a close friend to the the Grand duchess Elisabeth Alexievna, the wife of future emperor Alexander I. However their friendship sufferred because of the maliciousness of court intriguers, and with the accession of Paul I (1796) the countess left St Petersburg, and went inot exile in France. There she was influenced by the Jesuits and the French émigré, the Princess de Tarente, who had lived some years at the Russian court, and the countess converted to Roman Catholicism. With the advent of Napoleon, the countess returned to Russia, but with the restoration of the Bourbon family (1814) she returned permanently to Paris. Her private journal Souvenirs de la princesse Golovine nee princesse Galitzine, were published posthumously in Paris long afterwards (1910). The countess died (Sept 21, 1821) aged sixty-five, in Paris.

Goltra, Elizabeth Julia Ellison – (fl. 1853)
American frontier pioneer
Elizabeth Ellison Goltra travelled by wagon across Oregon and left a written account of her experiences which was published posthumously by the Lane County Historical Society as Journal of Travel Across the Plains (1970).

Goltz, Christel – (1912 – 2008)
German soprano
Goltz was born (July 8, 1912) in Dortmund, and studied singing in Munich, Bavaria, under Theodor Schenk who later became her husband. She made her stage debut in 1935 after which she performed at the Staatstoper in Dresden for fourteen years (1936 – 1950). She appeared at the Berlin State Opera and in Vienna, Milan, Paris, Rome and Salzburg. She performed at the New York Metropolitan Opera (1954), and was particularly famous for her performances in the title role of Richard Strauss’s opera Salome. She created the title roles in the operas Antigonae (1947) by Carl Orff (1895 – 1982) and Penelope (1954) by Rolf Liebermann (born 1910). Christel Goltz died (Nov 15, 2008) aged ninety-six, in Baden, Austria.

Gomatrude – (c607 – after 632)
Merovingian queen consort
Gomatrude was the daughter of Vaubert II (Walbert), Count of Cambrai, through whom she was a descendant of the Byzantine emperor Zeno (474 – 491 AD). She was married (625) to Dagobert I (602 – 639), King of Neustria and Austrasia, as his first wife. They were later divorced because Gomatrude failed to produce a male heir and Dagobert had basically abandoned her. Her daughter Doda of Neustria (c626 – c690) became the wife of Theodard, Bishop of Liege, and died as the abbess of St Pierre at Rheims.

Gomes, Teresa – (1882 – 1962)
Portugese stage and film actress
Gomes was born (Nov 26, 1882) in Lisbon, Estramadura. Teresa Gomes was best known for her appearance in two classic films Cronica Anecodtica Lisboa (1930) and A Cancao de Lisboa (A Song of Lisbon) (1933). Other credits included O Pai Tirano (The Tyrannical Father) (1941), and her last film role Costa d’Africa (1954). Teresa Gomes died (Nov 13, 1962), aged seventy-nine in Lisbon.

Gomez, Madeleine Angelique de – (1684 – 1770)
French author
Madeleine Poisson was born (Nov 22, 1684) in Paris, the daughter of the actor Paul Poisson. She became the wife of Gabriel, Seigneur de Poisson, a Spanish actor. Due to her husband’s financial position, Madeleine turned to writing to make an income, and her plays were performed at the Comedie Francaise including the popular Habis (1714). She wrote various tragedies such as Semiramis (1707), Clearque, tyran d’Heraclee (Clearque, Tyrant of Heraclea (1717) and Marsidie, reine des Cimbres (Marsidie, Queen of the Cimbri) (1735). Madeleine de Gomez died (Dec 28, 1770) in Paris, aged eighty-six.

Gomez de Avellaneda, Gertrudis – (1814 – 1873)
Cuban poet, dramatist and novelist
Born Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda y Arteaga (March 23, 1814), at Puerto Principe, she was the daughter of a Spanish naval officer, and was educated privately. She travelled throughout Spain during her youth and resided in Madrid for the greater part of her life. In Spain Gertrudis immersed herself within the literary salons of the day, and was noted for her anti-slavery position, as well for her erotic verse in Poesias (1841) and her general feminist approach to her writings and plays, which made her one of the most important of the Romantic writers of the century in Spain.
Of her novels, the best known is perhaps Dos mujeres (Two Women) (1842), which was a feminist attack upon the institution of marriage. Her verses were published under the pseudonym ‘La Peregrina,’ whilst her many plays were taken from history and included Alfonso Munio (1844), El Principe de Viana (The Prince of Viana) (1844), Egilona (1846), the Biblical dramas Saul (1849) and Baltasar (1858), for which she is best remembered. Though nominated to become a member of the Spanish National Academy, this nomination was rejected on account of her sex.
Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda died (Feb 1, 1873) aged fifty-eight, in Madrid.

Goncharova, Natalia Sergeievna – (1881 – 1962)
Russian-French post-Impressionist painter and artist
Natalia Goncharova was born at Ladyzhino in Toula, into an impoverished aristocratic family. She had originally intended to study science, but instead decided to pursue a career as a sculptor and attended the Moscow Academy of Art (1898). Natalia studied the styles of Mikhail Larionov, whom she first met in Moscow (1900) and Kasimir Malevich, which favoured primitive colours and Russian folk-styles, which she combined with elements of Cubism and Fauvism. Her work was exhibited in London (1912) and later in Munich. Her most famous piece was Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). She created sets later worked with Larionov as a designer for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russe until his death (1929), and created sets for Les noces (1923) and The Firebird (1926). Goncharova eventually became a French citizen (1938) and she and Larionov were finally married on Natalia’s seventy-fourth birthday (1955). Natalia Goncharova died in Paris.

Gong’ai   see   Xu Pingjun

Gonne, Maud Edith – (1866 – 1953)
Anglo-Irish nationalist and actress
Gonne was born (Dec 21, 1866) at Aldershot, near Tongham in Surrey, England, the daughter of an Irish soldier and a British mother. Maud Gonne trained to be an actress, and was much admired by the poet, W.B. Yeats who fell in love with her after she played the heroine in his play Cathleen ni Houlihan (1892). Despite Yeat’s professed devotion, Gonne refused his offer of marriage. Instead she became involved with a married French politician, Lucien Millevoye, to whom she bore two illegitimate children. She was later married instead (1903), Major John MacBride, who fought on the side of South Africa during the Boer War, but they seperated after only two years.
Gonne became increasingly involved with the cause of Irish independence, and spoke in public for the cause of the Land League, and became editor of the nationalist newspaper, L’Irlande libre, which was published in Paris. She participated in the famous Easter Rising (1916), after which her husband was executed as a rebel, and Gonne herself was sent to prison for a period. She was one of the founding members of Sinn Fein in Ireland, and was appointed the first Irish diplomat to France after the creation of the Irish Free State (1921). She was appointed as secretary of the Women’s Prisoners’ Defence League (1922) and agitated for prison reform, editing the publication Prison Bars (1937 – 1938).
Her son Sean MacBride (1904 – 1988) served as foreign minister for the Irish Republic (1848 – 1951) and was recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (1974). Her portrait by Sarah Purser, completed during her youth, is preserved in the National Gallery of Ireland. Maud Gonne died (April 27, 1953) aged eighty-eight, at Roebuck House, Dublin.

Gontaut, Marie Josephine Louise de Montault-Navailles, Duchesse de – (1773 – 1857)
French Bourbon courtier and memoirist
Marie Josephine de Montault-Navailles was born (Aug 3, 1773) in Paris, the daughter of Augustin Francois, Comte de Montault-Navailles, the governor of Louis XVI and his two brothers, Provence and Artois. The Comte de Provence and his wife Josephine of Savoy stood as the young’s godparents. Prior to the Revolution, Marie Josephine was raised in the household of the Duc d’Orleans, Philippe Egalite, and shared the education given to his children by Madame de Genlis. She fled France with her mother after the execution of Louis XVI, and emigrated firstly to Coblentz, and thence to Rotterdam, from where they travelled to England. There she was married to Charles Michel, marquis de Gontaut-Saint-Blacard, to whom she bore twin daughters, Josephine de Gontaut (1796 – 1844), the wife ofFerdinand de Chabot, Prince de Leon, and Charlotte de Gontaut (1796 – 1818), the wife of Francois, Comte de Bourbon-Busset.
With the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty (1814) the family returned to Paris, and resumed their former prominent positions at the court of Louis XVIII. The marquise became lady-in-waiting to Caroline, Duchesse de Berry, mother of the future Henry V. With the birth of Henry’s elder sister, Princess Louise (1819), the marquise was appointed as royal governess. In recognition of her loyal service she was created duchesse de Gontaut (1827) by Charles X. With the collapse of the dynasty (1830) she accompanied the royal family to Holyrood Castle in Scotland, and from thence to Prague in Bohemia. However, differences between the duchesse and other members of the household resulted in King Charles ordering her to remove from the court. The duchesse returned to Paris, where she died. Her personal reminiscences were published posthumousy in two volunmes as Memoires de madame la duchesse de Gontaut, gouvernante des enfants de France pendant la restauration, 1773 – 1836 (1891).

Gonzaga, Angelica – (c1496 – 1570)
Italian nun
Angelica Gonzaga was the daughter of Giovanni Gonzaga. Resfusing to marry, she became a nun at the convent of Corpus Christi, Mantua, togerther with her cousins Paola Gonzaga and Anna Castiglione. Angelica was elected abbess of this house three times, and at her death she was revered for her piety and religious sanctity. One of her letters to her cousin Ippolita Torelli, the wife of Baldassare Castiglione, congratulating her on her marriage (1516) survives.

Gonzaga, Anna Isabella     see    Anna Isabella

Gonzaga, Cecilia di – (1426 – 1451)
Italian nun
Cecilia di Gonzaga was the fourth and youngest daughter of Gian Francesco di Gonzaga, Marchese of Mantua and his wife Paola di Malatesta of Rimini. She was sister to Marchese Ludovico III and was originally named Lucia or Leonella, the name Cecilia being adopted when she took religious vows. She was educated in the classics by the famous scholar Vittorino da Feltre, and could read and translate both Greek and Latin.
Her hand was sought in marriage by Odo Antonio da Montefeltro, a nobleman of reprehensible and unsavoury reputation. Cecilia pleaded to leave court and embrace the religious life but her father was determined upon the marriage and treated Cecilia with great cruelty. At length the Marchese relented due to the intervention of his wife and da Feltre, and Cecilia was permitted to enter the convent of Corpus Christi, a house of Clarissan nuns founded by her mother. The papal official Gregorio Corner dedicated to Cecilia his treatise entitled De Fugiendo Soeculo and Pisanello designed the medal portrait entitled Cecilia Virgo with the princess as his model (1447). Cecilia di Gonzaga died aged twenty-five.

Gonzaga, Chiara di    see   Clara di Gonzaga

Gonzaga, Elisabetta – (1471 – 1526)
Italian princess, salon hostess, and literary patron
Elisabetta Gonzaga was the second daughter of Federico I Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua and his wife Margaret of Bavaria, and was sister to Marquis Gian Francesco II, the husband of Isabella d’Este. Elisabetta was well educated by humanist scholars and was married (1488) to Guidobaldo I da Montefeltro (1462 – 1508), Duke of Urbino. The marriage remained childless, due to her husband’s chronic ill-health.
A talented and intelligent woman, Elisabetta established a famous salon at Urbino, where she received Pietro Bembo and Baldassare di Castiglione, amongst many other famous literary figures. When Urbino was captured by the papal forces led by Cesare Borgia (1502), the son of Pope Alexander VI, the duke and duchess were forced to flee firstly Citta’ del Castello, and then to Venice, before finally settling at the Gonzaga court in Mantua.Borgia had offerred Guidobaldo a cardinal’s hat and a generous pension in return for rights over the duchy of Urbino. The duke refused and Cesare made public knowledge the duke’s impotency, which had up till then been a carefully guarded family secret. Duchess Elisabetta had likewise refused the suggestion, replying that she preferred to live with her husband as his sister than to be no longer his wife. Elisabetta survived Guidobaldo as Dowager Duchess of Urbino (1508 – 1526) and was later able to return to her former home. Elisabetta died aged fifty-four. Surviving portraits of the duchess with her husband were commissioned from Giovanfrancesco Caroto.

Gonzaga, Margherita (1) – (c1415 – 1439)
Italian letter writer
Margherita Gonzaga was born in Mantua the eldest daughter of Gian Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, and his wife Paola, the daughter of Galeotto da Malatesta of Rimini.  Margherita was educated by the famous humanist scholar Vittorino da Feltre, with whom she corresponded, some of her Latin letters survive, as do several letter written to her. Her portrait by Pisanello also survives in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Margherita became the first wife (Jan, 1435) of Lionello d’Este (1407 – 1450, later marquis), who had been intrigued by her erudition. Of her children, her son Niccolo d’Este (1438 – 1476) lost his rights to the marquisate in favour of his uncle, Borso d’Este. Margherita died (July 3, 1439) at Modena aged about twenty-four.

Gonzaga, Margherita (2) – (c1485 – after 1519)
Italian patrician and courtier
Margherita Gonzaga was the illegitimate daughter of Gian Francesco II di Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua and a court lady. She was raised at the court and her stepmother was the famous Isabella d’Este. Margherita became a great beauty, and her hand was sought by both the widowed Imperial ambassador Alberto Pio, to whom she was betrothed for several years, but the marriage never eventuated. Later the wealthy banker Agostino Chigi and the match was encouraged by the Gonzaga family. Margherita refused Chigi and was still unmarried at the time of her father’s death.

Gonzales, Eva – (1849 – 1883)
French painter
Gonzales was born (April 19, 1849) in Paris, the daughter of Emmanuel Gonzales. She studied art under Charles Chaplin, and Edouard Manet later requested her family’s permission to paint her portrait (1869). Eva Gonzales became Manet’s particular pupil, permitting her to public name herself as his student. Her first entry in the Paris Salon was L’Enfant de Troupe (1870), which was bought by the French government. Her later works included La Nichee (1874). Eva was married (1876) to the Impressionist engraver, Henri Guerard, and died five days after giving birth to her first child (May 5, 1883) in Paris, aged thirty-four.

Good, Agnes Minnie – (1870 – 1954)
Anglo-Australian civic leader
Good was born in England. Agnes studied as a medical student before her eventual marriage with a physician. Before WW I she came to reside in Adelaide, South Australia, where she joined the Australian Red Cross Society. She served as a member of the divorce council of South Australia (1917) and was chairman of the Red Cross canteen (1927). Good was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in recognition of her valuable community work. Agnes Good died (Dec 23, 1954) aged eighty-four, in Adelaide.

Goodall, Charlotte – (1765 – 1830)
British Hanoverian actress and vocalist
Charlotte Stanton was the daughter of an acting company manager from Staffordshire. She made her stage debut in Bath, Somerset as Rosalind in Shakespeare’s As You Like It (1784). Her other Shakespearen roles included Juliet, Desdemona, and her Viola, and her other popular roles included Lydia Languish, Lady Teazle and Miss Hardcastle. She had married the merchant Thomas Goodall prior to 1787 when she is first recorded as appearing as Mrs Goodall in the role of Miranda in The Busybody. She bore eight children but continued her acting career.
Charlotte Goodall made her debut at the Drury Lane Theatre as Rosalind, and also worked with such famous contemporaries as Dorothea Jordan and Elizabeth Farren. She also appeared in ‘breeches’ roles and played Sir Harry Wildair in the Constant Couple (1789) with great success. Tall, well-formed, possessed of an amiable personality and attractive voice, Charlotte continued to work at the Drury Lane and Haymarket Theatres until 1803. Her portrait by De Wilde as Sir Harry Wildair is preserved in the Mathews Collectio in the Garrick Club in London. Charlotte Goodall died (July, 1830) at Somers Town in London.

Goodbody, Buzz – (1946 – 1975)
British theatre director and manager and feminist
Mary Ann Goodbody attended the Rodean School and Sussex University, where she was prominent as a theatrical director. Buzz Goodbody joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (1967) as personal assistant to John Barton, and directed Trevor Griffith’s play Occupations, in London (1971). Buzz helped with the foundation of the Women’s Street Theatre Group and was then appointed as artistic director of the Other Place, Stratford (1973). Her season proved a financial sell-out, and Goodbiy directed Ben Kingsley in Hamlet, which was performed in modern dress. Buzz Goodbody committed suicide (April 12, 1975) aged only twenty-nine.

Goodey, Fritha Jane – (1972 – 2004)
British stage, film and television actress
Fritha Goodey was born (Oct 23, 1972) at Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey, and trained as an actress at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Goodey worked with the Out of Joint touring troupe under the direction of Max Stafford-Clark. Her stage roles included Nadia in Some Explicit Polaroids (1999), Odette in Remembrance Of Things Past (2000) and Constance Neville in She Stoops to Conquer (2002). Goodey appeared in the film About a Boy (2002) with Hugh Grant in which she played a former girlfriend. Fritha Goodey committed suicide (Sept 7, 2004) aged thirty-one.

Goodhue, Sarah Whipple – (1641 – 1681)
American colonial devotional writer
Sarah Whipple was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and was raised in a strict Puritan household. She was married (1661) to Joseph Goodhue, and bore him eight children. Sarah Goodhue feared that she would die in childbirth, and without telling her family, she wrote A Valedictory and Monitory Writing, for the benefit of her children. Sarah Goodhue died (July 23, 1681) after having given birth to twins.

Goodisson, Lillie Elizabeth – (1860 – 1947)
Anglo-Australian eugenicist
Born Lillie Price in Holyhead, Wales, she was the daughter of a physician. She trained as a nurse and was married in London (1879) to Lawford David Evans, a physician, to whom she bore two children. After residing in Auckland, New Zealand, the family removed to Melbourne in Victoria, where Lillie established the Myrnong private hospital (1895). With her husband’s death (1903) she removed to Freemantle, Western Australia, where she was remarried (1904) to Albert Goodisson, a business executive. He died insane (1914) after which Lillie returned to Melbourne. During WW I she worked for various patriotic associations, and became the secretary of the Australian Industries Protection League (1919). Goodisson later moved to Sydney (1926), where she founded the Racial Hygiene Association of New South Wales, which helped to eradicate the problem of venereal disease. This organization developed into the Family Planning Association of New South Wales. She also established free clinics and campaigned to have surgical procedures for sterilisation legalized. Lillie Goodisson died (Jan 10, 1947) aged eighty-six, at Cremorne Point, North Sydney.

Goodlake, Joan – (c1355 – 1400)
English medieval heiress
Joan Stodeye was the fourth and youngest daughter of John Stodeye, vintner of London, and his wife Joan, the granddaughter of John Gisors (died 1351), grocer of London. Her elder sister was Margaret Stodey, Lady Philipot. At her father’s death (1376) Joan became the ward of her brother-in-law, Sir Nicholas Brembre. She had been married prior to 1379 to Thomas Goodlake (died after 1412) of London, and Uxendon, Middlsex. Goodlake had been an associate and client of Brembre, who may have arranged the marriage. Thomas Goodlake became an esquire to King Richard II (1385) and received the keepership of several royal parklands at Isleworth in Middlesex. With the death of Joan Goodlake’s two elder sisters, Idonia Raddington and Margery Vanner, Joan and her surviving sister, Lady Philipot, inherited equal parts of the substantial Stodeye inheritance (c1398). Joan Goodlake left three children,

• Thomasine Goodlake (c1381 – 1424). She was married twice, firstly to John Hadley (died 1410), a grocer of London, and secondly to Sir John Boys (died 1447), of London and of Harrow, Middlesex.
• Margaret Goodlake. She became the wife of John St Jermyn, grocer of London.
• Idonia Goodlake. She became the wife of Thomas Gray.

Goodlet, Elizabeth Mary – (1853 – 1926)
Australian churchwoman and civic leader
Born Elizabeth Forbes in Singleton, New South Wales, she settled in Ashfield, Sydney, with her parents as a young woman (1877), where she became active with the Ladies’ Association for New Hebrides Mission in the Presbyterian Church. Elizabeth Forbes was later both secretary and president of the Women’s Missionary Society. She was married (1903) to John Hay Goodlet, and was a supporter of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Elizabeth Goodlet died (July 26, 1926) in Sydney.

Goodman, Nena - (1909 - 1998)
American artist
Nena Manach was born in Tembleque, Spain, the sister of author Jorge Manach, and was raised and educated in Cuba. She became the wife of Andrew Goodman, the owner and chairman of the Bergdorf Goodman store in New York. The couple produced three daughters.
A talented painter Nena Goodman specilaized in miniatures and oil and flower paintings, and managed Nena's Choice Gallery at Bergdorf Goodman, which also exhibited the works of other rising artists. Mrs Goodman was involved in various philanthropic causes including the International Rescue Committee and the Alcoholism Center of Greater New York. Nena Goodman died (March 19, 1998) aged eighty-eight, in New York.

Goodrich, Frances – (1891 – 1984)
American dramatist and screenwriter
Frances Goodrich was born in Belleville, New Jersey. She was married to the actor and author, Albert Hackett (1900 – 1995), a decade her junior. With her husband she produced the screen adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank (1955), for which they were awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1956). They collaborated on several other successful stage plays such as Western Union, Please (1939) and The Great Big Doorstep (1942). They also wrote the scripts for The Thin Man and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).

Goodsir, Agnes Noyes – (1864 – 1939)
Australian painter
Agnes Goodsir was born at Portland, Victoria, the daughter of David Goodsir, and specialized in portraits, figures and still-lifes. She studied art technique in Bendigo, Victoria, before travelling to Paris, where she took further important lessons from Lucien Simon and Jean Paul Laurens. From 1900 Agnes resided almost permanently in Paris. Agnes exhibited her work at the Royal Academy in London, the Old Salon, in Paris, as well as having a solo exhibition at the Macquarie Gallery, in Sydney. She was awarded a silver medal at the Paris Salon (1924) and the same year she was elected an associate of the New Salon, being soon appointed a full member (1926). A member of the Salon de Beaux Arts, in Paris, she finally returned to Australia in 1927, after an absence of nearly thirty years.

Goodwin, Bridget – (c1815 – 1899)
New Zealand goldminer, she was born possibly nee Dunbar in Ireland, and immigrated to the New Zealand goldfields. Goodwin became a miner in Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria, Australia, before coming to New Zealand, where she mined in Collingwood before making the long overland trek to the Buller River region. Bridget Goodwin succeeded in becoming a notorious character in the Buller Gorge region of the west coast, being popularly known as ‘Little Biddy,’ or ‘Biddy of the Buller’. She survived her fame by many decades and details of her life were recorded by W.H.S. Hindmarsh at Reefton during her old age, and published in his Tales of the Golden West (1906). She passed permanently into local lore, her reputation aided by the popular poem ‘Biddy of the Buller’ by Hugh Smith. Bridget Goodwin died at Reefton, near Ahaura, aged about eighty-four (Oct 19, 1899).

Gorbachova, Raisa Maksimovna – (1932 – 1999)
Russian educator and First Lady (1988 – 1991)
The wife of President Mikhail Gorbachov, she was born Raisa Maksimovna Titorenko (Jan 5, 1932) at Rubtsovsk in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, the daughter of a railway worker. She attended Moscow University, where she first met her future husband, and pursued a career in sociaological research at the Stavropol Teacher Training Institute (1957 – 1961). Raisa worked as a schoolteacher until the birth of her daughter (1956), after which she studied in Leningrad, and then worked for almost a decade as a lecturer in philosophy at the Moscow University (1977 – 1985).
However, as a political wife, though she inevitably copped flack at home because of her high profile visibility, Madame Gorbachova was extremeley popular abroad during foreign visits, and thus assisted her husband’s program of arms talks and peace with the West. He appointed her as a member of the board of the Cultural Heritage Commission (1987 – 1991). She accompanied her husband on his visit to the USA (1988), and though she charmed President Reagan and the media at large, her relations with Mrs Reagan remained frostily polite. Madame Gorbachova published her memoirs I Hope (1991). Raisa Gorbachiva died (Sept 20, 1999) in Munster, Germany, aged sixty-seven.

Gordia – (fl. 597)
Byzantine patrician
Gordia was a resident of Constantinople and was the wife of Marinus and mother of Theoktista, the wife of Christodorus. She received a letter from Pope Gregory I (597) which no longer survives, in which he styled her excellentissima filia mea domna Gordia. The Imperial official Narses had asked the pope to write to Gordia and Theoktista and their respective husbands to give them spiritual encouragement. Gregory’s reply to Narses, recorded in his Epistolarum Registum (June, 597), informs him that he had written only to Gordia because of the difficulty of finding a translator of Latin to Greek in Constantinople.

Gordia, Aelia – (c556 – 602)
Byzantine princess
Aelia Gordia was the daughter of Paulus of Arabissus, in Cappodocia, Asia Minor, and sister to the Byzantine emperor Maurice 582 – 602. She was the wife (583) of Philippikus (c540 – c615) military commander in the East 584 – 589 and 612 – 614. John of Ephesus records that the couple were given a large palace, the domus Hilarae in the Zeugma district in the western part of the city, as their residence. Theophanes records the marriage in his Chronographia. The Patria Constantinopolitana, a late source, records that Gordia founded the monastery of St Mamas, near the Xylocercus Gate in the city, and she tended to the burials of the emperor and his sons. She was then murdered by order of the Emperor Phokas.

Gordine, Dora – (1906 – 1991)
Russian-Anglo sculptor and painter
Born Dora Gordin in St Petersburg, she studied in Paris. She became the wife (1936) of Richard Hare (died 1966), a younger son of the Earl of Listowel. Her first exhibition was at the Salon des Tuileries in Paris (1932) and she was commissioned to decorate the bronze doors of the New Town Hall in Singapore (1930 – 1935). Examples of her work are preserved at the Tate Gallery in London and at the Herron Museum of Art in Indianapolis, USA.

Gordon, Caroline – (1895 – 1981) 
American novelist, author and letter writer
Caroline Gordon was born in Kentucky, and was married to Allen Tate, a Southern landowner, and later converted to Roman Catholicism (1947). Caroline Gordon corresponded with such literary figures as Robert Penn Warren, Katherine Ann Porter, E.E. Cummings, and Ford Maddox Ford.  Part of her correspondence was edited and published psothumously by Sally Wood as The Southern Mandarins: Letters of Caroline Gordon to Sally Wood, 1924 – 1937 (1984). Her novels included Penhally (1931), set in the post Civil war declining south Green Centuries (1944), The Women on the Porch (1944) and Malefactors (1956).

Gordon, Eleanora Marie - (1808 - 1849)
French Bonapartist supporter
Eleanora Brault was born (Sept, 1808) in Paris, the daughter of a captain of the Imperial Guards. She was educated in a convent in the Rue de Sevres, and was musically and theatrically talented. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Rossini, and performed in Italy and other European countries as a contralto.
Eleanor was married in London (1831) to Sir Gordon Archer, an officer attached to the Anglo-Spanish legation. Archer died of typhoid in Vittoria (1836) and there were no children. As a widow Lady Archer chose to be known as Madame Gordon and returned to the stage, becoming the mistress of the Duc de Persigny. Through this relationship she made the acquaintance of his close friend Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and became a fervent Bonapartist supporter.
It was at Madame Gordon's home in Strasbourg that plans were made (Oct, 1836) that led to Louis Napoleon's abortive attempt to win the French throne from King Louis Philippe. With the ensuing failure of this scheme Eleanora hid the Duc de Persigny in her house and enabled him to escape capture. Louis Napoleon was imprisoned in the Chateau de Ham (1840 - 1846) and during this time Madame Gordon was a welcome visitor there. Many claimed Eleanora and the prince were lovers but both of them always firmly denied this.
During the revolution of 1848 which toppled Louis Philippe from his throne, Madame Gordon, the Duc de Persigny and others enthusiastically campaigned on Louis Napoleon's behalf so successfully that on Dec 20 of that year he was proclaimed president of the French Republic.
At the time of Napoleon's rise to power he was infatuated with his mistress Elizabeth Howard, and Madame Gordon was treated with great callousness as a reward for her loyalty. He granted her a small pension, and she was not received at his newly formed court. Madame Gordon became ill and died (March 11, 1849) aged forty. Napoleon paid for her funeral.

Gordon, Elizabeth – (c1393 – 1439)
Scottish mediaeval heiress
Elizabeth Gordon was the second child and only daughter of Sir Adam Gordon (died 1402) and his wife Elizabeth Keith, Lady of Aboyne. Her brother died childless (c1407) and Elizabeth became the sole heiress to both her father and mother. She brought as her dowry the lands of the Gordons of Huntley, which inheritance was confirmed to her and her husband (July 20, 1408). Elizabeth was married (1408) to Alexander Seton (died 1441), the son of Sir William Seton of Seton, who is believed to have been created a Lord of Parliament as Lord Gordon, in her right (c1437). Elizabeth Gordon died (March 16, 1439) aged about fifty-five, at strathbogie. She was buried at Aberdeen. Herchildren were,

• Alexander Seton (c1410 – 1470). He was created the first Earl of Huntley (1445) and whose children and descendants bore his mother’s surname of Gordon.
• William Seton. He was the ancestor of the Setons of Meldrum.
• Elizabeth Seton. She became the wife of Alexander, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross.

Gordon, Elizabeth Brodie, Duchess of – (1794 – 1864)
Scottish religious leader
Elizabeth Brodie was born in London, the daughter of Alexander Brodie, of Arnhall and Burn, Kincardineshire, a wealthy India merchant, and his wife Elizabeth Margaret Wemyss. She married (1813) George, fifth Duke of Gordon (1770 – 1836). Their marriage remained childless. Widowed in 1836, for the last thirty-seven years of her life, the duchess devoted herself to works of charity. She became a member of the Free Church (1846), and occupied occupied amongst Scottish Evangelical Christians, the position that had formerly been held by Lady Leven and Lady Glenorchy. The Duchess of Gordon died (Jan 31, 1865) aged sixty-nine, at Huntly Lodge, Strathbogie, Aberdeen.

Gordon, Elizabeth Howard, Duchess of – (c1659 – 1732)
Scottish peeress
Lady Elizabeth Howard was the second daughter of Henry Howard, the sixth Duke of Norfolk and his first wife Lady Anne Somerset, the daughter of Edward Somerset, the second Marquess of Worcester. She was married (1676) to George Gordon (1649 – 1716) Marquess of Huntley and became the Marchioness of Huntley. She bore him two children. When Lord Huntley was created the first Duke of Gordon by Charles II (1684) Elizabeth became the Duchess of Gordon (1684 – 1716). The marriage was not a success and the Duchess finally left England to reside in a convent in Flanders (1696). She obtained a formal separation from the duke in 1707. She survived her estranged husband as the dowager Duchess of Gordon (1716 – 1732).
The Duchess of Gordon died (July 16, 1732) at Abbey Hill in Edinburgh. She was interred within Elgin Cathedral. Her children were,

• Alexander Gordon, Marquess of Huntley (1678 – 1728). He succeeded his father as the second Duke of Gordon (1716 – 1728) and left descendants.
• Lady Jean Gordon (1683 – 1773). She became the wife of James Drummond (1674 – 1720), the second titular Duke of Perth.

Gordon, Henrietta – (c1628 – after 1672)
English Stuart courtier
Henrietta Gordon was the only daughter of John Gordon, Viscount Melgum and his wife Sophia Hay, the fifth daughter of Francis Hay, fifth Earl of Erroll. She was the paternal granddaughter of George Gordon, first Marquess of Huntley. After her mother’s death she was raised in the household of her uncle the second Marquess of Huntley and later travelled to France where she was placed in a convent of the Filles de Sainte Marie in the Rue de Antoine (1643), through the intercession of the French Queen Mother Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV.
Henrietta remained living in various Parisian convents, apparently against her wishes until the upheavals caused by the wars of the Fronde, caused her to be removed to the safety of the court at St Germain-en-Laye. She refused to enter the household of the Princesse de Conti and later became maid-of-honour in the household of the widowed Queen Henrietta Maria of England, widow of Charles I. She later served as lady-in-waiting to the queen’s youngest daughter Madame d’ Orleans (Henrietta Anne Stuart) and according to the Memoires (1658) of La Grand Madamoiselle Henrietta Gordon became a great favourite of the Duc d’Orleans. With the death of the first Madame (1670) Henrietta was kept on to serve his second wife Elisabeth Charlotte de La Palatine in the same capacity, though the two women were not on friendly terms, and it would appear that Henrietta Gordon was probably dismissed from service. Details of her later life remain unrecorded.

Gordon, Henrietta Mordaunt, Duchess of Gordon – (1681 – 1760)
Scottish peeress
Lady Henrietta Mordaunt was the daughter of Charles Mordaunt (1658 – 1735) third Earl of Peterborough and his first wife Carey Fraser, the daughter of Sir Alexander Fraser, first baronet of Dores. Her stepmother was the vocalist Anastasia Robinson whom Lord Peterborough married secretly. She was married (1706) to Alexander Gordon (1678 – 1728) Marquess of Huntley, the eldest son and heir of George, first Duke of Gordon, and became the Marchioness of Huntley. She became the Duchess of Gordon (1716 – 1728) when Lord Huntley succeeded his father as the second Duke of Gordon.
Henrietta survived her husband for over three decades as the Dowager Duchess of Gordon (1728 – 1760) and as a widowed peeress she attended the funeral obsequies of Caroline of Ansbach, the wife of George II at Westminster Abbey (1737). The Duchess of Gordon died (Oct 11, 1760) aged seventy-nine, at Prestonhall. Her children were,

• Lady Henrietta Gordon (1707 – 1789). She remained unmarried.
• Hon. (Honourable) Alexander Gordon (1708 – 1711). He died young.
• Lady Mary Gordon (1709 – 1782). She remained unmarried.
• Lady Anne Gordon (1713 – 1791). She became the third wife of William Gordon (1679 – 1746), second Earl of Aberdeen and left issue.
• Lady Elizabeth Gordon (c1715 – 1769). She became the wife of the Reverend John Skelly.
• Lady Jean Gordon (c1718 – 1792). She remained unmarried.
• Cosmo George Gordon (1721 – 1752). He succeeded his father as the third Duke of Gordon (1728 – 1752) and married and left descendants.
• Captain Lord Charles Gordon (1722 – 1780). He remained unmarried.
• Lady Catherine Gordon (c1723 – 1786). She became the wife of Francis Charteris (1723 – 1808) seventh Earl of Wemyss and left issue.
• Lady Charlotte Gordon (1724 – after 1760). She remained unmarried.
• Lord Lewis Gordon (1725 – 1754). He remained unmarried.
• General Lord Adam Gordon (1726 – 1801). He was married to Jean Drummond (1732 – 1794), the Dowager Duchess of Atholl but died childless.

Gordon, Ishbel Maria      see     Aberdeen, Marchioness of

Gordon, Jane Maxwell, Duchess of – (1748 – 1812)
Scottish political hostess
Jane Maxwell was born in Hyndford Close, Edinburgh, the second daughter of Sir William Maxwell, of Monreith, and his wife Magdalen Blair, of Blair, Ayrshire. She was married (1767) to Alexander Gordon (1752 – 1827), the fourth Duke of Gordon, as his fist wife, and bore him seven children. The duchess was a famous beauty, and became a leader in fashionable society in Edinburgh, and in London, where her house in Pall Mall served as a meeting place for Tory politicians for over a decade (1787 – 1801) in the late nineteenth century. She was described in detail in the contemporary memoirs of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall.
The duchess later seperated from her husband and they remained estranged. The Duchess of Gordon died (April 14, 1812) at the Pulteney Hotel in Piaccadilly. She was buried at Kinrara in Inverness-shire, Scotland. Her children were,

• Lady Charlotte Gordon (1786 – 1842). She was married to Charles Lennox (1764 – 1819), the fourth Duke of Richmond, and left issue.
• Lady Madelina Gordon (1769 – 1847). She was married firstly to Sir Robert Sinclair, baronet (died 1795), and secondly to Charles Fysche Palmer (died 1843), of Luckley Park, Berkshire.
• George Gordon (1770 – 1836), who succeeded his father as fifth Duke of Gordon (1827 – 1836). He was married to Elizabeth Brodie but died childless.
• Lady Susan Gordon (1774 – 1828). She was married to William Montagu (1771 – 1843), fifth Duke of Manchester, and left issue.
• Lady Louisa Gordon (1776 – 1850). She was married to Charles, second Marquess Cornwallis (1774 – 1823), and left issue.
• Lady Georgiana Gordon (1781 – 1853). She was married to John Russell (1766 – 1839), sixth Duke of Bedford, and left issue.
• Lord Alexander Gordon (1785 – 1808). He died unmarried.

Gordon, Lady Janet – (c1461 – after 1513)
Scottish aristocrat
Lady Janet Gordon was the eldest daughter of George Gordon (c1440 – 1501), second Earl of Huntley and his second wife Princess Annabella Stuart (later the Lady Colquhoun of Luss), the daughter of James I, king of Scotland. Janet was married firstly to Alexander Lindsay (c1460 – 1489), the master of Crawford. His death left her childless and she remarried to Patrick, third Baron Gray. Janet was accused, together with her brother-in-law, John Lindsay (c1462 – 1513), sixth Earl of Crawford, of the murder of her first husband. However, the proceedings concerning the crime were interrupted by the disastrous battle of Flodden (1513) and the subsequent death of Janet’s brother-in-law.

Gordon, Jean – (1546 – 1629)
Scottish noblewoman
Lady Jean Gordon was the third daughter of George Gordon, fourth Earl of Huntley and his wife Lady Elizabeth Keith. Jean became the first wife (1565) of James Hepburn (1535 – 1578) the fourth Earl of Bothwell and became the Countess of Bothwell. The marriage was celebrated in the Abbey Kirk of Holyrood House, and was of great dynastic importance to the adherents of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. As a token of her approval of the match the queen supplied the eleven ells of silver cloth which made up Jean’s wedding dress. Love does not seem to have played much part n this marriage. Lady Bothwell was possessed of a cool and detached character, to which was attached discerning intelligence. Her son Robert Gordon spoke of the countess possessing ‘a great understanding above the capacity of her sex.’ Her surviving portrait reveals little beauty but her brother the fifth Earl of Huntley had provided Jean with a large dowry.
An excellent estate manager, despite the downfall of Lord Bothwell after he divorced Jean and became Mary Stuart’s third and last husband, and the attainder against him Lady Jean managed to retain control of all her property. When Lady Bothwell had been suffering from an illness (Dec, 1567) an ambassador mistakenly announced that she had died, and rumour quickly circulated that Bothwell had poisoned her in order to marry the queen. Lord Huntley eventually consented to a divorce and the countess was given judgement against her husband on the grounds of his adultery with one Bessie Crawford (May 3, 1567). The marriage was also declared annulled by the Catholic Church on the grounds that Jean and Lord Bothwell had not received the required dispensation to marry and were related within the prohibited degrees. Despite the divorce the countess considered to reside with Bothwell at Crichton Castle which led to later allegations (1569) that they had not been properly divorced.
Jean was remarried secondly (1573) becoming the second wife of Alexander Gordon (1552 – 1594), twelfth Earl of Sutherland and became the Countess of Suthderland (1573 – 1594). As the Dowager Countess of Sutherland (1594 – 1629) Jean remarried a third time to Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne. Jean had formed an attachment to Ogilvy during her youth but after she had been married to Lord Bothwell he married instead to Mary Beaton, maid-of-honour to Mary Stuart. After Mary Beaton had died Ogilvy and Lady Jean were finally able to marry (1599). Lady Jean Gordon died (May 14, 1629) aged eighty-three, at Dunrobin. She was interred at Dornoch. Apart from two sons who died in infancy, the children of Jean Gordon’s second marriage with Lord Sutherland were,

• Lady Jean Gordon (born 1574). She became the wife of Hugh Mackay of Farr and left issue.
• John Gordon (1576 – 1615). He succeeded his father as the thirteenth Earl of Sutherland (1594 – 1615) and married and left issue.
• Sir Robert Gordon (1580 – 1654). The first baronet of Gordonstoun in Nova Scotia (1625), he was the author of The History of the Earldom of Sutherland. He married and left issue.
• Lady Mary Gordon (1582 – 1605). She became the wife of David Ross of Balnagown.
• Sir Alexander Gordon (born 1585). He was married and left issue.

Gordon, Katherine - (c1476 - 1537)
Scottish noblewoman, wife of Perkin Warbeck
Lady Katherine Gordon was the eldest daughter of George Gordon (c1440 - 1501), second Earl of Huntley and hiss third wife Lady Elizabeth Hay, the daughter of William Hay, first Earl of Erroll, and later the wife of Andrew, fourth Baron Grey (died 1514).
James IV of Scotland chose to believe the claims put forward by the Yorkist pretender Perkin Warbeck (1474 - 1499) to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger brother of Edward V of England (1483) both of whom had been murdered in the Tower of London. James arranged that Katherine should be married to Warbeck at Stirling (Nov, 1495). She bore Warbeck two children before July in 1497 when she accompanied him on his abortive campaign to England. During his military escapapdes which were doomed to failure, Katherine remained at St Michael's Mount. From there Katherine was taken by supporters of Henry VII to Taunton, where she listened to Warbeck's confession in her own prescence. King Henry then sent Katherine with an escort to his wife Elizabeth of York, with instructions to treat her as a sister. Warbeck was executed at Tyburn (Nov 23, 1499).
Deeply humiliated by her husband's duplicity, and obviously having believed his claimed, Katherine was grateful for King Henry's kindness to her. She resumed her maiden name of Gordon, and was treated at court according to her rank. She not only received a pension, but her wardrobe expenses were defrayed by the king, and other occasional payments were made to her. Katherine was amongst the company assembled at Richmond to witness the betrothal of the Princess Margaret Tudor to James IV of Scotland. She remained unmarried for the next decade receiving from Henry VIII a grant of lands in Berkshire, which had belonged to the attainted Earl of Lincoln, on condition that she should not leave England, either to Scotland or elsewhere, without royal license.
Katherine Gordon was remarried secondly (c1510) to Sir James Strangeways, a gentleman usher of the king's chambers, and received a new grant of the same lands to herself and her husband in survivorship. On June 23, 1517, Strangeways having previously died, Katherine received a further grant of the same lands on the same conditions as previously.
By July of 1517 Katherine remarried thirdly, becoming the second wife of Sir Matthew Cradock (c1468 - 1531) of Swansea, and obtained royal permission to reside with him in Wales, on his family estates there. With Cradock's death, Katherine remarried a fourth time, to Christopher Ashton, another gentleman usher of the royal chamber, with whom she resided at Fyfield in Berkshire, one of her own manors.
Lady Katherine Gordon died in 1537, aged about sixty, and was interred within the parish church of Fyfield, which was referred to in Victorian times as 'Lady Gordon's monument.' Another fine tomb still in existence, was built by Sir Matthew Cradock for himself and Katherine at Swansea Church, surmounted by their effigies.

Gordon, Lucy – (1980 – 2009)
British film actress
Gordon was born in Oxford (May 22, 1980), and became a successful model prior to becoming a movie actress (1999). She appeared in several films such as Perfume (2001), Serendipity (2001), The Four Feathers (2002), The Russian Dolls (2005) and Frost (2008) but was best remembered as the reporter Jennifer Dugan in the Spider-Man 3 (2007). Gordon committed suicide by hanging herself (May 20, 2009) aged twenty-eight, in Paris. She portrayed actress Jane Birkin in the film Serge Gainsbourg (2010) which was released after her death.

Gordon, Margot Evelyn – (1912 – 1998)
British squash champion and tennis player
Born Margot Lumb (July 1, 1912), she was the daughter of an inventor. Her mother was Cuban. Possessed of an aggressive left-handed style, Gordon remained the unbeaten British squash champion (1934 – 1939) becoming the first woman to win the British Squash Championships for six years running. She was the winner of both the British and the American women’s squash championships in the same years (1936) and also played for the British team in the Wightman Cup (1937 – 1939). Gordon became one of the first woman members of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, but her extremely promising career was cut short however, by the advent of WW II. Margot Lumb was then married (1944) to Bill Gordon, a mining executive in Uganda, Africa, to whom she bore four children. Margot resided with him in Nigeria and in Uganda for over two decades, where she served as one of the five female members of the Ugandan Legislative Council. Margot Gordon died (Jan 3, 1998) aged eighty-five.

Gordon, Dame Maria (May) – (1864 – 1939)
British geologist and author
Born Maria Ogilvie, she was the daughter of David Ogilvie, the famous educator. She attended the Ladies’ College, Edinburgh and the Royal Academy of Music and the University College in London. Maria travelled abroad to Bavaria in Germany, and studied geology and palaeontology at the University of Munich (1891 – 1895). Her doctorate (1900) was one of the first such honours granted to women in Munich. She was married (1895) to Dr J. Gordon, and bore him several children.
Maria Gordon conducted important research concerning the stratigraphy, tectonics, and palaeontology of the region of southern Tyrol in Germany, and published two separate studies of the geology of the Dolomite ranges (1927) and (1929). She was appointed a member of the Geological Society of Vienna and the Linnean Society, awarded the Leyell Medal (1932), and held honorary doctorates for the University of Sydney in Australia and that of Innsbruck in Austria. Maria served as president of the National Council of Women (1916 – 1920), and due to her public work on behalf of women and children, Maria Gordon was created DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by King George V (1935).

Gordon, Noele – (1922 – 1985)
British stage and film actress
Noele Gordon was born in East Ham, London. She studied dance at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), and then worked in pantomime before appearing in such popular stage musicals as Diamond Lil (1948) and Brigadoon (1949 – 1951) in London. Gordon was the first actress to experiment with colour television and appeared in Ah, Wilderness (1938). She travelled to the USA to investigate techniques used in television production and was employed as an adviser on several popular series such as Lunch Box (1955), and Fancy That (1956). Her seventeen year long role as the owner of a motel in the series Crossroads (1964 – 1981) made Noele Gordon a household name in Britain. After leaving the series she returned to stage work.

Gordon, Ruth – (1896 – 1985)
American stage and film actress, dramatist and screenwriter
Born Ruth Jones at Wollaston in Massachusetts, she studied acting at the American academy of Dramatic Arts, and made her stage debut as Nibs in, Peter Pan (1915). Gordon worked in London between the wars and established herself there as an actress of some note at the Old Vic, where she appeared in William Wycherley’s The Country Wife (1936) and appeared in Ethan Frome, on Broadway soon afterwards. She was married secondly to the screenwriter and producer Garson Kanin. Known for both serious and comical roles, she also appeared in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker (1954). She received an Academy Award (1968) and an Emmy award (1979).

Gordon-Cumming, Eka – (1837 – 1924)
Scottish traveller and writer
Constance Fredereka Gordon-Cumming was the daughter of Sir William Gordon-Cumming, baronet, of Altyre and Gordonstown. Known as ‘Eka’ she had remained unmarried, and at the age of thirty, embarked on a hazardous trip by sea to India in order to visit her married sister (1867). This lengthy trip was the beginning of her travelling career, and for over a decade Miss Gordon-Cumming travelled to various parts of the world, including Fiji and Hawaii in the Pacific, parts of the USA, and Egypt and China. She wrote eight popular accounts of her travels which she illustrated with her own drawings.

Gordon-Lennox, Dame Blanche – (1864 – 1945)
British hospital organizer
Blanche Maynard was the second daughter of Colonel Charles Maynard, and his wife Blanche Adeliza Fitzroy, who remarried to Charles St Clair, Earl of Rosslyn. She was the younger sister of Daisy Brooke, Countess of Warwick, the mistress of Edward VII, and the elder half-sister of the famous society hostess, Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland. Blanche was married (1886) to Lord Algernon Charles Gordon-Lennox (1847 – 1921), to whom she bore an only child, Ivy Gordon-Lennox (1887 – 1982), who became the wife of William Arthur Cavendish-Bentinck (1893 – 1977), the seventh Duke of Portland, and left issue.
For her volunteer work for the war during the WW I, organizing filed hospitals ambulance and nursing services, she was created D.G. ST. J. (Dame of Grace of St John of Jerusalem) and was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by King George V (1919). She survived her husband as the Dowager Lady Gordon-Lennox (1921 – 1945). Dame Blanche Gordon-Lennox died (Aug 17, 1945) aged eighty.

Gordon-Lowe, Juliette (Daisy) – (1860 – 1927)
American Girl Scout leader
Juliette Gordon was born in Savannah, Georgia, into a wealthy immigrant family of Scottish ancestry, her father later serving as a general with the US army. She attended private schools in Virginia and New York, travelled wideley in Europe, and was a talented painter and scultpro from an early age. Apart from suffering from increasing deafness, her marriage (1886) with the wealthy Briitsh citizen, William Mackay Lowe was ultimately uncongenial, and she sought refuge from this unhappiness by extensive travel in Britain and America. Her husband died (1905) and she did not remarry. Whilst visiting Britain (1911) she was introduced to Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, and upon her return to the USA, Gordon-Lowe established the Girl Scouts of America (1915), of which association she served as first president.
The remainder of her life was spent working for the Girl Scout association and she was appointed as the first delegate at the first International Council of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides (1919). A stamp was designed in her honour and authorized by President Harry Truman in her honour (1948), and her home city of Savannah named a school after her (1954). Gordon-Lowe was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame at Seneca Falls, New York, five decades afterwards (1979). The newly built federal building in Savannah by named in her honour by President Ronald Reagan (1983), only the second ever to be named for a woman.

Gore, Catherine Grace Frances – (1799 – 1861)
British novelist and essayist
Born Catherine Moody in East Retford, Nottinghamshire, she was the daughter of a wine merchant. She wrote poetry from childhood, and had written verses which were admired by Joanna Baillie. She was married (1823) to an army officer, with Captain Charles Gore, to whom she bore ten children. Besides plays and short stories she wrote well over six dozen novels, most of which concerned life in fashionable and wealthy households which included Mothers and Daughters (1831) and The Banker’s Wife (1843). Other of her published works included the novels Women As They Are, or, The Manners of the Day (1830), Mrs Armytage, or, Female Domination (1836), and the comic plays The School for Coquettes (1832) and Quid Pro Quo, or, The Day of the Dupes (1843). Her last published work was Heckington: A Novel (1858). She inherited a considerable estate in 1850, after which her writing output declined. William Thackeray satirized her romantic style in Punch magazine. Catherine Gore died (Jan 29, 1861) aged sixty-one, at Linwood, Lyndhurst, in Hampshire.

Gore, Georgiana Montagu, Lady – (1784 – 1854)
British Hanoverian courtier
Georgiana Montagu was the daughter of the Admiral Sir George Montagu (1750 – 1829) and his wife Charlotte Wroughton, the sister of Lieutenant-Colonel George Wroughton Wroughton (1788 – 1871), of Wilcot, Wiltshire. She was married (1808) to Vice-Admiral Sir John Gore (died 1836) whom she survived as the Dowager Lady Gore (1836 – 1854). Lady Gore served at court as Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Adelaide, the wife of William IV (1830 – 1837). Lady Gore died (Nov 14, 1854) aged seventy.

Gore-Booth, Connie    see     Markievicz, Countess

Gore-Booth, Eva Selina – (1870 – 1926)
Irish feminist, poet, social reformer and suffragette
Gore-Booth was born at Lissadell in County Sligo, the second daughter of a wealthy landowner, and was half-sister to the famous activist, Countess Constance Markievicz. Together with her friend Esther Roper, Eva spent most of her life working amongst the poor textile workers in Lancashire. Eva organized the North of England Society for Woman’s Suffrage and founded the Manchester and Salford Women’s Trade Union Council. She worked as editor of the Woman’s Labour News publication, and was with Roper she played a leading role in the foundation of the Manchester Barmaids’ Association (1913). With her health declining, Eva retired to live in London, where she was an advocate of pacifism during WW I. Her poetry was published posthumously as the Collected Poems of Eva Gore-Booth (1929). Eva Gore-Booth died (June 30, 1926).

Gorgo – (fl. c487 – c480 BC)
Greek queen of Sparta
Gorgo was the only daughter and heiress of King Kleomenes I. After her father’s death (c487 BC) she was married to King Leonidas I (c525 – 480 BC) who died as a hero fighting the Persians at the battle of Thermopylae. The Greek historian Herodotus recorded that it was Gorgo who revealed how to decode the secret warning sent by Demaretus to inform the Greeks of Xerxes’ decision to invade. Plutarch recorded in his life of Lykurgus the law-giver a retort given by Queen Gorgo to a foreign woman who said to her ‘You Spartan women are the only ones who rule their men’ to which she replied ‘Yes, we are the only ones that give birth to men.’

Gorgonia (1) – (fl. c330 AD)
Graeco-Roman matron and Christian dynastic figure
Gorgonia was the wife of the Cappodocian nobleman Philtatius, and was the mother of Amphilokus, the advocate and teacher of rhetoric. Through her daughter Nonna, the wife of Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus she was the grandmother of the Christian saints Gregory (c329 – 389 AD), Bishop of Nazianzus in Cappodocia, and Caesarius (c330 – 368 AD) the noted physician and author.

Gorgonia (2) – (c320 – c370 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian saint
Gorgonia was the daughter of the elder Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus in Cappodocia and his wife Nonna, the daughter of Philtatius and wife the elder Gorgonia, for whom she was named. She was the sister to the more famous St Gregory of Nazianzus (c329 – 389 AD), Bishop of Constantinople and of Caesarius the physician. Gorgonia was married to a nobleman from Pisidia named Alypius to whom she bore several sons and three daughters, of whom the eldest Alypiana was married to a wealthy Cappodocian officer named Nikobulos and left issue. Her two younger daughters were named Nonna and Eugenia.
Gorgonia had been raised and educated as a pagan, and was not converted to Christianity until later in life. She then converted her husband and children to the faith, and was said to have cured herself during a desperate illness after anointing herself with the sacred elements of the Eucharist which she had mixed with her own tears. Gorgonia died in the lifetime of her parents, shortly before her husband. Her brother St Gregory wrote her funeral oration and referred to Gorgonia as ‘a paragon of women’ and ‘the diamond of her sex.’ Gorgonia was revered as a saint and her feast (Dec 9) was recorded in the Roman Martyrology.

Gorham, Kathleen – (1932 – 1983)
Australian ballerina
Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Kathleen was educated by nuns and later studied ballet from early childhood under Leon Kellaway. She later joined the Borovansky Company in Melbourne, Victoria (1947 – 1948), where she continued her career. Gorham performed in ballets such as Terra Australis and Les Sylphides, and used the pseudonym ‘Ann Somers’ when touring Australia and England with the Ballet Rambert. She performed her first Giselle (1951 – 1952), with Borovansky, and then performed with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas in Paris. Her first husband, Robert Pomie, created several roles specifically for her. When Gorham returned to Australia (1962) she joined the Australian Ballet and was directed by Robert Helpmann in the leading role of his works The Display and Yugen. She was particularly admired in the role of Elektra (1966) and retired soon afterwards to become a teacher. Kathleen Gorham died (April 30, 1983) in Southport, Queensland.

Gormanda – (fl. c550)
Cornish virgin saint
Gormonda was an obscure recluse who lived at Roche, Cornwall, and was perhaps of foreign origins. The local church of St Gormanda was named for her, and she was mentioned in the Calendar of the Prayer Book by Parker (1866).

Gormfhlaith – (c880 – 946) 
Irish queen and poet
Gormfhlaith was the daughter of King Flann Sionna (the Fox). She married firstly, Cormac Mac Cuilennen, King of Munster (died 908), secondly, Cearbhall, King of Leinster (d. 909), and thirdly (c910), Niall ‘Black-knee’, King of Ireland.
With the death of her last husband in 919, who was killed in battle against Sihtric of York, the queen adopted the wandering life of a mendicant. Many poems are attributed to her, and in one of these she identifies the Dane Anlaff as the warrior who personally killed Niall in battle.
The two poems usually attributed to her are, Bronach indiu Eirinn huag (Mournful today is noble Ireland), which was an ancient lament celebrating her husband’s valiant death, and the battle poem Ba duabhais an chedain chruaidh (Gloomy was the hard Wednesday). Queen Gormfhlaith died bizarrely, of a chest wound, after accidentally falling upon the sharp pointed post to which her bed was secured.

Gormonda de Monpeslier    see   Garsende II of Sabran

Gorriti, Juana Manuela – (1816 – 1892)  
Argentinian novelist and First Lady of Bolivia
Juana Gorriti was the daughter of staunch Argentinian Independence supporters. She emigrated with her family to Tarija in Bolivia, where she was married (1830) to General Manuel Isidoro Belzu, to whom she bore three children. Madame Belzu seperated from her husband whilst he was serving as president, and after his subsequent murder, Gorriti removed to Lima in Peru, where she worked as a teacher, and established her own literary salon. Her first novel La Quena (The Flute) (1845) was well received abroad. Thirty years later she removed to Buenos Aires (1874) where she established the La Alvorada del Plata magazine. She published the two volume work Panoramas de la vida (Views of Life) (1876).

Gorska-Damiecka, Irena – (1910 – 2008)
Polish stage actress and theatre director
Born Irena Gorska (Oct 20, 1910) in Ashmyany, Belarus, into a theatrical family, she was married (1930) to fellow actor, Dobieslaw Damiecki and both their sons were successful actors. Her film credits included Serce matki (1938), Jak byc kochana (1962), Sciana czarownic (1966) and Ciemna rzeka (1973), her last film. Madame Gorska-Damiecka published her autobiography Wygralam zycie (1997). Irena Gorska-Damiecka died (Jan 1, 2008) at Skolimov, Poland, aged ninety-seven.

Gorst, Nina Cecilia Francesca – (1869 – 1926)
British novelist and dramatist
Nina Kennedy was born (Nov 2, 1869), the daughter of an academic from Cambridge University. She was educated at home under the supervision of a governess and was married to Harold Gorst, to whom she bore four children. Mrs Gorst’s published works included Possessed of Devils (1897), This Our Sister (1905), The Soul of Milly Green (1907), The Thief on the Cross (1908), The Misbegotten (1921) and the autobiographical work entitled The Night is Far Spent (1919). Nina Gorst died (Oct 19, 1926) aged fifty-six.

Go-Sakuramachi – (1740 – 1813)
Japanese empress regnant (1763 – 1771)
Go-Sakuramachi was the daughter of the Emperor Sakuramachi, and originally bore the name of Toshiko. She was younger sister to the emperor Monozono (1741 – 1763), whom she succeeded, with the agreement that she left the actual government on the hands of the shogun Ieshige, who had controlled Imperial policy during the reign of her brother. The empress later abdicated in favour of her nephew, Hidehito (1758 – 1780), who became emperor as Go-Monozono (1771 – 1780). She survived these events nearly forty-five years, dying aged seventy-three.

Gosford, Louisa Augusta Beatrice Montagu, Countess of – (1854 – 1944)
British courtier
Lady Louisa Montagu was the daughter of the seventh Duke of Manchester, and she became the wife (1876) of Archibald Brabazon Sparrow Acheson (1841 – 1922), fourth Earl of Gosford (1864 – 1922), and was the mother of Archibald Charles Montague Brabazon Acheson (1877 – 1954), who succeeded his father as fifth Earl of Gosford. He was married twice and left descendants.
Lady Gosford served at court as lady-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII (1901 – 1910) and in recognition of her loyal service to the royal family she was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) as Dame Louisa Acheson. Louisa survived her husband as Dowager Countess of Gosford (1922 – 1944).

Gosnell, Winifred – (fl. 1662 – c1697)
English Stuart stage actress
Also popular in London as a dancer and singer, Winifred achieved certain notoriety at the mistress of James Stuart, Duke of York (later James II).

Gosse, Emily – (1806 – 1857)
British devotional writer
Emily Bowes was born (Nov 9, 1806) in London, the daughter of William Bowes, of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She became the first wife (1848) of the famous naturalist and marine biologist, Philip Henry Gosse (1810 – 1888). Noted for her scholarliness in the Greek and Hebrew languages, Emily Gosse was mother to the poet and critic, Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849 – 1928), and the artist and engraver, Sylvia Gosse was her granddaughter. She wrote several religious tracts as well as the volume of sketches entitled Seaside Pleasures (1853) and her personal recollections were edited and published posthumously. Emily Gosse died (Feb 9, 1857) in London, aged fifty.

Gosse, Sylvia – (1881 – 1968)
British artist, printmaker, etcher and engraver
Laura Sylvia Gosse was born in London, the daughter of the poet and critic, Sir Edmund William Gosse, and granddaughter of the noted marine biologist and naturalist, Philip Henry Gosse (1810 – 1888). Sylvia studied at the St John’s Wood School of Art and at the Royal Academy Schools. Gosse was a friend of the painter Walter Sickert, who placed her as co-principal of his art school at Rowland House (1910 – 1914). She nurse his second wife Christine in France until that lady’s death (1920), after which Sylvia acted as Sickert’s housekeeper, and was one of those involved in organizing the successful Sickert Fund (1934) for his financial benefit. Her own work was undoubtedly influenced by that of Sickert, most notably in the use of photography as the staring point for any painting, but she also evolved her own particular style, as is evidenced her portrait of Sickert, which was based on a photograph (1923), and is preserved in the Tate Gallery in London. Gosse held her own exhibition in London (1913), and became a founder-member of the Camden Town Group (1914). Many of her etchings remain in private collections in Britain, as well as being preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Sylvia Gosse died at Ore, near Hastings.

Gotami Balasri – (fl. c100 – 125 AD)
Indian princess
Gotami Balasri was the mother of Satakami, prince or satrap of the Satavahana dynasty of western and central India. Her son was ruling during the latter half of the first quarter of the second century AD, and in a surviving inscription, erected by Gotami, she makes the proud assertion that her son was militarily triumphant over various other ruling dynasts such as the Sakas, Yavanas (Greeks), Pahlavas, and Ksaharatas.

Goth, Marquise de – (fl. c1300 – c1310)
French medieval heiress
Regine de Goth was born into a noble Gascon family, and was niece to Bertrand de Goth, who was elected pope as Clement V (died 1314) and to the Archbishop of Lyons in Burgundy. Marquise became the wife of Arnaud II, seigneur de Durfort and Duras. Arnaud was a cadet of the Durfort family, from near Montauban, and the union had been arranged by her uncle Clement, who provided her with the important fiefs of Duras and Blanquefort as her dowry. Through her son Gaillard de Durfort, seigneur de Duras, Marquise was the ancestress of the ducs de Duras and the ducs de Lorge.

Goth, Regine de – (c1306 – c1327)
French heiress
Regine was the daughter and heir of Bertrand de Goth, vicomte de Lomagne in Gascony. She was married to Jean I, Comte d’Armagnac (died 1373) as his first wife. Regine inherited Lomagne at her father’s death (c1314), and brought it to the Armagnac family. Comtesse Regine bore no children but her husband’s family retained the fief, though they were eventually forced to cede the lands to Edward III of England (1327 – 1377) in return for financial compensation.

Gothelina of Valence – (fl. c940 – 956)
French mediaeval countess
Gothelina’s family history remains unrecorded. She became the first wife (c935) of Count Geilin of Valence (c915 – 961) in Provence, to whom she bore an only son Ainier who with his father donated property to the Abbey of Clerieu (948). A surviving charter (June 30, 956) from the Cartulary of the Abbey of Saint Chaffe, recorded that Geilinus comes cum conjuge sua Gothelina jointly granted the two villas describes as Cornatis and Cailliario to Saint Chaffre. Countess Gothelina died (before March 25, 961) when Geilin made a further donation to Saint-Chaffre with his second wife Raimodis.

Gotherina of Ambergau     see    Kotini of Ambergau

Gothia – (d. c303 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Gothia was killed at Tomi in Lower Moesia during the persecutions initiated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. Her feast was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum though the date is now lost.

Gottsched, Luise Adelgunde Victoria – (1713 – 1762)
German dramatist, journalist, polemicist and translator
Born (April 11, 1713) in Danzig, Luise Gottsched wrote birthday odes to celebrate the birthdays of several important ladies including the Empress Anna Ivanovna of Russia (1733) and Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Anhalt (1755), mother to Catharine II of Russia. Luise Gottsched was best known for her three comic plays Die Pietisterei im Fischbein-Rocke (Pietism in a Whale-bone Skirt) (1736), Das Testament (The Will) (1745) and Herr Witzling (Mr Witty) (1745). Gottsched also translated the verses of the British poet, Alexander Pope (1714), works of the French salonniere, the Marquise de Lambert (1721), and the poet, Antoinette Deshouliers (1744). Luise Gottsched died (June 26, 1762) aged forty-nine, in Leipzig, Saxony.

Gotze, Auguste – (1840 – 1908)
German music teacher
Gotze was born at Weimar, Saxony, the daughter the tenor, composer and teacher Franz Gotze. She was educated at home by her father, before becoming a teacher herself at the Conservatoire of Music in Dresden, where she also founded a training school. From 1891 she taught at the Leipzig Conservatoire. She also wrote on musical subjects under the pseudonym ‘Augusta Weimar.’
Auguste Gotze died in Leipzig (April 29, 1908).

Goudvis, Bertha – (1876 – 1966)
South African novelist and writer
Born Bertha Cinamon in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, into a Jewish family, she immigrated to South Africa with her family as a small child (1881). Her husband ran various hotels in Rhodesia and Mozambique, and she herself worked as a journalist, publishing her account of the Matabele Rebellion (1893) as Bulawayo under Arms: A Lady’s Experiences. Bertha also published the collections The Way Money Goes and Other Plays (1925), The Mistress of Mooiplas and Other Stories (1956) and the novel Little Eden (1949). She also produced and published a cookery book Belinda’s Book for Colonial Housewives (c1909).

Gouges, Olympe de – (1745 – 1793)
French patriot, feminist, pamphlet writer and dramatist
Born Marie Olympe Gouze (May 7, 1745) at Montauban in the province of Languedoc, she was the daughter of butcher. She herself later claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of the poet, La Frere de Pompignan. Olympe was married (1764) to an army officer, Louis Yvres Aubury, to whom she bore a son, and from whom she later seperated (1766), retaining her own name. Olympe de Gouges then went to reside in Paris, where she became famous for her beauty and romantic affairs, but first achieved serious public attention when her anti-slavery play L’Esclavage des noirs, which was performed at the Theatre Francoises in Paris in the decade prior to the revolution. She wrote several popular stage comedies such as Le Mariage inattendu de Cherubin (1786) and Moliere chez Ninon (1788).
With the advent of the revolution (1789), Gouges became politically prominent by founding the Club de Tricoteuses (1790). She had supported the cause of the Republic but desired no bloodshed, and was the author of The Rights of Women (1791). Gouges attracted further notoriety for pleading for the life of the king in a letter to the National Assembly (1792), and for being overtly critical of the revolutionary leaders, Jean Marat and Maximilien Robespierre. Her close association with the infamous tricoteuses (knitters) also led to her downfall. When she printed the political pamphlet Les Trois urnes, which advocated a plebiscite to let the French people decide what sort of government they wanted for the country, she was arrested, tried, convicted and guillotined in Paris (Nov 4, 1793) aged forty-eight.

Gough, Evelyn Anna Walker – (1854 – 1931)
Australian feminist, diarist and newspaper editor
Evelyn Gough supported suffrage for women, and joined the National Council of Women of Victoria (NCWV). She was instrumental in organizing the reform of female prisons, and was co-owner of The Sun – A Journal from the Home and Society founded by Louisa Lawson.

Gould, Anna – (1878 – 1961)
American heiress and socialite
Anna Gould was born in New York, the youngest daughter of American financier and railway tycoon, Jay Gould (1836 – 1892) and was sister to George Jay Gould (1864 – 1923). Plain in looks but pleasant natured and extremely wealthy, she was left a fortune of eighty million dollars by her father (1892) and was married firstly (1895) in Manhattan, to Boniface, Marquis de Castellane (1867 – 1932), to whom she bore three children. The marriage was later annulled (1906), the proceedings taking some considerable time.
Anna was then remarried (1908) to the cousin of her first husband, Marie Pierre Camille Louis Helie, fifth Duc de Talleyrand-Perigord and Prince de Sagan (1879 – 1937). Their only son Howard committed suicide (1929) by shooting himself, whilst their daughter was Violette (Helene Violette) de Talleyrand-Perigord (1915 – 2003), became the wife of Comte Jacques de Pourtales, and inherited the duchy of Sagan (1937). Anna was later awarded the Cross of the French Legion of Honour (1932) in recognition of her valuable contributions to the war effort in her adopted country. During WW II she auctioned off her internationally famous collection of orchids for the benefit of the French Red Cross (1945). Anna Gould died (Nov 29, 1961) aged eighty-three, at Neuilly, near Paris.

Gould, Dorothy – (1910 – 2000)
American stage and film actress
Gould was born (Jan 10, 1910) in New York, and made her stage debut in the comedy production of Transgressor (1926) at the Theater Mart in Hollywood. This was followed by an appearance in Legitimate Lovers (1929) co-written by the feminist Natalie Barney and her sister. Her film credits included The Charlatan (1929) where she played the role of Ann Talbot and Ladies in Love (1930), in which she appeared with Alice Day. Dorothy Gould died (July 26, 2000) in Los Angeles, California, aged ninety.

Gould, Eliza – (1770 – 1810)
English philanthropist and Sunday school founder
Eliza Gould was born in Bampton in Devonshire, the daughter of John Gould. She was employed as a governess prior to establishing a Sunday school near Bedford. Gould founded a boarding school at South Molton in Devonshire, but local hostility to her patronage of the radical newsletter The Cambridge Intelligencer, edited by Benjamin Flower, caused this venture to be abandoned. Flower was imprisoned in Newgate because he wrote and published a libel against the Bishop of Llandaff. Eliza visited him in prison (1799) and then married him (1800). Eliza was the founder of the Benevolent Society for the Relief of the Sick and Aged Poor (1803) at Cambridge, and died following the premature birth of a child. She was mother to the composer Eliza Flower, and Sarah Flower Adams, the famous hymnist.

Goulding, Charlotte    see   Barrymore, Charlotte Goulding, Countess of

Gouldstone, Edna – (1929 – 1996)
Australian matron
Gouldstone was born in London, England. She was raised in Kent, and later trained as a nurse. She came to Australia after WW II with her family (1951). Edna Gouldstone worked firstly at the St George Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, where she was the evening supervisor. She then moved to rural Orange (1955), where she was later appointed as deputy matron (1961) and then matron of the Orange Base Hopsital, a position she held for two decades (1965 – 1984). She assisted with the establishment of the General Nurse Training School and the Nursing Aide Training School at Orange Hospital. She never married and retired in 1984. Gouldstone was a fellow of the NSW College of Nursing, of the College of Nursing, Australia, and of the Institute of Nursing Administrators of NSW and ACT (Australian Capital Territory). Edna Gouldstone died (July 28, 1996) at Galston, near Hornsby, Sydney.

Gould y Quincy, Alice Bache – (1868 – 1953)
American-Spanish historian, scholar, author and philanthropist
Alice was born (Jan 5, 1868) in Quincy, Massachusetts, and attended Bryn Mawr College. She became a naval trainer before travelling to Spain (1911), and the last three decades of her life were spent there (1921 – 1953). Alice Gould y Quincy wrote in Spanish adopting that form of her name. She published a series of articles concerning the life of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) in the Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia (Bulletin of the Royal Academy of History) (1924 – 1943), which also included biographies of his crew members. Alice Gould y Quincy died (July 23, 1953) aged eighty-five, in Madrid.

Gourd, Emilie – (1879 – 1946) 
Swiss feminist and author
Emilie Gourd campaigned on behalf of women’s rights and suffrage. She was the founder and editor of the women’s newspaper Le movement feministe. She served as president of the Swiss Women’s Association (1914 – 1928) and was secretary of the International Alliance of Women (1923). Gourd wrote a biography of the noted American feminist, Susan B. Anthony (1920).

Gourdon de Genouillac de Vaillac, Gaillotte – (c1562 – 1618)
French nun
Gaillotte de Gourdon was promised to the church by her parents prior to her birth, and was accordingly placed with the Order of the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem at the abbey of Beaulieu, at the age of twelve. At the early age of sixteen she was appointed as superior of a small convent at Fieux, but the loneliness of the place caused the nuns to return to the mother house. She spent time with the Clarissan nuns at Tulle in order to learn the rules which her superior wanted to use to reform their own. Mother Gaillotte died in the midst of these labours and was venerated as a saint (June 24).

Gournay, Gundrada de – (c1103 – after 1155)
Anglo-Norman religious patron
Gundrada was was the daughter of the Norman baron, Gerard de Gourney and his wife Edith de Warenne, and became the second wife (1118) of Nigel d’ Aubigny, Lord Mowbray (died 1129). With her husband’s death, she resided with her son Roger de Mowbray (1121 – 1188) at Thirsk Castle. Gundrada gave shelter to the monks of Calder when they fled from Scotland, and was the benefactress of the abbeys of Byland, Rievaulx and Whitby, as well as being the patron of St Peter’s Hospital, York, and Whitby abbey. Her daughter Gundrada became a nun at the Abbaye des Dames, at Caen, Normandy.

Gournay, Marie le Jars de – (1566 – 1645)
French writer and feminist
Born in Paris, the daughter of Guillaume de Jars, secretary of the king’s chamber, and his wife Jeanne de Hacqueville. With the death of her father (1577), Marie raised at Gournay in Picardy. Marie learned Latin and Greek, despite her mother’s disapproval, and later attended the Valois court (1588). There she met the philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592), who legally adopted her as his daughter, and she went to reside on his estate. With Montaigne’s death (1592), Marie published Le Proumenoir de M de Montaigne (The Promenade of Montaigne) (1594), and an edition of his Essais (Essays) (1595).
Marie de Gournay corresponded with the Flemish scholar, Juste Lipsius (1547 – 1606) and defended in public debate the works of the poet Pierre Ronsard (1524 – 1585) against the verses of Malherbe. Her educational work De l’education des enfants de France (On the Education of the Children of France (1600), was presented to King Henry IV and his second wife, Marie de Medici. Gournay published her first treatise in defense of women Egalite des hommes et des femmes (1622), in which she advocated education and equality for them as well. This work was dedicated to Anne of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII. Her other feminist text was Le Grief des dames (The Ladies’ Grievance) (1626). She supported herself by translating the Roman classics and remained unmarried. Marie de Gournay died in Paris.

Gouvernet, Suzanne Catherine Gravet de Corsembleu Livry, Marquise de – (1694 – 1778)
French literary figure
Suzanne de Livry became the wife (1717) of Charles Frederic de L Tour du Pin de Boulon (1694 – 1775), Marquis de Gouvernet. Madame de Gouvernet was an early love of the philosopher Francois Voltaire. She betrayed him with a friend of his but he never forgot her. He later penned his Epitre des vous et des tu (c1730) in memory of his love and wrote that the the marquise possessed ‘A tender heart, a fickle mind, an alabaster bosom, and lovely eyes. With so many precious attractions, who alas, would not be naughty?’ Madame de Gouvernet appeared in amateur theatricals and took the role of Jocaste in Voltaire’s production of Oedipe but achieved mediocre success in that role. Suzanne survived her husband as the Dowager Marquise de Gouvernet (1775 – 1778).

Govone, Rosa – (1716 – 1776)
Italian religious founder and saint
Govone was born at Mondori in Piedmont, and was orphaned early in life. She was forced to work hard to support herself. Rosa gathered about her a growing group of respectable poor girls whom she trained for a life of useful work. Public interest in their activities allowed Rosa to establish and finance a wool factory for girls in the plain of Brao. Rosa appointed a subordinate in charge of the mother house in Mondori, and travelled to Turin (1755). There she gained the support and patronage of King Carlo Emmanuele III, who named the girls ‘rosines,’ and granted them a premises to use. To help establish this house the king arranged for the girls to recoeved the commission to make uniforms for the army. As well as this, the poor became accustomed to buying their coarse woollen materials for their own garments. Regarded as blessed, Rosa died in Turin (Feb 28, 1776) aged fifty-nine.

Goward, Mary Ann     see    Keeley, Mary Ann

Gower, Evelyn Pierrepoint, Lady – (1691 – 1727)
British society figure and gambler
Lady Evelyn Pierrepoint was born (Sept 6, 1691), the daughter of Evelyn Pierrepoint (1665 – 1726), first Duke of Kingston, and his first wife, Lady Mary Fielding, the daughter of William Fielding (1640 – 1685), first Earl of Denbigh. Her elder sister was the traveller and writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Lady Evelyn was married (1712) at St Anne’s Soho, London, to Sir John Leveson-Gower (1694 – 1754), second Baron Gower (later first Earl Gower 1746), as his first wife.
An inveterate gambler, references in the letters of her sister Mary revealed that Lady Gower lost large sums during the infamous South Sea speculations, but her husband generously paid all her debts. Some of her letters survive. Lady Gower died (June 26, 1727) aged thirty-five, Leicester Street, London, from the effects of childbirth. She was buried at Trentham and left six children,

• Lady Gertrude Leveson-Gower (1714 – 1794). She became the second wife of John Russell (1710 – 1771), fourth Duke of Bedford, and left descendants.
• Lady Mary Leveson-Gower (1717 – 1778). She became the wife of the Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, seventh barronet (died 1769) and left issue.
• Lady Frances Leveson-Gower (1720 – 1788). She became the wife of Lord John Philip Sackville (1713 – 1765) and left issue.
• Sir Granville Leveson-Gower (1721 – 1803), third Baron Gower and then the first Marquess of Stafford (1786). Lord Stafford was a famous Hanoverian statesman and was married three times, leaving descendants.
• Lady Elizabeth Leveson-Gower (1724 – 1784). She became the wife of Sir John Waldegrave (1718 – 1784), third Earl Waldegrave, and left issue.
• Lady Evelyn Leveson-Gower (1725 – 1763). She married firstly to John Fitzpatrick (1720 – 1758), Earl of Upper Ossory, and secondly to Richard Vernon (1726 – 1800) of Hilton, Staffordshire, and left issue by her second marriage.

Gowharshad    see    Gauhar Shad

Gowrie, Zara Eileen Pollock, Countess of – (1879 – 1865)
British diplomatic figure and philanthropist
Zara Pollock was born in Lismany, Galway, Ireland, the daughter of John Pollock, and his wife Florence Madeline Bingham, the daughter of Lord Clanmorris. Despite the opposition of her family, she was married (1908) to Brigadier-General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven (1872 – 1955), who was later elevatted to the peerage as Lord Gowrie (1935) and first earl Gowrie (1945). Their only son was killed in action during World War II, and he was the father of Alexander Hore-Ruthven, second earl of Gowrie (born 1939).
Her husband was governor of South Australia (1928 – 1934) and during his period in office, Lady Gowrie served as president of the state branch of the Red Cross, and was closely associated with the activities of the Girl Guide movement and the Victoria League. Gowrie served as governor-general of Australia (1936 – 1945), and during the war Lady Gowrie remained constantly active, organizing musical concerts and fetes at Government House, in order to raise money for the war effort, notably the establishing of a club for soldiers in Canberra.
The countess was greatly interested in early education for children and established the Lady Gowrie kindergartens, and, with her husband, set up the Gowrie scholarship trust for the benefit of ex-personnel and their children. The couple returned to England in 1945, and resided in Gloucestershire. Lady Gowrie survived her husband a decade, and died aged eighty-six (July 19, 1965).

Goxhill, Agnes de – (fl. c1140 – 1167)
English religious benefactress
Agnes was the wife and widow of the landowner Peter de Goxhill (died c1166 or 1167). Agnes and her husband jointly founded the Praemonstratensian abbey for canons at Newhouse in Lincolnshire (c1143) as a daughter house to the Abbey of Licques in France. Agnes herself founded the nunnery of Broadholme in Nottinghamshire (c1148 – c1154) during the last years of the reign of Stephen of Blois. The land at Broadholme had originally been granted to Newhouse Abbey. A surviving charter of King Edward II (1307 – 1327) confirmed grants made to the nuns of Broadholme, and referred to earlier grants made by Agnes and her husband.

Goyau, Lucie   see   Faure-Goyau, Lucie

Gozzadini, Laudomia – (fl. 1567 – 1584) 
Italian art patron
Laudomia Gozzadini was the wife of Camillo Gozzadini, and the daughter of Ulisse Gozzadini of Bologna. The marriage of Laudomia and her sister Ginevra to their cousins Camillo and Annibale Gozzadini, where arranged prior to the death of their father, in 1567. Lists of clothes and jewels for the sisters were recorded by Laudomia’s husband in his librodi ricordi (family diary) of 1570. Laudomia commissioned a portrait of herself and her sister from the norted female artist Lavinia Fontana (1584) in which the sisters were portrayed wearing the jewelry listed in her husband’s diary.

Grable, Betty – (1916 – 1973)
American dancer and film actress
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was born (Dec 18, 1916) in St Louis, Missouri, and worked in vaudeville during her childhood. She later lived in Los Angeles, California, where she studied dance and attended the Hollywood Professional School. She made her movie debut as achorus girl in Let’s Go Places (1930). Grable worked under contract to several of the large movie studios such as Paramount, but really came into her own at Twentieth Century Fox during WW II, when she appeared in such popular films as Down Argentine Way (1940) and Moon Over Miami (1941).
An pleasing dancer and vocalist, with beautiful legs, which were famously insured with Lloyd’s of London for one million dollars, Betty Grable was a favourite wartime pinup with the US troops. However, after the war was over her ‘peaches and cream’ appeal declined, though she continued to appear in musicals such as The Dolly Sisters (1945) and How To Marry a Millionaire (1953). Her last film role was in How To Be Very Very Popular (1955), after which she ripped up her contract, and returned to stage work, appearing in Guys and Dolls (1962) and Hello Dolly! as a replacement for actress Martha Raye (1965 – 1967).
Her first husband (1937 – 1940) was the actor Jackie Coogan (1914 – 1984), and her second was the bandleader and trumpeteer Harry James (1916 – 1983). Betty Grable died (July 2, 1973) at Santa Monica, California, aged fifty-six.

Gracay, Adeline de – (fl. c1100 – c1130)
French medieval heiress
Adeline de Gracay was the heiress of the fief of Saint-Palais, which lands she brought to the family of her husband, Etienne (Stephen), seigneur de Gracay, in Berry. She was the mother of seigneur Ranaud IV, who was later involved in struggles with the archbishop of Bourges concerning the tour de Saint-Palais, beseiging the archbishop, who had been invested with these lands by decree of Louis VII (1141).

Grace, Carol    see    Matthau, Carol

Grace, Harriette Edith – (fl. 1877 – 1900)
British Victorian painter
Harriette Grace resided in Brighton, London. She specialized in water colour paintings of fruit and domestic scenes. Her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Suffolk Street Gallery.

Grace, Mary – (c1727 – 1786)
British Hanoverian painter
Born Mary Hodgkiss, she was the daughter of a shoemaker. Without having any formal training, and relying upon her own natural talent, Mary Grace, as she became after marriage, established herself as a successful portraitist and copyist. Her work was exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists (1762 – 1769), and included such works as A Ballad-singer and An Old Woman’s Head. Others included the classical works The Death of Sigismunda and the group portrait Antiochus, Seleucus, and Stratonice. Mary Grace retired after the death of her husband. Mary Grace died at Homerton, aged about sixty.

Grace Patricia       see     Kelly, Grace Patricia

Graeciniana – (d. c304 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Graceiniana was killed in Rome with a matron named Actinea, during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian. Both women were later interred within the monastery of San Justo and San Clemente at Volterra, where their remains were accidentally discovered eight hundred years later (1140), by searchers looking for the remains of St Clement, a Camaldoese monk. The church venerated their memory together (June 16).

Graeme, Elizabeth     see    Fergusson, Elizabeth Graeme

Graf, Sonja – (1908 – 1965)
German-American chess player and champion
Born Susanna Graf (Dec 16, 1908) in Munich, Bavaria, she was the Women’s World Sub-Champion and twice won the US Women’s Chess Championship (1957) and (1964). She wrote two books Asi Juega Una Mujer (This Is How A Woman Plays) and Yo soy Susann (I am Susann), an account of her abusive childhood.

Graffigny, Francoise de – (1695 – 1758)
French literary patron and letter writer
Born Francoise d’Issembourg d’Happoncourt (Feb 13, 1695) at Nancy, in Lorraine, she was the daughter of a military officer in the service of the Duke of Lorraine. Francoise was the great-niece of the engraver, Jacques Collot. She was married to Hugh de Graffigny, chamberlain to the Duke of Lorraine. Her marriage was extremely unhappy, her husband later being imprisoned because of his continued domestic violence.
Madame de Graffigny was a friend to the Marquise du Chatelet, whom she visited at Cirey, and of the Duchesse de Richelieu, and was a generous patron of Francois Voltaire. However, after a serious disagreement with Mme du Chatelet, she removed to the household of Madame de Richelieu. Her best known work was the epistolary novel Lettres d’une Peruvienne (Letters of a Peruvian Princess) (1747). She also produced the popular play Cenie (Cenia, or The Oppressed Daughter) (1751) and La Fille d’Astride (Astride’s Daughter) (1759). Madame de Graffigny died (Dec 12, 1758) aged sixty-three, in Paris.

Grafton, Anne, Duchess of    see    Ossory, Anne Liddell, Countess of

Grafton, Susanna Mary MacTaggart, Duchess of – (1878 – 1961)
British hospital organizer and volunteer activist
Susanna McTaggart-Stewart was born (April 1, 1878) the fourth daughter of Sir Mark John MacTaggart-Stewart (1834 – 1923), first baronet, and his wife Marianne Susanna, the only child of John Orde Ommaney. Susanna was married firstly (1901) to Archibald Patrick Borthwick (1867 – 1910), the twentieth Baron Borthwick, by whom she left an only daughter, Isolde Frances Borthwick (born 1903), who died unmarried.
Lady Borthwick remarried (1916) to Alfred William Maitland Fitzroy (1850 – 1930), Earl of Euston, who succeeded as eighth Duke of Grafton (1918). For her volunteer work with the Red Cross during WW I, the duchess was made a D.St.J. (Dame of the Order of St John of Jerusalem). She also received the Order of Mercy, with bar, and served as vice-patroness of the Royal Eastern Counties Institute. She survived her second husband as Dowager Duchess of Grafton for three decades (1930 – 1961), and died at her home in London (Oct 3, 1961), aged eighty-three. She left two daughters from her second marriage,

• Lady Elfrida Fitzroy (1919 – 1920). She died in infancy.
• Lady Cecilia Blanche Genevieve Fitzroy (1922 – 1974). She became the wife of Major George Anthony Geoffrey Howard (1920 – 1984) of Castle Howard, York, who became Baron Howard of Henderskelfe after Lady Cecilia’s death.

Graham, Clementina Stirling – (1782 – 1877)
Scottish author and translator
Clementina Stirling was born (May, 1782), the daughter of Patrick Stirling of Pittendriech and his wife Amelia Graham. When her mother succeeded to the estate of Duntrune in Forfarshire (1802), the family adopted the surname of Graham. Of a Jacobite background, she was a member of the family of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee. Miss Graham never married and became part of the social circle in Edinburgh, and entertained at Duntrune.
Miss Graham was the author of Mystifications (1859), which included poems and sketches. She translated into English the work of the Swiss author Jonas de Gelieu The Bee Preserver (1829), for which she was awarded a medal by the Highland Society. Clementina Graham died (Aug 23, 1877) aged ninety-five.

Graham, Ennis      see     Molesworth, Mary Louisa

Graham, Lady Helen Violet – (1879 – 1945)
Scottish-Anglo courtier
Lady Helen Graham was born (July 1, 1879) the elder daughter of Douglas Beresford Malise Graham (1852 – 1925), fifth Duke of Montrose, and his wife Violet Hermione Graham, the daughter of Sir Frederick Graham, third baronet, of Netherby. Lady Helen was appointed as president of the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association). She served at court (1936 – 1945) as woman of the bedchamber to HM Queen Elizabeth, the wife of George VI (1936 – 1952) and in recognition of her loyal service she was created DCVO (Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order). She remained unmarried. Lady Helen Graham died (Aug 27, 1945) aged sixty-six.

Graham, Isabella Marshall – (1742 – 1814)
Scottish-American poet, educator, letter writer and philanthropist
Born Isabella Marshall, she founded the New York Widow’s Society, the New York Orphan’s Asylum, and the New York Society for the Promotion of Industry. Her daughter, Joanna Graham Bethune edited and published her personal correspondence as The Unpublished Letters and Correspondence of Mrs Isabella Graham, From the Year 1767 to 1814; Exhibiting Her Religious Character in the Different Relations of Life (1838).

Graham, Janet – (1723 – 1805)
Scottish poet
Janet Graham was born near Lockerbie in Dumfriesshire. She published the popular work The Wayward Wife. Janet Graham died (April, 1805) in Edinburgh, aged eighty-two.

Graham, Lady Katherine – (c1615 – c1645)
Scottish noblewoman
Lady Katherine Graham was the fifth daughter of John Graham (1573 – 1626), fourth Earl of Montrose and his wife Lady Margaret Ruthven, the daughter of the first Earl of Gowrie. She was sister to James Graham (1612 – 1650), the first Marquess of Montrose. Her eldest sister Lady Lilias Graham was married (1632) to Sir John Colquhoun, first baronet of Luss.
During the same year Lady Ketherine was seduced, or allowed herself to be seduced by her new-brother-in-law, through the aid of Sir John’s German servant Carlippis. Carlippis, who was involved in sorcery and necromancy, appears to have been a strong force between the two lovers. All three fled to Italy. Sir John Colquhoun was summed to Edinburgh to answer charges of incest and necromancy, but he remained abroad in exile. What became of Lady Katherine remains unknown but she must have died before 1646 when Sir John returned to Scotland and remarried.

Graham, Katherine Meyer – (1917 – 2001)
American newspaper owner and publisher
Katherine Graham was born (June 16, 1917) in New York, the daughter of the famous financier ans publisher, Eugene Meyer. She attended Vassar College and the University of Chicago, before joining the staff of the San Francisco News publication (1938) as a reporter. Several years later she joined the staff of her father’s newspaper the Washington Post. Katharine was married (1940) to Philip Graham, who later became associate publisher (1946), and bore him four children. She and her husband bought the paper from Eugene Meyer for a nominal sum (1948), and together they formed the Washington Post Company, which appointed Philip Graham as the president. The company later bought Newsweek magazine (1961), and expanded the business considerably.
After her husband’s tragic suicided (1963), Katharine Grahm became president (1963 – 1973), and took over several radio and television stations, becoming an extremely powerful media mogul. Her paper’s publication of military actvities in the controversial ‘Pentagon Papers’ episode was supported by the law (1971) and investigated the infamous Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon (1974). She retired as publisher in favour of her son, Donald Graham (1979) who was later appointed as president (1991) and served as co-chairman of the board of the International Herald Tribune (1983). She published the memoir Personal History (1997), which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Katharine Graham died (July 17, 2001) aged eighty-four, in Boise, Idaho.

Graham, Kathleen Mary – (1904 – 2000)
British civil servant
Kathleen Graham was born in London, the daughter of Colonel R. Graham. She attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College before going on to study at the Courtauld Institute of Art and the University of London. Graham became her career employed by the Department of Technology in the War-time Laboratory (1940 – 1941) after which she rose to become the Political Warfare executive (1942 – 1945). After the war Graham entered the Foreign Office and was later sent to San Francisco in the USA where she served as British Consul (1949 – 1953). Her career continued to rise and she was appointed as Deputy Consul-General in New York (1955 – 1959) and then served as Consul-General in Amsterdam (1960 – 1963). Kathleen Graham retired in 1969, and served as a governor with the English Speaking Union (1973 – 1980). Kathleen Graham died (March 12, 2000) aged ninety-five.

Graham, Margaret – (1889 – 1966)
Australian kindergarten educator
Graham was born in Ballarat, Victoria. Margaret attended the Kindergarten Training College where she became a teacher, and later served as director of the Free Kindergarten at Mt Hawthorn, Perth, in Western Australia for seventeen years (1926 – 1942). Graham established the Kindergarten of the Air Radio Programme (1932) and was appointed MBE (Member of the British Empire) (1956) by Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of her valuable services to teaching. She remained unmarried. Margaret Graham died (Jan 25, 1966) in Perth.

Graham, Martha – (1894 – 1991)
American dancer and choreographer
Martha Graham was born (May 11, 1894) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a descendant of the famous colonial figure, Miles Standish, the admirer of Priscilla Mullins Alden. She attended the Denishawn School in Los Angeles, California (1916 – 1923), and first appeared on stage in vaudeville. Graham favoured primitive dance and performed with the Greenwich Village Follies (1923 – 1925) before leaving to form a dance company with Ruth St Denis and Ted Shawn (1926).
Her work was influenced by that of the composer, Louis Horst. She was considered a pioneer of modern dance styles and techniques, and her early works included Lamentation (1930) and Frontier (1935). She founded the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York (1927), where she was director and teacher. Her best known work was the ballet Appalachian Spring (1958).
Graham was forced to retire from dance due to illness and became a full-time teacher and director at the Martha Graham Dance Company (1973). She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1976) and was the author of the instruction manual Songs (1985). Martha Graham died (April 1, 1991) in New York, aged ninety-six.

Graham, Rose – (1875 – 1963)
British scholar and historical writer
Rose was the daughter of Edgar Graham, and was educated at Notting Hill and at Somerville College, Oxford. She was the author of An Abbot of Vezelay (1918) and English Ecclesiastical Studies (1929). Rose Graham died (July 29, 1963) in London.

Graham, Virginia – (1912 – 1998)
American writer, dramatist and television presenter
Born Virginia Komiss in Chicago, Illinois (July 4, 1912), her first job in radio was as a fashion editor with station WBBM in Chicago, and she served with the Red Cross during WW II. Graham wrote scripts for such radio soap operas as, Stella Dallas and, Our Gal Friday, but was best known as the popular talk-show host on the television programs Food for Thought (1956 – 1961), Girl Talk (1963 – 1969), on which she interviewed a wide variety of contemporary female celebrities and on The Virginia Graham Show (1970 – 1972). She served variously as host and panelist on many popular American television shows, and appeared in an episode of the popular family program Roseanne (1988 – 1997), starring Roseanne Barr.
Graham published several works such as Life After Harry (1988), and My Adventures in Widowhood (1988) and I Love Antiques But I Don’t Want to Be One (1999), which was published posthumously. She was supporter of the American Cancer Society as well as various other important health related charities. Virginia Graham died (Dec 22, 1998) in Manhattan, New York, aged eighty-six.

Grahn, Ingeborge – (1906 – 1995)
German stage and film actress
Grahn was born (Oct 12, 1906) and worked on the stage from childhood. Grahn established an impressive stage career for herself, and also made several film appearances, playing the Spanish infanta in Der Prinz von Arkadien (The Prince from Arcadia) (1932) and Lena in Karneval und Liebe (Carnival of Love) (1934). Ingeborge Grahn died (March 28, 1995) in Berlin, aged eighty-eight.

Grahn, Lucile – (1819 – 1907)
Danish ballerina and choreographer
Grahn was born in Copenhagen, and made her stage debut at the eage of seven (1826). She then trained with the Royal Danish Ballet, studying under the famous choreographer, Auguste Bournonville. Bournonville created the role of Astrid in his Valdemar (1835) for her, and she appeared as his first La Sylphide (1836). Grahn later removed to Paris, where she established herself on a permanent basis, and appeard in England, Germany, and Russia. Due to her great talent at pirouetting, she became popularly known as the ‘Taglioni on the North.’  Madame Grahn retired from the stage and became ballet mistress with the Leipzig State Theater in Saxony (1858 – 1861), a position she repeated with the Munich Court Opera in Bavaria (1869 – 1875), where she worked in collaboration with Richard Wagner. Lucile Grahn died in Munich.

Grailly, Rogette de – (fl. c1330 – c1350)
French late medieval heiress
Rogette de Grailly was the daughter of Pierre II de Grailly, Captal de Buch (c1285 – c1356), and his first wife Asalide, the daughter of Pierre de Bordax, Captal de Buch. She became the wife of Guy VII, Baron de La Rochefoucauld (died 1344), and left many descendants. Madame Rogette was the ancestress of Francois IV, Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680), the author of the famous maxims, moral tales, and memoirs, and of Marie de La Rochefoucauld, the wife of Louis, Duc d’Estissac.

Graine Mhaol     see    O’Malley, Grace

Gramcko, Ida - (1924 - 1994)
Venezuelan poet
Ida Gramcko was born (Oct 11, 1924), and studied philosophy at university. Her earlier works included La vara magica (The Magic Wand) (1948) and the collection of verse Poemas (1952). She was associated with the literary group which included Enriqueta Arvelo Larriva and Ana Teran, and her work evoked the myths and legends, and traditions of Venezuelan history.
Gramcko worked as a journalist and with the civil service, and published several other collections of verse entitled Poemas de una psicotica (Poems of a Psychotic) (1964) and Lo maximo murmura (The Loudest Murmur) (1965). She was the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Central University of Venezuela Theatre Prize (1952), the Municipal Poetry Prize which she was awarded twice (1963) and (1972) and was also awarded the Venezuelan National Prize for Literature (1977). Ida Gramcko died (May 2, 1994) aged sixty-nine.

Gramont, Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, Duchesse de – (1731 – 1794)
French aristocrat and courtier
Beatrix de Choiseul was the daughter of Francois Joseph II de Choiseul (1695 – 1769), Marquis de Stainville and his wife Marie Louise de Bassompierre. She was the sister of Etienne, Duc de Choiseul (1719 – 1785), the prime minister of Louis XV, who arranged the marriage of Louis XVI with Marie Antoinette. She became a canoness at the Abbey of Remriemont in Lorraine, but had no vocation for such a life, and her brother Etienne arranged for her marriage of convenience (1759) with the widower Antoine VII Antonin, Duc de Gramont (1722 – 1801) by which she became the stepmother of Louis Armand de Gramont (1743 – 1795), Duc de Lesparre. She bore no children but the marriage gave the duchesse entrée to the court of Louis XV at Versailles.
Considered unattractive and possessed of a florid complexion and overbearing manner the duchesse was not a popular figure at the court. She remained ever loyal to her brother, and he to her, and was a firm enemy of Madame DuBarry the king’s last official mistress, which position the duchesse and her brother had rather unrealistically hoped would fall to Beatrix instead, despite the fact that King Louis had evinced no interest in her. She was said to have secreted herself in the king’s apartments one night, and the next morning the king remarked to the Duc de Richelieu that ‘I will tell Choiseul to keep his sister in better order.’
Details of her personality are revealed in the Memoires of the Duc de Lauzun who stated that she: “ ... combined with all the charms of her sex the character of a man fitted for great affairs ... “ and wrote of her appearance, “Madamoiselle de Choiseul was plain, but with the sort of plainness that generally proves attractive … .” With her brother’s expulsion from Versailles to his country residence, the Chateau de Chantilly, Madame de Gramont accompanied her brother and sister-in-law into exile. There she remained until the accession of Louis XVI when she was free to return to Versailles, but she never achieved her former prominent position.
The duchesse did not emigrate with the outbreak of the Revolution and remained safe until Robespierre instigated his Terror. Madame de Gramont was arrested with various other notables including her friend the Marquise de Chatelet. Whilst in prison within the Conciergerie the duchesse was forced to share her cell with a common pickpocket. Madame de Chatelet’s son was fighting with the royalist army and the Revolutionary Tribunal wanted details concerning his activities. During their interview the Tribunal offered Madame de Gramont her life, which was almost certainly a lie, if she would reveal the whereabouts of her friend’s son. She refused and replied ‘Citizen, my life is not worth a lie’ and was condemned to death for conspiracy against the Republic. She was guillotined in Paris (April 17, 1794) sharing her tumbril with her friend Madame de Chatelet and with the young Princess Rozalia Lubomirska. Her extensive library was later sold (1797) and many of the volumes were bought by her kinsman the Vicomte de Gramont d’Aster.

Gramont, Claire de – (c1505 – 1560)
French late medieval heiress
Claire was the daughter of Francois, seigneur de Gramont, and was married to Menaud d’Aure, Vicomte d’Aster (c1485 – 1534), whom she survived. Claire inherited the important fief of Gramont in Navarre, which established the fortunes of that famous family. Claire de Gramont died (shortly before Sept 20, 1560).

Gramont, Diane d’Andoins de Louvigny, Comtesse de (‘Corisande’) – (1554 – 1621)
French royal mistress
Diane de Andoins was the daughter of Paul d’Andoins, Vicomte de Louvigny, and his wife Margeurite de Caune. She was married (1567) to Philibert, Comte de Gramont, Guiche and Louvigny, who was killed at the siege of La Fere (1580) and she inherited the vicomte de Louvigny, and the fief of Lescun, in Bearn. Renowned for her beauty, she was referred to by the name ‘Corisande’ when Henry of Navarre fell in love with her (1583).
Until his attachment with Gabrielle d’Estrees in 1590, Corisande played a unique role in the king’s life. Devoted entirely to the king, himself alone, her advice was never disregarded without careful consideration. Some of their letters survive. The king spent fourteen months (1587 – 1588) with Corisande at her chateau at Pau, Navarre, and this period was the apogee of their relationship together. Corisande de Gramont appears as a character in the historical romance Evergreen Gallant (1965) by British novelist Jean Plaidy.

Gramont, Elizabeth Hamilton, Comtesse de – (1641 – 1708)
Anglo-French courtier and beauty
Elizabeth Hamilton was the eldest daughter of Sir George Hamilton (died 1679) and his wife Mary, the daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles. Sister to the Stuart memoirist Anthony Hamilton, she was known as ‘la belle Hamilton.’ Elizabeth was one of the numerous beautiful and intelligent women who surrounded the court of Charles II (1660 – 1685). Elizabeth refused a number of important suitors such as the duke of Richmond, Henry Jermyn, Henry Howard, duke of Norfolk, and Richard Talbot, duke of Tyrconnel, and was married instead (1663) to the French nobleman, Comte Philibert de Gramont (1621 – 1709). The circumstances of her marriage were not as romantic as popularly believed and are said to have furnished Moliere with the idea for his play Le Mariage Force.  From 1664 the comtesse and her husband resided mainly at the French court of Louis XIV. Elizabeth died (Jan 10, 1707) aged eighty-five, and left two daughters,

• Claude Charlotte de Gramont (1665 – 1739). She was married (1694) to an English nobleman, Henry Howard, Earl of Stafford.
• Marie Elisabeth de Gramont. She never married and was appointed Abbess of Sainte Marie de Pouissy in Lorraine.

Gramont, Eugenie de - (1788 - 1846)
French nun
Eugenie de Gramont was born (Sept 17, 1788) at Versailles, the daughter of the Comte de Gramont d' Aster, and the granddaughter of the Comte de Boisgelin. With the outbreak of the Revolution the family emigrated, residing in Germany, Italy and London.
When she returned to France with her widowed mother Eugenie joined the Society of the Sacred Heart (1806), founded by Madeleine Sophie Barat. A decade later she was appointed to head the first school organized by the Society in the Rue de Varenne in Paris. She later served as Mother Superior of the Society at Amiens (1830 - 1846), a position she retained until her death. Eugenie de Gramont died (Nov 19, 1846) aged fifty-eight, in Paris.

Gramont, Francoise Margeurite de Plessis-Chivre, Duchesse de – (1608 – 1689)
French Bourbon
A prominent courtier of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, Francoise de Plessis-Chivre was the daughter of one of the cousins of Cardinal Richelieu. Madamoiselle de Plessis-Chivre was given in marriage by the Cardinal to Antoine III de Gramont (1604 – 1678), then Duch de Guiche, and later the first Duc and Marechal de Gramont, as a means of ensuring his continued support. Guiche had originally been promised the Cardinal’s niece, a closer relative, but Richelieu forced him to take Francoise instead. Guiche was not insulted by this, a marriage alliance was an alliance, whoever the bride was to be, and replied that; ’…. He was marrying His Eminence and not his relations, and that he would take whichever lady it pleased His Eminence to bestow on him.’ The marriage was brilliantly celebrated at the court, and Cardinal Richelieu supplied Francoise with a magnificent dowry. Francoise is mentioned only once in her husband’s Memoires and survived him as the Dowager Duchesse de Gramont (1678 – 1689). The duchesse died (May 2, 1689) aged eighty. She left three children,

• Armand de Gramont (1637 – 1673), Comte de Guiche. He was married to Margeurite Louise de Bethune, but died childless before his father.
• Antoine Charles de Gramont (1638 – 1720). He was Comte de Louvigny before succeeding his father as second Duc de Gramont (1678 – 1720). He was married twice and left descendants.
• Catherine Charlotte de Gramont (1639 – 1678). She became the wife of Louis Grimaldi, Prince de Monaco, and left issue.

Gramont, Margaretha Alexandrine de Rothschild, Duchesse de – (1855 – 1905)
French salonniere
Margaretha de Rothschild was born (Sept 19, 1855) the sixth daughter of Mayer Carl de Rothschild by his wife Louise, the daughter of Nathan Mayer de Rothschild. She was married (1878) to Antoine Alfred Agenor, Duc de Gramont (1851 – 1925), to whom she bore three children. The duchesse de Gramont had brought her husband a large dowry, which enabled the duc to build the impressive Chateau de Valliere at Mortefontaine.
Both the duchesse and her husband were patrons of the writer Marcel Proust, who became a friend of their son Armand de Gramont (1879 – 1962). The duchesse and her sister-in-law Berthe, the Princesse de Wagram, were instrumental in opening the doors of Parisian high society in the Faubourg Saint-Germain to Proust. Her only daughter, Corisande de Gramont, became the wife of Helie, Marquis de Noailles (1871 – 1932). The duchesse died (July 25, 1905) aged forty-nine.

Gramont, Marie Louise Victoire de – (1723 – 1756)
French heiress
Marie Louise Victoire de Gramont was born (July 26, 1723), the only child and heiress of Louis Antoine VI Arnaud, Duc de Gramont, and his wife Louise Francoise d’Aumont. Her father’s heiress, at his death (1741) the ducal title passed to her uncle, Louis de Gramont, and Marie Louise was married to his son, her first cousin, Antoine VII Antonin de Gramont (1722 – 1801) as his first wife. She was the mother of Louis Antoine de Gramont (1743 – 1795), Duc de Lesparre, who was later married to Philippine Louise de Noailles, but died childless. The young duchesse was mentioned in the Memoires of Armand Louis de Gontaut-Biron, Duc de Lauzun. Marie Louise Victoire de Gramont died (Jan 11, 1756) aged thirty-two.

Gramont, Rosalie de Noailles, Duchesse de – (1767 – 1853)
French courtier, émigré, and memoirist
Rosalie de Noailles was born (Aug 1, 1767), the daughter of Louis, Duc d’Ayen and Duc de Noailles, and his first wife, Anne Henriette d’Aguesseau. Rosalie was the younger sister of Adrienne de Noailles, the wife of the famous statesman, the Marquis de Lafayette. Rosalie was married to Joachim Alexandre, Marquis de Gramont, and attended the court of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at Versailles.
With the outbreak of the revoution, Madame de Gramont fled abroad with her children, her husband managing to join them later. During Robespierre’s Terror (1794), Madame de Montagu lost many relatives to the guillotine, including her mother, the Duchesse d’Ayen, her grandmother, the Duchesse de Noailles, former chief lady to Marie Antoinette as Dauphine (1770 – 1774), and her sister Marie, the wife of her cousin, Vicomte Louis de Noailles. Madame de Gramont survived these events for six decades and left memoirs. She died (Feb 16, 1853) aged eighty-five, at Villersexel.

Granard, Georgiana Augusta Berkeley, Countess of – (1749 – 1820)
British Hanoverian courtier and peeress
Lady Georgiana Berkeley was born (Sept 18, 1749) at Cranford, Middlesex, near London, she was the daughter of Augustus, fourth Earl Berkeley, and was the elder sister of Elizabeth Berkeley (1750 – 1828), the famous margravine of Ansbach. The sponsors at her christening were the future King George III and his elder sister the Princess Augusta (Duchess of Brunswick) Lady Georgiana was married firstly (1766) to George Forbes (1740 – 1780), fifth Earl of Granard, as his second wife and became Countess of Granard (1766 – 1780). She survived him four decades as Dowager Countess of Granard (1780 – 1820), and remarried secondly (1781) to a clergyman Samuel Little to whom she bore a son.
Lady Granard attended the court of George III and Queen Charlotte, and was mentioned in the correspondence of the famous antiquarian, Horace Walpole. Queen Charlotte saw her at a court function during her later years (1808) and described her in a letter as ‘well dressed, horribly rouged and quite in style and indeed of an appearance that I feared to ask who she was, … ‘ Alas ! no shame remains.’ Lady Granard died (Jan 24, 1820) aged seventy, at Hotwells, Bristol. Her children were,

• Hon. (Honourable) Henry Forbes (born 1767). He was married but died without issue.
• Lady Anne Georgina Forbes (born 1772). She became the wife of Colonel Archibald McNeil of Colonsay.
• Lady Augusta Forbes (born 1773). She became the wife of Lieutenant-General Sir James Leith.
• Hon. Frederick Forbes (1776 – 1817) He was married and divorced and died without issue.
• Lady Louisa Georgiana Forbes (1779 – 1830). She became the wife of Sir William Pratt Call (1781 – 1851), second baronet.

Granberg, Virginia – (1831 – 1921)
American painter
Granberg was born in Norfolk, Virginia. Virginia was raised in New York City, where she studied art and technique at the Cooper Institute and the National Academy of Design. She later taught art at the Packer Institute in Brooklyn. Incredibly popular as a teacher, eventually the size of her classes expanded so much that she was dorced to resign her position because of overwork. Noted for her fruit paintings such as Basket of Cherries, few of her original works have survived though many have been preserved in lithograph form.

Grand, Madame    see   Talleyrand, Catherine Noel Werlee, Princesse de

Grand, Sarah – (1854 – 1943)
British novelist and feminist
Born Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clarke in Donaghadee in Ireland, to British parents, her father was a naval officer. She was married early (1870) to a military physician, Major David McFall, from whom she seperated over two decades later (1888). She was widowed a decade later (1898). McFall began to devote herself to writing and adopting the pseudonym ‘Sarah Grand,’ under which her books were published.
The best known of her works were The Heavenly Twins (1893), which dealt admirably with problems to do with sexuality, and the semi-autobiographical The Beth Book (1898), which favoured personal independence for women. Grand is given credit for coining the phrase ‘new woman’ to describe the new generation of women who were fighting for rights, higher education, and suffrage for women, which feminist themes are present in her novel, The Winged Victory (1916). She spent the latter part of her life in the city of Bath, and even served a term as Lady Mayoress (1927). Sarah Grand died aged eighty-eight, in Bath, Somerset.

Grande Madamoiselle, La   see   Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise, Duchesse de

Grandi, Margherita – (1894 – 1972)
Australian soprano
Born Margaret Garde (Oct 10, 1892) at Harwood Island, New South Wales, she was trained at the Royal College of Music in London. She made her debut in Paris (1914) in the opera Werther by Jules Massenet. After a stint with the Monte Carlo Opera and further training in Milan, Italy, she was detained by authorities there for the duration of WW I. She later married the Italian set designer, Giovanni Grandi, and made her Italian operatic debut in 1932.
Famous for the power of her voice, and theatricality of her performances, Grandi performed successfully in Europe, and made her British debut in the role of Lady Macbeth (1939). With the end of WW II, Grandi made successful tours of South America and Egypt, but never performed in Australia. Madame Grandi died (Jan 29, 1972) aged seventy-nine, in Milan, Lombardy.

Grandison, Sybilla Tregoz, Lady – (c1272 – 1334)
English Plantagenet heiress
Sybilla Tregoz was the younger daughter and coheiress of Sir John Tregoz, Baron Tregoz of Ewyas Harold, and his first wife Mabel Fitzwarin, the daughter of Sir Fulk Fitzwarin. She was married (c1287) to Sir William Grandison (c1270 – 1335), first Baron Grandison, the brother of Otis Grandison, Archbishop of York. With the death of her father Lord Tregoz it was ordered by Edward I (1300) that the Tregoz lands should be divided between Lady Grandison and her sister Clarice, the wife of Roger de la Warre, they having done homage to the king for these lands.
By mutual consent a petition concerning the knight’s fees of Ewyas Harold constituted a final partition being made (1302). by the terms of this agreement Roger de la Warre received the castle of Ewyas Harold, on the condition of turning over other lands to Lady Sybilla and her husband, who received the manors of Burnham in Somerset, and Eaton in Hereford in recompense for Ewyas Harold. Lady Grandison died (Oct 21, 1334) aged about sixty-two, and was interred within Doye Abbey. Her children were,

• Sir Piers Grandison (c1290 – 1358). He succeeded his father as the second Baron Grandison (1335 – 1358) and was married to Blanche Mortimer, daughter of the infamous Roger Mortimer, Earl of March the lover of Isabella of Valois, the wife of Edward II. He left no issue.
• John Grandison (1292 – 1369). He became Bishop of Exeter and succeeded his brother as the third Baron Grandison (1358 – 1369).
• Sir Otis Grandison (c1297 – 1359). He was married to Beatrice de Molemayns (c1315 – after 1369).
• Mabel Grandison. She was married to Sir John de Pateshulle.
• Sybil Grandison. She was married to Sir Roger de Beauchamp.
• Catharine Grandison (c1306 – 1354). She was married to William de Montacute (1301 – 1344), first Earl of Salisbury and left descendants.

Grandson, Ermentrude de – (c1085 – before 1151)
French medieval heiress and countess
Ermentrude was the daughter of Conan, Seigneur de Grandson (c1055 – c1114) and his wife Adela (c1058 – c1105), the daughter of Hilduin IV de Montdidier, Comte de Roucy (c1010 – c1063). She was sister to Barthelemy de Grandson, Bishop of Laon, and inherited the seigneurie of Joux. Ermentrude was married (c1100) to Henry I, count of Grandpre, Porcean, and Verdun (c1073 – 1151), whom she predeceased. The couple left five children,

• Adelaide de Grandpre (c1102 – after 1150). She was married firstly to Godfrey, count of Durbuy (died 1124), and secondly to Godfrey von Esch (died 1150), seigneur de Sauer, leaving children by both marriages.
• Henry II (c1110 – 1190), count of Grandpre (1151 – 1190). He was married and left descendants.
• Geoffrey I de Grandpre (c1115 – 1184). He became seigneur of Balham and Chateau-Porcean. He was married and left children.
• Robert de Grandpre (c1120 – after 1188). He remained unmarried and entered the church, serving as archdeacon at Chalon, Burgundy.
• Rainald I de Grandpre (died after 1176). He became the Seigneur de Sommepy.

Grandval, Marie Felicie Clemence de, Vicomtesse de – (1830 – 1907)
French composer
Marie Felicie de Grandval was born (Jan 20, 1830) at Saint-Remy-des-Monts in Sarthe. She studied under the noted composers Friedrich Flotow (1812 – 1883) and Camille Saint-Saens (1835 – 1921) and produced operas such as Piccolini, which was first performed at the Opera Comique (1868) and Atala which was first staged in Paris (1888). Grandval was awarded the Prix Rossini for her oratorio La Fille de Jaire, and sometimes published her work under a variety of pseudonyms. Madame de Grandval died (Jan, 1907) in Paris.

Grange, Rachel Chiesley, Lady – (1691 – 1745)
Scottish aristocrat and captive
Rachel Chiesley was the wife of James Erskine, Lord Grange (1679 – 1754), the Lord Chief Justice Clerk of Scotland. She was noted for her contrary temperament, and became accidentally apprised of her husband’s Jacobite activties. When Lady Grange then threatened to expose her husband (1731), he caused her to be forcibly abducted from her house, and kept prisoner on the remote island of North Uist in the remote Hebrides for several years, in order to prevent his arrest by the Hanoverian authorities. He even resorted to the ruse of having her death announced in Edinburgh, and arranging a mock funeral. Three years afterwards she was removed to the islands of St Kilda, and was held on the island of Hirta (1739 – 1742), all communication with the outside world cut off. Lady Grange did manage to smuggle out one letter to her kinsman, the Lord Advocate, who sent a gunboat to search for her, but they returned without having found a trace. She eventually died on the peninsula of Vaternish.

Grania – (fl. c135 – 110 BC)
Roman Republican patrician
Grania was born into a wealthy merchant family from Puteoli in Campania, and was probably related to Quintus Granius. She became the first wife (c135 BC) to the consul Gaius Marius (157 – 86 BC) but their marriage remained childless. Twenty-five years later Marius divorced Grania (110 BC) so that he could make a politically advantageous second marriage with Julia, the daughter of the consul Gaius Julius Caesar.

Grania Honorata – (fl. c80 – c120 AD)
Roman Imperial patrician
Grania Honorata was the sister of P. Granius Paulus, and became the wife of Marcus Lollius Senecio. Grania was attested by a surviving inscription from Tidditanus. Her eldest son Quintus lollius Urbicius (c100 – c160 AD) served as an Imperial legate during the Emperor Hadrian’s Judaean expedition (133 – 135 AD) and later was legate to Britain (140 AD) before being created consul suffect (c150 AD). Her two younger sons Marcus Lollius Honoratus and Lucius Lollius Senecio were both attested from inscriptions from the surviving Lollii tomb at Caldensis.

Granowska, Elzbieta    see    Elisabeth of Pilcza

Grant, Anne Davidson    see    Grant-Allan, Nance

Grant, Anne McVicar – (1755 – 1838)
Scottish poet, essayist and biographer
Anne McVicar was the wife of Grant of Laggan. She published her memoirs entitled Letters from the Mountains: Being the Correspondence of a Lady, Between the Years 1773 and 1808 (1806).

Grant, Bridget – (1914 – 2005)
British literary figure
Born Anne Brigit Domenica in London, she was the daughter of Hon. (Honourable) Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert (1880 – 1923), and his wife Mary Gertrude Vesey, the daughter of the fourth Viscount De Vesci. She was the paternal granddaughter of Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert (1831 – 1890), fourth earl of Carnarvon. Bridget spent part of her youth in Paris and was married (1934) to Captain Allister Edward (Eddie) Grant, the famous steeplechaser, and sometime publisher. She bore him three children at their estate at Nutcombe, in Devon, before his early death (1947). Her younger sister Laura Herbert (born 1916) became the second wife of the novelist Evelyn Waugh (1903 – 1966). Waugh’s relationship with his in-laws was volatile and unpleasant, except with Bridget, whom he genuinely admired. She is generally beleived to be the model for Barbara Sothill, the beautiful billeting officer in his work Put Out More Flags. Bridget remained a widow for nearly sixty years. Bridget Grant died (July 8, 2005) aged ninety-one.

Grant, Elizabeth – (c1745 – c1814)
Scottish lyricist
Elizabeth Grant was born near Aberlour, on the Spey, Banffshire, the daughter of Lieutenant Joseph Grant. She was married (c1763) to her cousin, Captain James Grant of Carron, near Elchies, on the Spey. Widowed in 1790, Elizabeth Grant remarried to Dur Murray, a physician of Bath, Somerset, England. Her portrait survived at Castle Grant (1900). She was remembered for one particularly popular song ‘Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch’ which was referred to by the poet Robert Burns (1793).

Grant, Margaret    see   Franken, Rose

Grant, Nellie – (1885 – 1977)
Anglo-Kenyan farmer, social figure and letter writer
Nellie Grant was the mother of the novelist Elspeth Huxley. Her private correpondence with her daughter (1933 – 1977) was edited and published posthumously by her daughter as Nellie: Letters from Africa (1981).

Grant of Rothiemurchus, Elizabeth – (1797 – 1885)
Scottish diarist and autobiographer
Elizabeth Grant was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of the Whig politician and author, Sir John Peter Grant. When her father’s legal practice failed, the family removed to the estate of The Doune, near Aviemore. With her sisters she wrote stories and articles for magazines to supplement the family’s meagre income. After her brother was arrested for debt (1826), their father fled to India to escape his creditors. There his career improved and he was appointed a judge in Bombay and was Chief Justice in Calcutta. Elizabeth was married (1829) to the Irish landowner, Colonel Henry Smith, of Baltiboys, Wicklow. With her husband’s death three decades later (1867), Elizabeth successfully maintained the family estate. She wrote memoirs which were published under her maiden name, produced especially for her grandchildren. Her personal diaries and reminiscences were published a century later as The Irish Journals of Elizabeth Smith 1840 – 1850 (1980).

Grant-Allan, Nance – (1887 – 1954)
Australian civic leader
Born Anne Davidson Grant (April 27, 1887) in Adelaide, South Australia, she was the daughter of Maxwell Davidson Grant. Nance adopted her mother’s name of Grant-Allan and attended school in Adelaide and Melbourne. She joined the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) (1908 – 1943) and the Girl Guides Association (1911 – 1920), and was a founder member of the South Australia Red Cross Society (1914 – 1943). Grant-Allan also served as secretary to the National Council of Women (1937 – 1954) and was president of the Federal Association of Australian Housewives Association (1945 – 1949). She was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in recognition of her valuable public service. She remained unmarried. Nance Grant-Allan died (April 17, 1954) aged sixty-six.

Granuaile     see    O’Malley, Grace

Granville, Anne – (1712 – 1767)
British Hanoverian courtier
The Hon. (Honourable) Anne Granville was the eldest daughter of George Granville, Baron Lansdowne and his wife Lady Mary Villiers, widow of Thomas Thynne, and daughter of Edward Villiers, first Earl of Jersey. According to the Jacobite peerage her father was the first Duke of Albemarle and Anne was ‘Lady Anne Granville’ but these titles were not recognized at the English court. Anne remained unmarried and served at the court as Woman of the Bedchamber to the Duchess of Cumberland, sister-in-law to George III. Her youngest sister Elizabeth Granville also served at the Hanoverian court as maid-of-honour to the Princess Augusta of Wales, mother of George III. Anne Granville died (Oct 18, 1767).

Granville, Castalia Rosalind Campbell, Countess of – (1847 – 1938)
British society figure and memoirist
Castalia Campbell was the daughter of Walter Campbell of Islay, Scotland. She became the second wife (1865) of Granville George Leverson-Gower (1815 – 1891), second Earl of Granville (1846 – 1891), and was the mother of Granville George Leverson-Gower (1872 – 1939), third Earl of Granville, an important diplomat, who had served as lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. Lady Granville edited Lord Granville Leveson Gower : Private Correspondence 1781 - 1821 (1916) in two volumes.

Granville, Christine – (1915 – 1952)
Polish-Anglo spy
Born Countess Krystyna Skarbek, she was the daughter of Count Jerzy Skarbek, and his Jewish wife, Stephanie Goldfeder. During WW II she served the British as a secret agent in Poland, Hungary, and France, adopting a British name. The British government rewarded her work with the George Medal and the OBE (Order of the British Empire). She was also a heroine of the French Resistance movement and the government there had awarded her the Croix de Guerre with silver star. Christine Granville was murdered in London (June 15, 1952) by a kitchen porter, a former lover, and was interred in St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Harrow Road, London.

Granville, Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish, Countess of – (1785 – 1862)
British society figure, political figure and letter writer
Lady Harriet Cavendish was the younger daughter of William Cavendish (1748 – 1811), fifth Duke of Devonshire, and his famous first wife Georgiana Spencer, and was niece to Lady Harriet Bessborough, and first cousin to Caroline Lamb, the mistress of Lord Byron. Known during her youth as ‘Harry O,’ she was married (1809) to Granville Leveson-Gower (1773 – 1846), who was created Viscount Granville (1815). When he was raised as first Earl of Granville (1833) Harriet became Countess of Granville (1833 – 1846). With his death she became the Dowager Countess of Granville (1846 – 1862).
Her childhood letters for the period (1796 – 1809) were published by her grandson as Hary-O : The Letters of Lady Harriet Cavendish (1940), whilst her private correspondence dealing with the period of her life after her marriage and at the court, was published posthumously by her son, Lord Frederick Leveson-Gower as The Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville, 1810 – 1845 (1894).
Her children included Susan Georgiana Leveson-Gower, Lady Rivers (1810 – 1866), Lady Georgiana Charlotte Fullerton (1812 – 1885), the noted writer, and Granville George Leveson-Gower (1815 – 1891), who succeeded his father as second Earl of Granville (1846 – 1891) and left descendants. The Countess died (Nov 25, 1862) aged seventy-seven.

Granville, Rose Constance Bowes-Lyons, Countess of – (1890 – 1967)
Scottish aristocrat and courtier
Lady Rose Bowes-Lyons was born (May 6, 1890), the third daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyons (1855 – 1944), the fourteenth Earl of Strathmore, and his wife Nina Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck, the daughter of Charles William Cavendish-Bentinck (1817 – 1865). She was married (1916) to William Spencer Leveson-Gower (1880 – 1953), who succeeded as fourth Earl of Granville (1939 – 1953). They had two children.
Lady Granville served at court as lady-in-waiting to her younger sister Queen Elizabeth, the wife of George VI (1936 – 1952) and was appointed DCVO (Dame Commander of the Victorian Order) by the king (1945), in recognition of her loyal service. She was the maternal aunt of Queen Elizabeth II, who then appointed her aunt as GCVO (Grand Commander of the Victorian Order) (1953) in recognition of her service at court to her widowed mother. Lady Granville was also appointed as a Freeman of Belfast and Larne. During her later years the countess retired to live in Scotland. Lady Granville died at Pearsie, near Kirriemuir in Angus.

Granville, Sophia Fermor, Countess of – (1721 – 1745)
British Hanoverian peeress
Lady Sophia Fermor was born (May 29, 1721) in London, and was baptized (June 3) at the Church of St Martins-in-the-Fields, the daughter of Thomas Fermor, the first Earl of Pomfret and his wife Henrietta Louisa Jeffreys, and was great-niece to Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, the mistress of Charles II. She became the second wife (1744) of John Carteret (1690 – 1763), second Earl of Granville, thirty years her senior, and became the Countess of Granville (1744 – 1745). Lady Granville was a famous society beauty and it had been generally expected to marry Lord Lincoln, as a popular epigram revealed,

Her beauty, like the Scripture Feast
To which the invited never came
Deprived of its intended guest,
Was given to the old and lame.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu described Lady Sophia as having ‘few equals in beauty and graces.’ Lady Granville died (Oct 7, 1745) of a fever, aged only twenty-four, a few weeks after giving birth to her only child, and was interred within Westminster Abbey, London. Her only child Lady Sophia Granville (1745 – 1771) became the first wife of William Petty (1737 – 1805), second Earl of Selburne (later first Marquess of Lansdowne).

Grassi, Angela – (1826 – 1883)
Italian novelist and poet
Grassi was born (Aug 2, 1826) in Crema, but was raised in Barcelona, Spain from early childhood (1831). She co-wrote El Pensamiento (Thought) with Carolina Coronado, and later removed to Madrid (1850) where she eventually became the director (1867 – 1883) of the popular magazine El Carrero de la Moda (The Fashion Mail). Grassi was best known for her novel Las riquezas del alma (The Soul’s Riches) (1866) for which she was awarded a prize by the Royal Academy. Angela Grassi died (Sept 17, 1883) aged fifty-seven, in Madrid.

Grasso, Ella Tambussi – (1919 – 1981)
American politician
Ella Tambussi was born at Windsor Locks, near Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Italian immigrants. She attended the Chaffee School, and then graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts (1940), where she majored in sociology and economics. She was married (1942) to a schoolteacher, Thomas Grasso to whom she bore several children. Mrs Grasso was employed firstly as the assistant State Director of Research for the Federal War Manpower Commission in Connecticut (1943 – 1946). She entered politics as a Democratic candidate and won a seat in the legislature (1952) before becoming Secretary of State (1958 – 1970). During this time she became actively involved with the Democratic National Committee, and collaborated on the report which opoosed American policy in the Vietnam War (1968). Mrs Grasso ran for Congress (1970) and was elected a member of the US House of Representatives (1971 – 1974). She was successfully elected as governor of Connecticut (1974), though her equally successful measures and reforms intriduced to relieve the enormous state debt proved unpopular. However, during the famous blizzard of 1978, her organized emergency relief measures restored her to public favour, and Grasso was relected as governor the same year, becoming the first female governor to be elected in her own right, rather than as the successor of a husband. She resigned upon receiving news of the cancer that would cause her early death.

Grata, Valentinia – (374 – after 392 AD)
Roman Imperial princess
Valentinia Grata was the third and youngest daughter of the Emperor Valentinian I and his second wife Aviana Justina, the widow of the Emperor Magnentius. She was the full sister of Aelia Galla, the second wife of Emperor Theodosius I (379 – 395 AD) and of the Emperor Valentinian II (375 – 392 AD). With the death of her father (375 AD) Grata and her two sisters were taken by their widowed mother to the Imperial court in Constantinople, where she presented them to Theodosius for his protection. After his marriage with her sister Galla (387 AD) Grata and her sister Justa returned to the court of Rome by ship accompanied by their mother.
With the death of Empress Justina (388 AD) the two princesses appear to have joined the household of their brother Valentinian II in Milan. Both sisters survived the youthful emperor’s death.
No other reliable details have survived save that both apparently died as virgins without marrying, perhaps prior to 400 AD when her maternal niece the future Emperor Galla Placidia was sent to be educated in the household of the Empress Laeta, the widow of Gratian in Rome. Later genealogies which purport that this princess was married to the barbarian king Theodoric (died 414 AD) by whom she left descendants are spurious.

Grathwol, Marie von – (1837 – 1901)
German courtier and royal wife
Marie von Grathwol was born (Feb 1, 1837) at Weikersheim, in Hohenlohe, the daughter of a grocer. Marie was married morgantically in Paris (1861) to Prince Karl von Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1829 – 1907), the nephew of Queen Victoria, who had first formed a romantic attachment to Marie in 1859. Though she was not considered to be a beauty, the prince had insisted upon marrying Marie, and finally formally gave up his hereditary rights in favour of his brother, Prince Hermann, in order to do so. In return Karl received a generous financial stipend. After the birth of her son (1862) Marie was created Madame von Bronn by the King of Wurttemburg, the title being taken from the name of a local village in Weikersheim. From 1879 Marie and Karl left Weikersheim, and removed to the Villa Berchtold, in Salzburg, Austria, where they established their small court. A decade afterwards Marie was created Baroness von Bronn (1890) by the Emperor Franz Joseph. Her three children were legitimate and bore their father’s titles, her eldest, Karl of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1861 – 1925), becoming the first Prince von Hohenlohe-Weikersheim (1911). Marie von Grathwol died (May 19, 1901) aged sixty-four, at Salzburg, Austria.

Gratidia – (c100 – c68 BC)
Roman Republican patrician
Gratidia was the sister of Marcus Marius Gratidianus, tribune of the plebs (c87 BC). The Histories of Sallust suggests that Gratidia was the first wife of the famous conspirator Lucius Sergius Catilinus (c108 – 62 BC) who then caused her and their young son to be murdered so that he could marry the beautiful and dissolute Aurelia Orestilla.

Grattia Hilara – (fl. c20 – c30 AD) 
Roman midwife (opstetrix)
Grattia Hilara was a slave and is attested by a surviving inscription. This reveals that she was manumitted by her former female owner, and established her own private practice on the patrician Esquiline Hill region of Rome.

Gratz, Rebecca – (1781 – 1869)
Jewish-American founder
Rebecca Gratz was a noted philanthropist who established the first Hebrew Sunday school in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania (1838). She was the model for the character of Rebecca in Sir Walter Scott’s famous novel Ivanhoe (1820), and the author of the Letters of Rebecca Gratz (1829). Her private correspondence with family members over a period of almost sixty years (1808 – 1866) were edited and published posthumously by David Philipson as The Letters of Rebecca Gratz (1929).

Graver, Kjersti – (1945 – 2009)
Norwegian jurist
Graver was born (Oct 8, 1945) in Oslo. She trained as a jurist and lawyer and served as the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman (1987 – 1995) and was then appointed as the presiding judge in the Borgarting Court of Appeal. She was a member of the board of Amnesty International Norway. Kjersti Graver died (Feb 14, 2009) aged sixty-three.

Graves, Beryl – (1915 – 2003)
British literary muse and editor
Born Beryl Pritchard, she attended Queen’s College in London. She became the second wife (1950) of the scholar and author, Robert Graves (1894 – 1985) to whom she bore four children. Beryl Graves edited her husband’s three volume work Collected Poems (1939).

Graves, Clotilde Mary – (1863 – 1932)
Irish novelist, historian and folk-lorist
Clotilde Graves was born in County Cork. She was the author of such works as Under the Hermes (1917), The Eve of Pascua (1920) and the humorous ghostly tale A Spirit Elopement (1915). These were published under the pseudonym ‘Richard Dehan,’ and achieved the author international popularity. She travelled extensively, and wrote on a great variety of subjects, and studied Eskimo folklore.

Graves, Ida Affleck - (1902 - 1999)
British poet and writer
Ida Graves was born in India, the daughter of an army physician. She attended a Quaker school in England and then studied at the University College in London. By her first marriage with Herbert Marks, she had two children. Her second marriage (1995) was with the jazz musician Don Nevard.
Graves first volume of poetry was The China Cupboard (1929) and her second was The Calf Bearer (1999). Her lengthy poem Epithalamium was awarded a prize by the Venice Biennale (1937), and much of her later verse was published in the Rialto literary magazine. Miss Graves also painted scenery for the Covent Garden Theatre, and she was friendly with such literary and artistic figures as Jacob Epstein and the novelist Stella Gibbons, author of Cold Comfort Farm (1932). Ida Graves died aged ninety-seven, in Essex.

Gray, Edith Rudinger - (1925 - 1998)
British editor
Edith Rudinger was born (March 2, 1925) in Vienna, Austria, of Czech parentage. She was brought to England as a child refugee (1939), and during WW II she worked with the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force). She studied philosophy at the University of St Andrews and was married (1954) to the Labour MP Hugh Gray.
Mrs Gray worked with displaced refugees intil 1957 when she became the secretary of the Consumer's Association and supported the Consumer Publications company. She produced such works as The Law for Consumers, The Legal Side of Buying a House and What to do When Someone Dies, amongst others. She later studied law at the Polytechnic in London and also studied criminology. Edith Gray died (Feb 28, 1998) aged seventy-two.

Gray, Effie Chalmers     see    Millais, Euphemia Chalmers Gray, Lady

Gray, Eileen – (1878 – 1976)
Irish architect, furniture designer and interior decorator
Born Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray in Brownswood, near Enniscorthy, in County Wexford, she studied art and design at the Slade School of Art in London (1898 – 1902), and at the Adacemie Colarossi in Paris. Gray studied under, and brilliantly mastered, the technique of the Japanese lacquerist Sugawa, who she served as an apprentice in Paris. Eileen Gray designed furniture, carpet, wall-hangings, and lamps, and achieved fame with her exquisite lacquer screens. She established her own establishment, the Galerie Jean Desert in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore.
A self-taught architect, she worked with the modernist designer, Jean Badovici, and designed two of her houses in France. Examples of her work were exhibited with Le Corbusier at the Paris 1937 Exhibition. Despite her fame, Gray became somewhat reclusive during her later years, though her work underwent a popular ‘revival’ of popularity during the 1960’s. She was appointed as Royal Designer for Industry, Royal Society of the Arts (1972) and Fellow of the Royal Institute of Irish Architects (1973). Her work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (1976). Eileen Gray died in Paris soon afterwards.

Gray, Elizabeth    see    Vining, Elizabeth

Gray, Ethel – (1887 – 1962)
Australian nurse
Gray was born in Melbourne, Victoria. She served as matron in a military hospital in France during WW I and worked with the Red Cross. She was later appointed as superintendent of the Epworth Hospital in Melbourne (1920 – 1939). Ethel Gray died (July 22, 1962) in Melbourne.

Gray, Kathie    see   Eggleston, Margaret

Gray, Maria Emma – (1787 – 1876)
British conchologist and algologist
Born Maria Smith at Greenwhich Hospital, she was the daughter of a naval officer. She was married firstly to Edward Gray, who died (1814) leaving her with two young daughters, and secondly (1826) to John Edward Gray, a youthful cousin of her first. Much interested in natural history, her husband was appointed as Keeper of the Zoological Department (1840) at the British Museum. The couple amassed their own considerable collection, gathered during their various world travels, her own particular field of expertise being molluscous animals and algae. She arranged and mounted the Cuming collection of shells at the British Museum, whilst her thousands of etchings of marine animals were published privately as Figures of Molluscous Animals (1857 – 1874) in five volumes. Maria Gray’s knowledge in the field of seaweeds was such that Sir William Hooker appointed her to arrange the collection of British algae at Kew, London. Her husband named the newly discovered genus of algae from New Mexico Grayemma in her honour. She bequeathed her own collection and that of her husband to the University of Cambridge.

Gray, Mildred Richards Stone – (1800 – 1851)
American traveller and diarist
Mildred Stone was the wife of Colonel William Fairfax Grant. She left a written account of a journey made by her husband overland to Texas (1835), to which she added an account of the entire family’s journey by ship to that state (1838). This memoir was published posthumously as The Diary of Millie Gray, 1832 – 1840 (1967).

Gray, Oriel Holland – (1920 – 2003)
Australian dramatist and novelist
In her youth she was a member of the Communist Party in Australia, after which she became closely involved with the Sydney New Theatre, together with such noted literary figures as Betty Roland, Dymphna Cusack, and Mona Brand. Gray wrote plays for the radio, where she assisted with the development of programs for children with the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) during the 1950’s. She also wrote for theatre and television, her works dealing the themes of Aborigines and various aspects of bush life. She published her autobiography Exit Left: Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman (1985 and the novel, The Animal Shop (1990). Oriel Gray died aged eighty-three, at Heidelberg, Victoria.

Gray, Sylvia Mary – (1909 – 1991)
British civic leader and chairman
Sylvia Gray was born (July 10, 1909), the daughter of Henry Bunting Gray, and was educated at Wroxall Abbey. She never married and served on various local council committees, being a member and then vice-chairman (1950 – 1954) of the Witney RDC (Rural District Council). Gray later served as chairman of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (1969 – 1974) and vice-chairman of the National Trust (1971 – 1981). In recognition of her life of public service Gray was created MBE (Member of the British Empire) (1952) and later CBE (Commander of the British Empire) (1975) by Queen Elizabeth II.

Gray, Virginia Davis – (1834 – after 1865)
American Civil War diarist
Virginia Davis was the wife of Oliver Gray, who joined the Confederate Army (1861). Until his subsequent return Virginia kept herself occupied in Princeton, Virginia, by sewing for the war effort with other ladies, and volunteering to work as a nurse. Virginia kept a diary of her experiences which was later edited and published as Life in Confederate Arkansas:The Diary of Virginia Davis Gray, 1863 – 1865) (1983).

Grayson, Kathryn - (1922 - 2010)
American film actress and coloratura soprano
Born Zelma Kathryn Elizabeth Hedrick (Feb 9, 1922) at Winston-Salem in North Carolina, and had singing instruction in St Louis, Missouri. Brunette, vivacious and beautiful she intended for a career as an opera singer and worked as a singer in radio for Eddie Cantor. Adopting the professional name of Kathryn Grayson, she made her film debut in Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941) with Mickey Rooney.
Miss Grayson starred in many of the lavish musicals of the 1940's and 1950's such as Seven Sweethearts (1942), Anchors Aweigh (1945) with Gene Kelly and Franks Sinatra, Ziegfeld Follies (1946), The Toast of New Orleans (1950) with Mario Lanza, Show Boat (1951), in the role of Magnolia, The Desert Song (1952) and Kiss Me Kate (1953). She portrayed opera star Grace Moore in This Is Love (1953) and her last film was The Vagabond King (1956).
During the latter part of her career Grayson worked on stage and performed in operas such as Madame Butterfly, La Traviata and La Boheme. She also worked in television hosting An Evening with Kathryn Grayson, and appeared in several episodes of the popular television series Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury. Miss Grayson was twice married and divorce, and had brief engagement with millionaire Howard Hughes during the height of her film career. Kathryn Grayson died (Feb 17, 2010) aged eighty-eight, in Los Angeles, California.

Grazie, Marie Eugenie delle – (1864 – 1931)
German novelist, poet, dramatist and essayist
Grazie was born (Aug 14, 1864) in Weisskirchen, Hungary, the daughter of a local coal mine manager. Marie Eugenie attended school and college in Vienna, Austria, where she was mentored by the chaplain and academic, Laurenz Mullner (1848 – 1911). Grazie published several collections of verse Gedichte (Poems) (1882) and Italienische Vignetten (Italian Vignettes) (1892). She also wrote the epic poems Hermann (1883), which dealt with Germany’s anti-Roman history, and Robespierre.Ein modernes Epos (Robespierre.A Modern Epic) (1894). Grazie published the novels Unsichtbare Strasse (The Invisible Road) (1927) and Die Lieber des Peter Abalard (The Love of Peter Abelard) (1921). Marie Eugenie delle Grazie died (Feb 18, 1931) aged sixty-six, in Vienna.

Greathed, Elise Frances – (1825 – 1919)
British editor
Elise Turner was the daughter of Thomas Turner, BCS (British Civil Service), and was married to Harvey Harris Greathed, the British Commissioner of Meerut, India. Mrs Greathed was at Meerut when the Mutiny broke out there (May, 1857). They were led to safety by their Indian servants, but Mr Greathed later died during the siege of Lucknow, several months later. Mrs Greathed later published and edited her first husband’s letters to her in 1858 entitled Letters Written during the Siege of Delhi.
With the death of her second husband Charles Joachim, Lord Hambro (1877) she became embroiled with her stepchildren over money due to her as personal income. Legal action had to be resorted to, in order that her rights should be protected, but the family estates suffered financially because of her long and protracted widowhood, which lasted over forty years. Lady Hambro died aged ninety-four.

Greaves, Lilian – (1869 – 1956)
Australian poet
Born Lilian Wooster in Melbourne, Victoria, she was married in Ballarat (1893) to William John Greaves. Lilian Greaves and her husband sailed to Western Australia aboard the Orizaba(1904) and then resided at Cottesloe, near Mundaring in the Wongan Hills, before finally settling at Leederville (1916). Greaves wrote verse which was published in various newspapers such as the Ballarat Courier and the Christian Herald. She was best known for the published works Wongan Way and Our Wonderful Wildflowers. Lilian Greaves died (Jan 28, 1956) aged eighty-six, in Perth, Western Australia.

Grebill, Agnes – (c1450 – 1511)
English Lollard heretic
Agnes was the wife of John Grebill, of Benenden, near Tenterden, Kent. Agnes was originally converted to Lollardy prior to 1483, but in 1511 she was arrested during Archbishop John Warham’s campaign against the Lollard heresy. Agnes remained obdurate and was eventually burnt at the stake as a heretic (May, 1511) having been convicted largely on the evidence of her husband and sons.

Green, Alice Sophia Amelia – (1847 – 1929)
Irish historian, politician and radical
Alice Stopford was born at Kells, County Meath, the daughter of R.E. Stopford, archdeacon of Meath. Educated at home, she taught herself Greek, but with her father’s death (1874) she moved to England with her family, where she married (1877) the historian, John Richard Green (1837 – 1883). With her husband’s death, she completed his unfinished Conquest of England and began her own career as an historical writer, producing the biography Henry II (1888) and Town Life in the Fifteenth Century (1894). A friend to such influential figures as Florence Nightingale, Mary Kingsley, and the young Winston Churchill, Mrs Green became an avid supporter of Home Rule for her native Ireland, and her study of the history of Ireland prior to the Tudor conquest led to the publishing of The Making of Ireland and Its Undoing, 1200 – 1600 (1908). Alice Stopford Green was a friend of the famous nationalist Sir Roger Casement who was executed by the British (1916), and then retired to Ireland (1917), where she was nominated as a senator (1922).

Green, Anna Katherine – (1846 – 1935)
American crime novelist
Anna Green was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a criminal lawyer, and attended college in Poultney, Vermont. She was married to Charles Rohlfs, a furniture designer and manufacturer, of Buffalo, New York, to whom she bore three children. Her first best-selling novel The Leavenworth Case (1878), which featured the detective Ebenezer Gryce, and his assistant, Amelia Butterworth, was the first example of crime fiction to be penned by a woman, and was reprinted five decades later (1934). It was adapted for the stage and twice made into a film (1923) and (1936). Other works included The Doctor, His Wife, and the Clock (1895). Despite their contemporary popularity, her works are now mainly forgotten.

Green, Constance McLaughlin – (1897 – 1975)
American historian, educator and author
Constance McLaughlin was born (Aug 21, 1897) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the daughter of Andrew Cunningham McLaughlin, university historian and lecturer and Pulitzer Prize winning author (1936). She was attended school in Munich, Bavaria, and then attendded the University of Chicago at home. Constance was married (1921) to Donald Ross Green, a textile manufacturer, after which she studied history at the Mount Holyoke College. Green served as a military historian in Washington after WW II (1948 – 1954) with the Army Ordnance Department at the Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, and was a consulting historian for the American National Red Cross.
Green published Holyoke, Massachusetts: A Case History of the Industrial Revolution in America (1939), whilst some of her lectures were published as American Cities in the Growth of the Nation (1957). She was best known for Washington: Village and Capital, 1800 – 1878 (1962), which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history (1963), and was followed by Washington, Capital City, 1879 – 1950 (1963). Green was the author of The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation’s Capital (1967). Constance Green died (Dec 5, 1975) aged seventy-eight, in Annapolis, Maryland.

Green, Dorothy    see    Auchterlonie, Dorothy

Green, Edith Louise – (1910 – 1987)
American politician, senator and Democratic Congresswoman
Born Edith Starrett (Jan 17, 1910) in Trent, South Dakota, attended Willamette University in Oregon, where she trained as a schoolteacher. She was married (1929) to Arthur Green, a schoolteacher.
Edith Green ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for the secretary of State for Oregon, but then elected in 1954, as representative for Oregon, and served seven terms. She was a promoter of educational and equal rights and proposed the Equal Pay Act (1955) which later became law (1963), and supported legislation aimed at preventing sex discrimiation in federally funded institutions. Though others wished to see her elected to the US Senate, Green herself refused to consider exchanging her senior position in state politics for a junior one at the Federal level.
Green resigned from politics (1974) and was later appointed to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education (1979). Edith Green died (April 21, 1987) aged seventy-seven, in Portland, Oregon.

Green, Eliza – (1803 – 1866)
British poet and writer
Born Eliza Craven in Leeds, Yorkshire, she was raised on the Isle of Man. Her married name was Green and she later received a financial stipend from Queen Victoria. As well as writing articles for various publications such as Oddfellows magazine, the Leeds Intelligencer and Chambers’s Journal, her published works included A Legend of Mona, a Tale (1825) and Sea Weeds and Heath Flowers, or Memories of Mona (1858). Eliza Green died (March 11, 1866) aged sixty-two, in Leeds.

Green, Frances – (1841 – 1912)
Australian telegraphist
Green was born in England, the daughter of John Green, and came to Victoria in Australia with her family as a young girl (1854). Frances Green was the first Victorian woman to train and qualify as a telegraphic operator, and was employed by the Defence Commission to run the telegraphic lookout station at Point Lonsdale. She became the first Victorian woman to be appointed to the civil service (1869) and remained unmarried. Frances Green died (March 2, 1912) aged seventy, in Melbourne.

Green, Hetty Howland Robinson – (1835 – 1916) 
American financier, millionaire and eccentric
Born Henrietta Howland Robinson (Nov 21, 1835) in New Bedford, Massachusetts, into a Quaker family, she was the daughter of Edward Mott Robinson, a whaler and merchant. She was educated at Cape Cod and in Boston, and later travelled with her father to New York, after the death of her mother. With her father’s death (1865), Hetty inherited his wealth. Hetty Robinson was married (1867) to Edward Green, a silk merchant, who traded in the Philippines. With the birth of their eldest child they signed a document which ensured each other’s financial independence.
Mrs Green established herself as a financier on Wall Street and played the Stock Exchange with great success. She survived the crash of 1907 by extremely shrewd investments had turned her ten million dollar inheritance into 100 million. Because of her sex, meanness, and her unscrupulous methods she was popularly known as ‘the witch of Wall Street.’ She was said to have lived in poverty in Hoboken, and conducted her business form an old suitcase. Her insistence on her son being treated at a free clinic rather than pay for a physician is said to have resulted in the young man’s leg being amputated. Hetty Robinson Green died (July 2, 1916) a recluse, aged eighty, at Bellows Falls in Vermont.

Green, Justiniana – (1667 – 1717)
English Catholic nun
Justiniana Green was the only child of Sir Edward Green, of Sampford, Essex, by his fourth wife Catharine, the daughter of Thomas Pegge, of Yeldersley, Derby. She was the half-sister to Charles Fitzcharles, Earl of Plymouth, and Lady Catharine Fitzroy, the illegitimate children of her mother by an earlier liasion with King Charles II. Justiniana was never married and went to France where she became a nun at Pontoise, where she died.

Green, Lenamay – (1868 - 1952)
American travel diarist
Lenamay Green was born (July 9, 1868) a native of Nashville, Tennessee, and at the age of eighteen she travelled extensively through Europe, northern Africa, and Palestine. Upon her return to the USA she published her journal as A Girl’s Journey Through Europe, Egypt and The Holy Land (1889). Lenamay Green died (Jan 21, 1952).

Green, Mary Anne Everett – (1818 – 1895)
British historian, scholar, biographer and author
Born Mary Anne Everett Wood (July 19, 1818), at Sheffield in Yorkshire, she was the daughter of Robert Wood, a Methodist clergyman, and was educated at home, with a particular emphasis on history and languages. Mary Anne later pursued her own studies in the reading room of the British Museum from 1841 after her family moved to London. She was married (1845) to the painter, George Pycock Green (1811 – 1893). Her first work Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, was published under her maiden name. She delayed the publication of her second major work the Lives of the Princesses of England: from the Norman Conquest (1849) because of the publication of Agnes Strickland’s Lives of the Queens of England (1840 – 1848).
Mrs Green was officially appointed to prepare the Calendars of State Papers for publication at the Public Record Office, and edited over forty volumes over a period of four decades such as Calendar of State Papers, domestic series, of the reign of James I (1857 – 1859) in four volumes and Calendar of State Papers, domestic series, of the reign of Elizabeth (1872). She edited and published the Letters of Queen Henrietta Maria (1857), whilst her last work Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (1909), written in conjunction with Sir Adolphus Ward and her niece, Sophia Crawford Lomas, was published posthumously. Mary Anne Everett Green died (Nov 1, 1895) aged seventy-seven, in London.

Green, Mrs Stopford     see    Green, Alice Sophia Amelia

Greenaway, Kate – (1846 – 1901)
British author and children’s illustrator
Born Catherine Greenaway in Hoxton, London, she was the daughter of a wood engraver. She began publishing beautiful stories of children’s daily lives, which proved to be immensely popular with the Victorian public, and published her first collection of verse entitled Under the Window (1879). Other works quickly followed on the success of the first Kate Greenaway’s Birthday Book (1880), Mother Goose (1881) and Marigold Garden (1885), amongst others. She produced the illustrations for Robert Browning’s work The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1889). Greenway also produced water colour paintings which were exhibited at the Fine Art Society. The annual award for the best British children’s illustrator was named the Greenaway Medal in her memory.

Greene, Abigail – (1872 – 1935)
Australian stage actress and writer
Born Abigail Marshall in Melbourne, Victoria, she trained as a pianist and vocalist, and tried her hand at the theatre, performing with George Rignold in Shakespeare’s Heny V. She was married in Melbourne to John H. Greene, after which they travelled to the USA, where she toured in the states with considerable success. The Player’s Club of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded Abigail Greene a prize for her performance in the play The Accomplice. With her husband’s death (1932) Abigail returned to Melbourne. Her children’s play Black Thursday was published in the Centenary Gift Book (1934). Abigail Greene died (Feb 15, 1935) aged sixty-two, in Melbourne.

Greene, Cordelia – (1831 – 1905)
American physician
Cordelia Greene was trained at home initially by her doctor father, whom she actively assisted to run his own practice. Cordelia later obtained her own medical degree from the Western Reserve University (1855). She returned to practice medicine with her father, and the two organized and administered a sanitarium in New York, which Cordelia eventually renamed the Castle Sanitarium. Using a holistic, dietary approach to treating women, this was combined with water treatments and religious observances. Active in the cause of female suffrage, Cordelia became a friend and supporter of Susan B. Anthony. Though remaining unmarried herself, Cordelia adopted, and successfully raised, six children of her own. The Cordelia Greene Library (1897), named in her honour, was financed by her.

Greene, Ettie Mae – (1877 – 1992) 
American centenarian
Ettie was born in Wayside, West Virginia (Sept 8, 1877). Having been a seamstress and farmer, she bore nine children, and survived her husband by seventy-two years. Ettie Mae Greene died at Lindside, North Virginia (Feb 26, 1992), aged one hundred and fourteen years, leaving thirty-seven great-great grandchildren.

Greene, Louisa Dickinson – (1830 – 1881)
American student and letter writer
Louisa Dickinson attended Mt Holyoke College and later married John Morton Greene. Her private letters to her husband were published posthumously by their daughter, Helen French Greene, as Foreshadowings of Smith College: Selections from the Letters of Louisa Dickinson to John Morton Greene, 1856 – 1857 (1928).

Greene, Vivien – (1905 – 2003)
British poet and literary figure
Born Vivien Dayrell-Browning, her mother caused a collection of her childhood poems to be published as The Little Wings (1919). Vivien became the wife (1925) of the novelist Graham Greene (1904 – 1991), who converted to Roman Catholicism in order to marry her. They had two children, but the couple seperated over two decades later (1948). Greene dedicated to her his work The End of the Affair (1951). Her other published works included English Doll’s Houses of the 18th and 19th Centuries (1955) and The Vivien Greene Doll’s House Collection (1995).

Greenfield, Meg – (1930 – 1999)
American editorial writer
Greenfield was born (Dec 27, 1930) in Seattle, Washington. She attended a local secondary school before entering Smith College. She obtained a scholarship which enabled her to travel to Britain and study at Cambridge University. Greenfield had a long and prestigious career writing for the Washington Post and Newsweek, and was a close friend of the Post publisher Katharine Graham. She received the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing (1978). She remained unmarried. Meg Greenfield died (May 13, 1999), at Bainbridge Island, Washington State, aged sixty-eight.

Greenhow, Rose O’Neal – (1817 – 1864)
American Confederate spy
Rose O’Neal was born in Port Tobacco, Maryland. She was married to the noted physician and historian, Robert Greenhow, and resided with her husband and children in Washington D.C. during the Civil War (1861 – 1865). As a prominent society hostess, Mrs Greenhow is said to have received military intelligence regarding the movement of Union troops which she passed on to the Confederates. This led to her being placed under house arrest (1861) and then exiled to the south (1862). She later ran the military blockade in order to travel to Europe to represent the Confederate cause. On the return journey, her ship was sunk off the North Carolina coast during a storm. She was the author of the volume of personal recollections entitled My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington (1863).

Greenleaf, Mary Coombs – (1800 – 1857)
American missionary and letter writer
Mary Greenleaf ministered Christianity to the Chickasaw Indians. She remained unmarried, and kept a personal diary for almost forty years (1819 – 1857), in which she recorded her various experiences in the field. These and her personal correspondence were later used to produce the posthumous memoir Life and Letters of Miss Mary C. Greenleaf (1858) which was published by the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society.

Greenway, Rose Anne – (c1790 – 1857)
Anglo-Indian captive and victim
Mrs Greenway was the matriarch of the important Greenway family, merchants in Kanpur (Cawnpore) which included her three sons Samuel, Edward and Thomas Greenway, and owners of the Central Star newspaper. With the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, Sir Hugh Wheeler ordered the British residents of Kanpur to remove to his entrenchment for protection from the forces of Nana Sahib. Samuel and Thomas Greenway complied and removed there with their respective families. However Edward Greenway did not view the entrenchement as safe enough, and fled into hiding sixteen miles east of Kanpur in the family’s indigo factory, taking his mother Rose and his wife and children with them.
The Indian rebels surrounded the factory and the family retreated to the roof. They managed to repel the initial assault but were forced to surrender to the mob. Rose Greenway managed to save their lives only by the promise of a large ransom, though her earrings were ripped out by the crowd, and the family suffered from heat and deprivation. Nana Sahib promised the group safe passage to Allahabad for the price of two hundred thousand rupees which the family paid, but the troopers were not satisfied. The family was then imprisoned within the Savada House till Rose Greenway could arrange for money from their bank in Calcutta. Mrs Greenway was used by the Nana Sahib as an intermediary with the British being sent to Wheeler’s entrenchment with a letter offering safe passage to Allahabad for all the British in return for the surrender of the garrison (June 24, 1857). This led to the savage massacre of the British men, women and children at the Sati Chowra Gat (June 27). After the surviving women and children were imprisoned within the ill-fated Bibigarh, Mrs Greenway and her family, and other prisoners of he Nana Sahib were removed from the Savada House and sent there as well and slaughtered with the others (July 15, 1857) their bodies buried in a well.

Greenwell, Dora – (1821 – 1882)
British theological writer and poet
Greenwell was born at Lanchester in Durham, and was privately educated at home under the supervision of a governess. Her published works included Stories That Might Be True and Other Poems (1850), A Present of Heaven (1855), the collection of hymns entitled Songs of Salvation (1873) and Camera Obscura (1876).

Greenwich, Mary Duncombe, Countess of    see   Duncombe, Mary

Greenwood, Charlotte – (1890 – 1978)  
American actress and comic dancer
Charlotte Greenwood first appeared on the stage as a teenager. She appeared in the silent films Jane (1918) and Baby Mine (1930), and then went on to roles in sound films such as Palmy Days (1932), Down Argentine Way (1940) with Betty Grable, Springtime in the Rockies (1943), Home in Indiana (1947) and Oklahoma (1956), amongst others. She published her autobiography Never Too Tall (1947).

Greenwood, Joan – (1921 – 1987)
British stage and film actress
Born Joan Mary Waller Greenwood (March 4, 1921) in Chelsea, London, she was the daughter of painter Sydney Earnshaw Greenwood. She attended school in Bramley, Surrey before going on to study at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), and made her stage debut appearing in Le Malade Imaginaire (1938), which was followed by roles in theatre productions of The Women (1939) and Peter Pan (1941 – 1942). Greenwood was married (1960) to the actor, Andre Morell (1909 – 1978).
Possessed of a sensually feline grace, this was combined with a deep-throated huskiness of voice to produce an actress of unique talent and prescence. Particularly famous for her classical roles, Greenwood appeared with the Donald Wolfit Company after WW II, and had further successes in such productions as Lysistrata (1957) and Hedda Gabler (1960). Her film credits included several films made with the Ealing Company included Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948), which dealt with the life of Sophia Dorothea of Celle, the ill-fated wife of George I of England. Her co-stars in this rich historical drama included Dame Flora Robson, Stewart Grainger, Anthony Quayle, Francoise Rosay, and Mercia Swinburne.
Other notable film roles included appearances in The Gentle Sex (1942), The October Man (1947), Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952). Greenwood also worked in television and appeared in the popular series Girls on Top (1985 – 1986). Joan Greenwood died (Feb 27, 1987) aged sixty-five, at Chelsea.

Greer, Jane – (1924 – 2001)
American film actress
Born Bettyjane Greer in Washington, D.C., she performed in child talent contests and then became a child model. She performed with Latin rhumba bands before Howard Hughes obtaining a movie contract for her after he saw her photograph (1943). Greer’s first film roles were in Pax Americana (1945) and Two O’Clock Courage (1945). She became a popular leading lady of the late forties and fifties, and was best known for her roles in movies such as Out of the Past (1947), They Won’t Believe Me with Robert Taylor (1947), The Big Steal (1949), You’re In the Navy Now (1951), The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), Run for the Sun (1956) and Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). Her last film role was in Against All Odds (1984). During the latter part of her life she also appeared on television, most notably in the popular drama serial Falcon Crest, and as Vivian Smythe Niles in Twin Peaks (1990). Jane Greer died aged seventy-six.

Greffulhe, Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, Comtesse de – (1860 – 1952)
French society figure
Elisabeth de Caraman was the daughter of Joseph de Caraman, third Prince de Chimay and Governor of Hainault, and his first wife Marie de Montesquiou-Fezensac. She was married (1878) to the wealthy Henri Charles, Comte de Greffuhle (1845 – 1932), and their daughter Elaine (1882 – 1958) became the wife (1904) of Armand, Duc de Gramont. Parisian high society considered the comtesse one of the greatest beauties of her era. The writer Marcel Proust first saw her in 1893, and it was said that he attended the opera merely to so he could watch her gracefully descend the grand staircase. Until his death in 1922 Proust remained one of the comtess’s most ardent admirers. She was the model for two of the characters of his work A Recherche, the Duchesse de Guermantes and the Princesse de Guermantes. A patron of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes, the comtesse also patronised the opera and men of letters. Elisabeth entertained lavishly at her own salon in the rue d’Astorg, Paris, and at the family estate at Bois-Boudran. She survived her husband as the Dowager Comtesse de Greffuhle for two decades (1932 – 1952).

Gregg, Christina – (c1814 – 1882)
Scottish-New Zealand murder suspect
Christina Ferguson was born in Scotland, the daughter of a carpenter. She was married in East Kilbride in Lanarkshire (1834) to James Gregg, a quarryman. They emigrated to Nelson aboard the New Zealand (1842) and several years afterwards were resident at Lyttelton before farming land at Riccarton. James Gregg became violently ill (Oct 10, 1859) at Riccarton.
Mrs Gregg called for the assistance of the farmhand Edmund Langstreth to fetch a doctor but this proved useless and her husband died the following morning. An autopsy detected arsenic which Mrs Gregg explained by saying her husband had told her that he had drunken some beer which had adversely affected him. Langstreth then confessed to a secret liaison with Christina Gregg and claimed that Mr Gregg had suspected her of trying to poison him on an earlier occasion, and she was arrested and convicted of murder. Mrs Gregg pleaded her innocence and was found not guilty. Mrs Gregg then returned to reside at Riccarton and later remarried (1862) to Langstreth, who was several decades her junior. Disputes concerning lands and inheritance then developed between Christina‘s son James Gregg and his stepfather. A decade afterwards Langstreth returned to England for good. Mrs Gregg died (Nov 17, 1882) at Riccarton.

Gregoria – (fl. 597)
Byzantine courtier
Gregoria received a letter (June, 597) from Pope Gregory I which is preserved in his Epistolarum Registrum. In it the pontiff granted forgiveness of her many sins and addressed her as Gregoriae cublicariae Augustae, as she was a member of the household of the Empress Constantina, wife of Maurice.

Gregoria of Spoleto – (c525 – c580)
Italian nun and saint
As a young girl Gregoria refused to consider marriage, wanting to devote herself to the contemplative life, and eventually, she ran away from her parents’ home, and sought the intercession of the church, claiming the protection of Isaac, abbot of Spoleto. Through his mediation she became a nun at the abbey of St Maria, Rome. She contributed to the Life of St Isaac, prepared by Pope Gregory the Great.

Gregoria, Aelia Anastasia – (c611 – c650)
Byzantine Augusta (641 – 642)
Aelia Anastasia Gregoria was born in Constantinople, the daughter of the patrician Niketas, who held the office of dux et Augustalis Alexandriae (c610 – 617), and was later the exarch of Carthage in Africa. She was the paternal granddaughter of Gregorius of Carthage, and was niece to the Emperor Herakleios I. Gregoria became the wife (c628) of her cousin Constantine III Herakleios (612 – 641) who reigned for only several months. The marriage was recorded by the historian Nikephorus in his Brevarium, and by Joannes Zonaras in his Epitome Historiarum.
The empress mother for several years formed part of the Imperial council that ruled in the name of her elder son Constans II Herakleios (630 – 668). During her time as regent the empress Gregoria remained a shadowy figure, perhaps being anxious to avoid public censure, due to the activities of the former empress Martina, the ambitious widow of Herakleios I, and died, or retired, around the time of her son Constans’ marriage with the empress Fausta. Her younger son Theodosius died childless, being put to death by his brother (659).
Genealogical accounts which attempt to connect Empress Gregoria to the royal Sassanid dynasty of Persia are spurious and based on no factual evidence. These name her as daughter of the emperor Shah-Varez and his wife Dukhtzanan, herself the daughter of Chrosroes III Parver. They also provide Gregoria and Constantine III with a fictitious daughter, Manyanh, supposedly the wife of her Sassanid cousin, King Yazdagird III of Persia (632 – 651).

Gregory, Mrs    see    Fitzhenry, Elizabeth

Gregory, Augusta Isabella Persse, Lady – (1852 – 1932) 
Irish dramatist and author
Augusta Persse was born at Roxborough House, near Coole, in county Galway, the daughter of Dudley Persse and his second wife, Frances Barry, the sister of the first Lord Guillamore. Educated privately she married (1880) Sir William Henry Gregory (1817 – 1892) the former British governor of Ceylon as his second wife. With her husband’s death, Lady Augusta devoted herself to the study of Irish folk-lore and mythology, which led to her ultimate meeting (1896) with the poet W.B. Yeats. Her home at Coole Park became the focus of a new literary movement designed revive Irish drama.
Together with Yeats and the author Edward Martyn, Lady Gregory established the Irish Literary Theatre (1898) and later co-founded the Abbey Theatre, in Dublin (1904). Lady Gregory wrote or translated about forty plays set in the Irish rural landscape. These works included the comedy Spreading the News (1904), and the patriotic Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902) which she co-wrote with Yeats, The Rising of the Moon (1906) and The Workhouse Ward (1908). She also produced two historical dramas The White Cockade (1905) and The Deliverer (1911).
Lady Gregory translated some of the works of the French dramatist Moliere in a volume entitled The Kiltarten Moliere (1910) and two volumes of folk-lore romance Cuchulain of Muirthemne (1902) and Gods and Fighting Men (1904). Her private Journal was published posthumously (1946). Lady Gregory died at Gorts, Galway (May 22, 1932).

Gregory, Victoria Stuart-Wortley, Lady     see   Welby-Gregory, Lady

Greiffenberg, Catharina Regina von – (1633 – 1694)
German devotional and pastoral poet
Catharina was born at Seyssenegg, Austria, into the minor gentry. She was raised as a Protestant and given a modern humanist education, but evinced evangelical leanings. Catharina was married (1653) gainst her own wishes, to her uncle Hans Rudolf von Greiffenberg (died 1677), and was a member of the German women’s literary society, the Ister-Nymphen. As a widow she retired to live in Nurnberg (Nuremburg), where she established her own literary salon.
Her published works included Geistliche Sonnette ?Lieder und Gedichte (Spritual Sonnets?Songs and Poems) (1662), Der Allerheiligst-und Allerheilsamsten Leidensund Sterbens Jesu Christi Zwolf andachtige Betrachtungen (1672) and the pastoral piece Tugend-Ubungen sieben Lustwehlender Schafinnen (Virtuous Exercises of Seven Exquisite Shepherdesses) (1675). Catharina von Greiffenberg died in Nurnberg.

Greig, Maysie Coucher – (1901 – 1971)
Australian romantic novelist
Born Maysie Smith (Aug 2, 1901) in Double Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, she was the daughter of the noted Scottish bacteriologist, Robert Greig-Smith (1866 – 1927). Maysie Greig was the author of over two hundred romantic novels, and sometimes used the pseurdonym ‘Jennifer Ames.’ Her books included One Room for His Highness (1947), French Girl in Love (1963) and Doctor on Wings (1966). Some of her novels had Australian settings, and were translated into various languages such as Portugese, Icelandic, and Dutch. Greig also worked as a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald, and was twice married, her first husband being the Australian journalist, Maxwell Alexander Murray (1900 – 1956). Maysie Greig died (June 10, 1971) aged sixty-nine, in St Marylebone, London.

Grekova, I.   see   Venttsel, Elena Sergievna

Grenegg, Maria – (c1890 – 1963)
Austrian novelist and juvenile writer
Grenegg was born at Stein an der Donau. She studied under Karl Moser in Vienna. Her novels included Die Flucht zum grunen Hergott (Flight to the Green God) (1930), Der Nusskern (The Kernel of the Nut) (1937) and Der Feuermand (The Firebug) (1935), created much public controversy. She was awarded the Niederosterreichischer Kulturpreis (1963). Maria Grenegg died at Rodau.

Grenfell, Joyce Irene – (1910 – 1979)
British entertainer, comedienne, actress, monologuist and author
Joyce Phipps was born (Feb 10, 1910) in London, the daughter of an American born architect, Paul Phipps, and his wife Nancy Langhorne of Virginia. She was niece to Lady Astor and Irene Langhorne Gibson. Joyce Phipps studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but her career plans were interrupted by her marriage with Reginald Grenfell, the mining executive. Grenfell began her career as a radio critic with the Observer. She made her stage debut in the play The Little Revue (1939). During WW II Joyce Grenfell worked touring hospitals to entertain the troops, and was famous for her comic monologues, which she wrote herself in collaboration with the composer Richard Addinsell. She was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by King George VI (1946) in recognition of her contribution to theatre and the arts.
Her working tour of the USA proved extremely successful (1955). These were later expanded as one woman stage shows presented as Joyce Grenfell Requests The Pleasure in which she satirized the manners and pretensions of the upper classes. Grenfell retired from 1973, and returned to writing, publishing her autobiography Joyce Grenfell Requests the Pleasure (1976) and the volume George, Don’t Do That (1977). She served as president of the Society of Women Broadcasters and Writers, and was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by King George VI (1946) in recognition of her service during WW II. Joyce Grenfell died (Nov 30, 1979) aged sixty-nine, in London.

Grenfell, Lydia – (1775 – 1829)
British diarist and journal writer
Grenfell kept a diary for two decades (1801 – 1821) and died unmarried. Her journal was published posthumously in Falmouth as Extracts from the Diary of Miss Lydia Grenfell (1890).

Grenville, Hester    see   Temple, Hester

Gresser, Gisela Kahn – (1906 – 2000)
American chess player and champion
Gisela Kahn was born (Feb 8, 1906) in Detroit, Michigan and attended Radcliffe College and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens in Greece. She was married (1927) to William Gresser, the musicologist and attorney. Gisela Gresser did not learn how to play chess till the age of thirty (1936) and won the US Women’s Chess Champiosnhip (1944) and jointly with Mona Karff (1948), Sonja Graf (1957) and Lisa Lane (1966). She was one of the first two female chess players to gain the title of master (1950) when FIDE created official titles and was the winner of the US Women’s Open Championship (1954). Gisela Gresser died (Dec 4, 2000) aged ninety-four.

Gretry, Lucille – (1773 – 1793)
French clavecinist and composer
Lucille Gretry was the daughter of the famous dramatic composer, Andre Ernest Modeste Gretry (1741 – 1813), and was the granddaughter of a violinist. An extremely precocious and talented musician, Lucille wrote and instrumented her own opera Le Mariage d’Antonio, which she successfully produced at the Opera Comique when she was only thirteen (1786). Her next opera Toinette et Louis (1787), written in honour of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, proved unsuccessful due to the revoutionary sentiment which was rapidly gaining momentum. Lucille Gretry was unhappily married and died aged only twenty.

Grever, Maria – (1885 – 1951)
Mexican composer
Grever was born at Leon, in Guantajato, and studied music under Claude Debussy in Paris, France. Apart from several piano pieces and eight hundred and fifty separate songs Grever composed the one-act song drama The Gypsy (1928) and the opera El Cantarito (1939). Maria Grever died (Dec 15, 1951) aged sixty-six, in New York, USA.

Greville, Frances – (1724 – 1789)
British Hanoverian poet and society figure
Frances Macartney was born in Longford, Ireland, the daughter of a landowner, James Macartney. She was privately educated by a governess, and became a fashionable beauty, becoming the companion of the Duchess of Richmond. Horace Walpole praised her as ‘Fanny’ in his poem, ‘The Beauties’ (1741). Also known for her sharp tongue and observant mental qualities, Frances eloped with Fulke Greville (1717 – 1805), and resided with him at Wilbury House, Wiltshire. The couple travelled often and lived a peripatetic lifestyle that was also badgered by debt, due mainly to her husband’s gambling. The marriage remained turbulent. She was thought to have had a hand in preparing her husband’s well known work Maxims, Characters, and Reflexions (1756), but he refused to allow her any credit. Her poem ‘Prayer for Indifference’ was privately circulated and later published, becoming the most celebrated poem written by a contemporary woman of the period. Other verses and a novel remained unpublished.
Frances Greville was godmother to the novelist and memoirist Fanny Burney, and is thought to have been the inspiration for the character of Mrs Selwyn in her popular novel Evelina (1778). Her daughter Frances Anne Greville, Lady Crewe, was the famous Whig hostess. Richard Brinsley Sheridan dedicated The Critic to Mrs Greville, referring to her as of the, ‘most elegant productions of judgement and fancy.’ Fanny Burney stated concerning her godmother’s character that ‘she affrighted the timid, who shrunk into silence; and braved the bold, to whom she allowed no quarter.’ Frances Greville died at Hampton Court Green, London.

Greville, Frances Evelyn      see    Warwick, Daisy Maynard, Countess of

Greville, Henry (Alice) – (1842 – 1902)
French novelist, biographer, journalist and dramatist
Born Alice Marie Celeste Fleury (Oct 12, 1842) in Paris, she was the daughter of the liberal journalist Jean-Joseph Fleury, and received an excellent education. When her father went to St Petersburg in Russia to take up an academic posting (1857), she accompanied him there. Fleury learnt the Russian language and wrote articles concerning the culture there, using the pseudonym ‘Henry Greville.’ She was married there to a French academic, Emile Alex Durand (1838 – 1914), and the couple eventually returned to France (1872). Greville wrote over six dozen popular novels and short stories which dealt in detail with life in Russian society such as Les Epreuves de Raissa (The Trials of Raissa) (1877), but most of these are now largely forgotten. She is best remembered for her Instruction morale et civique des jeunes filles (Moral and Civil Education for Girls) (1882), which was place by the Catholic church on its register of forbidden books, despite Greville’s conventional outlook concerning the place of women in contemporary society. Her other published works included the plays Denise (1877) and Comedies de paravent (Comedies of the Folding Screen) (1888). Henry Greville died (May, 1902) at Boulogne-sur-Mer, aged fifty-nine.

Greville, Dame Margaret Helen (Maggie) – (1867 – 1942)
British Edwardian salon hostess and philanthropist
Born Margaret Helen Anderson, she was the illegitimate daughter of William McEwan, from a prominent shipping family, who became a Member of Parliament for Edinburgh, and his mistress, a former household servant. Maggie Anderson was able to enter society after she made a good marriage (1891) with the Hon. (Honourable) Ronald Henry Fulke Greville (1864 – 1908), the younger son of the second Baron Greville. After this she set up house in Mayfair, London, where she became close friends with Alice Keppel, the mistress of Edward VII (1901 – 1910), and to whose daughter Sonia (1900 – 1986), later Mrs Roland Cubitt, she stood godmother.
With the death of her husband (1908) Maggie Greville maintained a prominent position in London society, and the Duke of York and his bride, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons, spent their honeymoon at her estate of Polesden Lacy, near Dorking (1923), one home to the dramatist, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Greville was admired by Sir Osbert Sitwell and Chipps Channon, but other famous figures such as Winston Churchill despised her, and Harold MacMillan went so far as to describe her as ’… nothing more than a fat slug filled with venom.’ Despite her vicious, malevolent, snobbish, and unrelenting character quirks, Maggie Greville was a generous philanthropist, supporting Guy’s Hospital, the Edinburgh Working Men’s Club, and various animal protection organizations, for which valuable help she was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) (1922) by King George V. The death of her father had left her with a fortune of one and a half million pounds, and the directors of his company, McEwan & Co., answered directly to her. Prior to WW II, Maggie Greville unashamedly supported Adolf Hitler, and recieved General von Ribbentrop, and the Italian minister, Count Grandi, in London. During the war she established herself in the Dorchester Hotel in London, where she received the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Prince Philip of Greece (husband of Queen Elizabeth II), and Lord and Lady Mountbatten, amongst many others.
Dame Maggie Greville died (Sept 15, 1942) aged seventy-five, at the Dorchester Hotel. She was interred at Polesden Lacy. She left bequests to Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, to the National Vivisection Society and to the RSCPA. Her famous diamond necklace, which had once belonged to Marie Antoinette of France, was bequeathed to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who wore them during the celebration for her eightieth birthday (1980).

Grey, Abby Weed – (1903 – 1983)
American author and art patron
Abigail Bartlett Weed was born in St Paul, Minnesota. An admirer and collector of Middle Eastern and South Asian art, she founded and organized the cultural exchange program known as ‘Communication Through Art.’ Abby Grey established the Grey Art Gallery and Study Center and the Grey Fine Arts Gallery. Her autobiography was entitled The Picture Is the Window:The Window Is the Picture (1983), and was published posthumously. Abby Grey died (June 2, 1983) at St Paul, aged eighty.

Grey, Agnes Genevieve – (1897 – 1988)
Anglo-Samoan hotelier and civic leader
Aggie Swann was born (Oct 31, 1897) into one of the most important families of Samoa, the daughter of William J. Swann who settled there in 1889. Her mother was Pele, the daughter of Maiava of Toamua and his wife Simativa, the daughter of Seumanutafa an Apian high chief. After her marriage Mrs Grey established the Aggie Grey Hotel at the end of WW II which had begun as a waterfront club where she sold hamburgers. Her establishment became famous for its hospitality in the South Pacific region and was later greatly enlarged (1973).
in recognition of her valuable contribution to the burgeoning Samoan tourist industry, the government placed Aggie Grey’s portrait on a postage stamp (1971). She remained all of her long life a glamorous and legendary figure in Samoan society and was appointed QSO (Honorary Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for Community) (1983) by Queen Elizabeth II. Aggie Grey died (June 26, 1988) aged ninety, little over a month after the death of her last surviving sister.

Grey, Lady Eleanor   see   Woodville, Eleanor

Grey, Elizabeth      see also     Kent, Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of

Grey, Elizabeth – (1505 – 1519)
English Tudor peeress
Elizabeth Grey was born (March 25, 1505), the posthumous daughter and heiress of John Grey (1480 – 1504), second Viscount Lisle and his wife Lady Muriel Howard, the daughter of Thomas Howard, second Duke of Norfolk and his first wife Elizabeth Tilney, the widow of Sir Humphrey Bourchier. Her stepfather was Sir Thomas Knyvett, Lady Lisle’s second husband. With the death of her father Elizabeth succeeded suo jure as the fifth Baroness Lisle. Elizabeth was betrothed firstly to Sir Charles Brandon (later Duke of Suffolk) the friend of Henry VIII soon after the death of his second wife Anne Browne (1512) but this projected alliance never took place as Brandon secretly married the king’s sister Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France.
Elizabeth Grey became instead the first wife of the king’s maternal cousin Henry Courtenay (1496 – 1538), the twelfth Earl of Devonshire (later Marquess of Exeter), the grandson of Edward IV. This marriage remained childless and the youthful Countess of Devonshire died (before May 12 in 1519) aged fourteen. as she was childless her heirs were her two surviving paternal aunts, Anne Grey the wife of Sir John Willoughby of Wollaton in Nottinghamshire, and Elizabeth Grey, the first wife of Sir Arthur Plantagenet (c1462 – 1542), Viscount Lisle of Kingston Lisle.

Grey, Lady Jane     see     Jane Grey

Grey, Lady Katherine – (1540 – 1568)
English Tudor heiress
Lady Katherine Grey was born at Dorset House in Westminster, London, the second daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and his wife Lady Frances Brandon, the niece of Henry VIII. Her elder sister was the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, who briefly ruled for only nine days. Her first marriage (1553) to Henry Herbert, second Earl of Pembroke was made for political reasons, and was never consummated. It was annulled (1554) and Katherine was married secondly (and secretly) (1560) to Edward Seymour, first Earl of Hertford (1539 – 1621). The marriage caused great anger to Elizabeth I and her council, and it was declared invalid (1561), though it was vindicated nearly fifty years afterwards (1608). Katherine died at Cockfield Hall, Yoxford, Suffolk, aged twenty-seven (Jan 26, 1568), and was interred in Salisbury Cathedral. Her surviving children were Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp (1561 – 1612) and Thomas Seymour (1563 – 1612).

Grey, Lita – (1907 – 1995)
American actress
Born Lillita Louise MacMurray, in Hollywood, California, she began working in Hollywood for Charles Chaplin at the age of twelve, and appeared in her first films The Kid and The Idle Class, the following year (1921). Her liasion with Chaplin progressed, and at sixteen, Lita became pregnant, and he married her as his first wife (1924). Thus, she provided the name and some of the inspiration for Vladimir’s Nabokov’s work Lolita (1959). The couple had two sons, the younger of whom was actor Sydney Chaplin (1926 – 2009), but the marriage ended in a bitter and acrimonius divorced (1927), Lita being granted a six hundred thousand dollar settlement, the largest ever granted till then in an American divorce case. Chaplin capitulated to her demands after she threatened to publish the names of five women with whom he was involved. Later, Lita established herself as a club performer in America and in Europe, and toured with the Radio Keith Orpheum theatre circuit before retiring completely (1947). Lita remarried three more times, and appeared in two more films Seasoned Greetings (1933), and as Judge Rosalind Ballentine in The Devil’s Sleep (1949). Lita published her memoirs as My Life With Chaplin (1965). Lita Grey died of cancer in Los Angeles, California (Dec 29, 1995) aged eighty-eight.

Grey, Maria Georgina – (1816 – 1906)
British writer, pioneer campaigner for female education
Born Maria Georgina Shirreff, she was sister to the educator and writer Emily Anne Shirreff. She was married (1841) to her cousin, William Thomas Grey, a wine merchant. With her sister she assisted with the founding of the National Union for Promoting the Higher Education of Women (1871), which created the Girls’ Public Day School Trust (1872) to provide cheap education outside the public school system. The first of these institutions, estasblished at Croydon, also had a kindergarten. Interested in the ideas of the German educator Friedrich Froebel, she was an avid supporter and patron of the Froebel Society. The Maria Gray College to train grade school teachers was named in her honour (1878) and she was the author of Passion and Principle (1853), Love Sacrifice (1868) and Last Words to Girls on Life in School and After School (1889). Continued ill-health forced her retirement from public life (1877).

Grey, Lady Mary – (1545 – 1578)
English Tudor heiress
Lady Mary Grey the youngest of the three surviving daughters of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and his wife Frances Brandon, the niece of Henry VIII (1509 – 1547). Lady Mary was the younger sister of Jane Grey, and of Catherine Grey, countess of Hertford. Of dwarfish stature, she served in the household of Queen Elizabeth as lady-in-waiting. With the death of her sister Catherine (1568), Mary succeeded to her claim as successor of Elizabeth Tudor. She was married to the sergeant porter of the court, Thomas Keyes (died 1571) and they were seperated by order of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. The marriage remained childless and after her husband’s death, caused by the rigours of his imprisonment, Mary was later received at court and restored to the queen’s favour, receiving her own apartments at Hampton Court, and permitted to assist in the affairs of her many Keyes stepchildren.

Grey, Virginia – (1917 – 2004)
American film actress
Grey was born (March 22, 1917) in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of movie director Ray Grey. She made her first film appearance in the silent movie Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927), when she appeared as little Eva. Grey was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer until 1942, and appeared in many films including The Great Ziegfeld (1936), The Canary Comes Across (1938), Rich Man, Poor Girl (1938), Another Thin Man, Hullabaloo, The Big Store and Tarzan’s New York Adventure. She later worked in television, appearing in such popular programs as Wagon Train, Marcus Welby, M.D., Love, American Style, The Virginian and Peter Gunn amongst others. Virginia Grey died (July 31, 2004) aged eighty-seven.

Grey, Hon. Mrs William    see    Otrante, Teresa von Stedingk, Duchesse d’

Grey de Ruthyn, Barbara Yelverton, Lady    see   Yelverton, Barbara

Grey de Ruthyn, Bertha Lelgarde Rawdon-Hastings, Lady – (1835 – 1887)
British peeress
The twenty-second holder of the ancient feudal barony of Grey de Ruthyn (1876 – 1887), Lady Bertha Rawdon-Hastings was born (April 30, 1835), the second daughter of George Augustus Rawdon-Hastings, the second Marquess of Hastings and his wife Barbara Yelvertob, the twentieth Baroness Grey de Ruthyn. She was niece to Lady Flora Hastings, the unfortunate lady-in-waiting of Queen Victoria. Bertha was married to Captain Augustus Wykeham Clifton (died 1915) of Warton Hall in Lancaster.
With the death of her brother henry rawdon-Hastings, the fourth Marquess of Hastings without issue (1868), the marquessate of Hastings and his Irish honours became extinct, whilst his Scottish honours devolved upon his eldest sister Edith Maud who became the Countess of Loudoun, whilst his English baronies fell into abeyance between his two younger sisters, and his half-sister. This abeyance was later terminated by Queen Victoria in favour of the Marquess’s second sister Lady Bertha Clifton (1885) who then became a suo jure peeress as the twenty-second Baroness Grey de Ruthyn (1885 – 1887). Lady Grey de Ruthyn died (Dec 15, 1887), aged fifty-two. She left four children,

• Hon. (Honourable) Ellen Cicely Mary Clifton (1856 – 1912). She became the wife of Lancelot George Butler-Rawdon of Barlborough House in Chesterfield. Their son John Lancelot Wykeham Butler-Rawdon (1883 – 1963) succeeded his uncle as the twenty-fifth Baron Grey de Ruthyn (1934 – 1963) but died unmarried.
• Hon. Rawdon George Grey Clifton (1858 – 1912). He succeeded his mother as the twenty-third Baron Grey de Ruthyn (1887 – 1912) and left an only son who died young.
• Hon. Cecil Talbot Clifton (1862 – 1934). He succeeded his brother as the twenty-fourth Baron Grey de Ruthyn (1912 – 1934) but died unmarried.
• Hon. Lelgarde Harry Florence Clifton (1870 – 1939). She became the second wife of Sir Alan Henry Bellingham (1846 – 1921), fourth baronet.

Grey de Ruthyn, Joan    see   Astley, Joan de

Grey de Wilton, Jacina Beaufort, Lady de    see    Thomasine of Somerset

Grey of Codnor, Catherine Stourton, Lady    see   Stourton, Catherine

Grey of Falloden, Pamela Adelaide Genevieve Wyndham, Lady – (1871 – 1928)
British literary and society figure
Pamela Wyndham was born (Jan 14, 1871), the youngest daughter of Captain Percy Scawen Wyndham (1835 – 1911) and his wife Madeline Caroline Frances Eden, the daughter of Major-General Sir Guy Campbell, first baronet (died 1849). Pamela was married firstly (1895) to Sir Edward Priaulx Tennant (1859 – 1920), the first Baron Glenconner, and secondly (1922) to Sir Edward Grey (1862 – 1933), the first Viscount Grey of Falloden, whom she survived as Dowager Viscountess Grey of Falloden (1922 – 1928) and died (Nov 18, 1928), aged fifty-seven.  
At the time of her first marriage Pamela had been a member of the literary and artistic Victorian group known collectively as ‘the Souls.’ Another member of this group was Harry Cust, who had wanted to marry her. He had been forced to marry Nina Welby-Gregory instead (1893), after which he and Pamela conspired to keep Nina from joining the Souls’ membership.Lady Grey was talented and beautiful, published several books and articles. Her correspondence has survived.

Grey of Powis, Lady Anne    see   Powis, Anne Brandon, Lady

Grey of Rotherfield, Avice Marmion, Lady    see   Marmion, Avice

Greystoke, Elizabeth - (1471 - 1516)
English mediaeval heiress
Elizabeth Greystoke was baptised (July 10, 1471) at Morpeth, the daughter of Sir Robert Greystoke (died 1483) and his second wife Lady Elizabeth Grey, the daughter of Edmund Grey, second Earl of Kent. She was married (c1490) to Thomas, second Baron Dacre of Gilisland (died 1525), and husband and wife were granted livery of the lands which Lord Ralph Greystoke (1413 - 1501) had held of King Henry VII, without proof of Elizabeth's age (1507).
Lord and Lady Dacre then recieved livery of all the lands which Ralph Greystoke and his son John Greystoke, Elizabeth's cousin, had held of the Bishop of Durham. Lady Dacre died (Aug 13 or 14, 1516) aged forty-five, and the baronies of Greystoke and Fitzwilliam then passed to her son William (c1495 - 1563), the third Baron Dacre of Gilisland.

Gribbin, Katherina Houston   see   Houston, Renee

Griebel, Tekla    see   Wandall, Tekla

Grieg, Nina – (1845 – 1935)
Norwegian vocalist
Born Nina Hagerup near Bergen (Nov 24, 1845), she was the daughter of Herman Hagerup. She studied singing under Helsted and became the wife of her cousin the composer Edvard Grieg, many of whose works she performed. Madame Nina Grieg died at Copenhagen, Denmark (Dec 9, 1935), aged ninety.

Grierson, Constantia – (1706 – 1733)
Irish poet and classical scholar
Constantia Grierson was born at Kilkenny and studied earnestly from early childhood, a pastime for which she possessed a keener than usual aptitude. She published Poems for Several Occasions (1734) which were edited by Mary Barber, but she was best remembered for her editions of the Roman authors such as Terence (1727) and Tacitus (1730), which were published by her husband in his name with no acknowledgement of her work.

Grierson, Margaret Storrs – (1900 – 1997)
American archivist
Grierson was born in Denver, Colorado, and studied at Smith College and at Bryn Mawr College. She taught philosophy at Bryn Mawr until taking up the position of archivist at Smith College (1940 – 1965). Grierson organized the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith into an international research centre for women’s history. Margaret Grierson died (Dec 12, 1997) in Leeds, Massachusetts, aged ninety-seven.

Griffies, Ethel – (1878 – 1975)
British stage and film actress
Born April Ethel Woods (April 26, 1878) at Sheffield, she was the daughter of actors Samuel Rupert Woods and his wife Lillie Roberts Woods. Ethel made her first stage appearance as an infant with her parents being carried on stage in a production of the famous East Lynne (1881) which was followed by her adult debut in Uncles and Aunts (1901) in London.
Ethel briefly worked as a teacher at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London but she believed that acting was more an instinct rather than a craft. She made her stage debut on Broadway (1924) where she appeared as Mrs Higgins in George Bernard Shaw’s work Pygmalion.
Ethel Griffies appeared in over one hundred films and her credits including appearances in Waterloo Bridge (1931), Alice in Wonderland (1933), The Werewolf of London (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), the adaptation of Charles Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), We Are Not Alone (1939), How Green Was My Valley (1941) as the unpleasant housekeeper Mrs Nicholas, Time to Kill (1942), Jane Eyre (1944), Saratoga Trunk (1945), Devotion (1946) where she played the elderly Aunt Branwell of the Bronte siblings, The Birds (1963) produced by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Tippi Hedren, in which portrayed and elderly ornithologist, and Billy Liar (1963) in which she played the elderly and loquacious grandmother, amongst many others.
With the death of her second husband actor Edward Cooper (1956) Miss Griffies returned to the stage in the USA. She toured with veteran actress Ruth Gordon in The Matchmaker (1957). Her last stage appearance on Broadway was as the countess in the comedy by Lee Thuna entitled The Natural Look (1967) and her last film was Bus Riley’s Back in Town (1965). Ethel Griffies died (Sept 9, 1975) aged ninety-seven, in London.

Griffin, Edna – (1909 – 2000)
Black-American pioneer human rights activist
Griffin was born in Kentucky. She was married to Stanley Griffin, a physician, to whom she bore three children. The family settled in Des moines, Iowa. Edna Griffin was famous for her much publicized legal battles against the Katz Drug Store in Des Moines (1948), instigated when she and several other women were refused service because of their skin colour. This was an important moment in the civil rights movement. She later founded the Iowa chapter of the Congress for Racial Authority, and supported Martin Luther King.

Griffin, Eleanore - (1903 - 1995)
American screenwriter
Eleanore Griffin was born in St Paul, Minnesota, and began her writing career during the decade of the 1930's. She was best known for the screenplay for the film Boys Town (1938) which starred Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney, for which she and Dore Schary shared an Academy Award for best original story.
Miss Griffin also wrote the scripts for the films A Man Called Peter (1955), the biography of Peter Marshall, and One Man's Way (1964), the biography of the minister Norman Vincent Peale. She also assisted with the writing of the scripts for such films as St Louis Blues and Imitation of Life. Eleanore Griffin died (July 26, 1995) aged ninety-one, in Woodland Hills, California.

Griffin, Marion Lucy Mahony – (1871 – 1963)
American landscape architect and interior designer
Marion Mahony was born (Feb 14, 1871) in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she became the second woman to graduate with a degree in architecture (1894).  After this she continued her studies under Frank Lloyd Wright (1869 – 1959) in his Oak Park Studio. There she quickly became his chief draftsman, and produced several of her own successful commissions. Despite this Wright included two Decatur Houses in an exhibition (1916) which were Griffin’s work entirely, and the two fell out.
Mahony was married (1911) to one of Wright’s former colleagues, Walter Burley Griffith (1876 – 1937), with whom she entered the international competition to plan the proposed capital city of Australia. The couple won this competition (1912) and designed the city of Canberra, with a unique plan which utilized concentric cricles and artificial lakes. Whilst her husband was federal capital director of design and construction, Marion maintained a private practice. Other work embarked upon by the couple in Australia included the Glenard and Summit housing estates at Eaglemont in Melbourne, Newman College at Melbourne University (1916), but their best known work was the Capitol Theatre in Melbourne (1924). With her husband she was famous for blending functional and unconventional attitudes in architecture, a view not perceived with sympathy in their time. Marion left Australia to join Walter in India (1936), but with his death several months afterwards she returned to Chicago in the USA. Marion Mahony Griffin died aged ninety-two (Aug 10, 1963) in Chicago.

Griffith, Linda A.    see    Arvidson, Linda

Griffith-Joyner, Florence (Flo-Jo) – (1959 – 1998)
Black American champion athlete and sportswoman
Born Delorez Florence Griffith (Dec 21, 1959) in Los Angeles, California, she was the daughter of an electrical technician. In college she excelled both academically and in sports, devoting her energies to track sports. She was the winner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association two hundred metre title (1982).
Griffith-Joyner won an Olympic silver medal in the same event (1984) and competed in several world track events (1987). She was the winner of three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics, where she set two world records. She recieved several prestigious sporting awards, the Jesse Owens Award for outstanding athlete, the Sullivan Award for top amateur athlete, and the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Award, all in the same year (1988). She was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame (1995).
A glamorous, flamboyant, and very media savvy competitor, Griffith-Joyner always denied the perisistent rumours that she had resorted to illegel use of human growth hormones in order to enhance her atheltic performances, and she never failed a drug test throughout her career. Florence Griffith-Joyner died (Sept 22, 1998) aged thirty-eight, at Mission Viejo, near Laguna Beach, California.

Griffiths, Ann – (1776 – 1805)
Welsh hymnist and writer
Ann Griffiths was born in Dolwar-Fechan in Montgomeryshire, the daughter of a farmer. After conversion to the evangelical church she joined the Methodist society at Pont Robert (1797), and conducted a correspindence with the Methodist preacher John Hughes, who was later married to her personal maid, Ruth Evans. Griffiths was married (1804) to the farmer, Thomas Griffiths of Meifod, and died in childbirth the following year. She had composed hymns in her native Welsh which publish posthumously.

Griffiths, Hannah Beatrice – (1872 – 1951)
Australian pianist
Griffiths was born in Maitland, New South Wales. Hannah was taught the piano from early childhood, and became a talented prodigy. She was taught by the French pianist, Henry Kowalski (1841 – 1916), who had been trained by Marmontel. She later travelled to Europe with her sisters, with whom she performed collectively. Griffiths later returned to Sydney and led a campaign to establish a permanent Sydney orchestra. Hannah Griffiths died (Aug 21, 1951) aged seventy-eight, in Sydney.

Griffiths, Jennie Scott – (1875 – 1951)
American journalist, editor and political activist
Born Jennie Scott Wilson in San Antonio, Texas, she was the daughter of a cotton farmer. Jennie studied law at the University of Texas, and travelled to Fiji in the Pacific, where she worked as a journalist with the Fiji Times newspaper. After coming to Sydney, Australia (1912) she became editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly. After marrying, Mrs Griffiths established a Montessori School in Sydney, and was active in various areas of reform and women’s issues, being a friend of Vida Goldstein. She later returned to the USA and settled in California. Griffiths continued her involvement in women’s causes, and was chosen as state delegate to the International Women’s Conference (1948). Jennie Griffiths died (June 29, 1951) aged seventy-five, in San Francisco, California.

Grifoni, Elisabetta – (1714 – 1780)
Italian society figure and letter writer
Born Elisabetta Capponi, Madame Grifoni held a fashionable salon which attracted many talented contemporary figures. She was mentioned in the correspondence of the British antiquarian Horace Walpole.

Grigg, Lady     see    Altrincham, Lady

Grignan, Angelique Clarisse d’Angennes, Comtesse de – (1627 – 1664)
French literary figure
Angelique d’Angennes was the youngest daughter of Charles d’Angennes, Marquis de Rambouillet, and his wife Catherine de Vivonne. Her eldest sister was Julie, Duchesse de Montausier. Angelique finished her education in her mother’s famous precieuse salon at the Hotel de Rambouillet in Paris, after several years being educated by nuns.
Red-haired and considered unattractive, she was given to outlandish behaviour and was satirized by Moliere in his comic farce Les Precieuses ridicule.
Angelique was eventually married (1658) to Francois Adhemar de Monteil (1632 – 1714) Comte de Grignan, as his first wife, and bore him two daughters, Louise Catherine d’ Adhemar de Monteil de Grignan (1661 – before 1714) who became a nun, and Julie Francoise d’ Adhemar de Monteil de Grignan (1664 – after 1714) the wife of the Duc de Vibraye. After her death (Dec 20, 1664) aged thirty-seven, the Comte was remarried twice more, his third and last wife being the daughter of the famous Madame de Sevigne.

Grignan, Francoise Margeurite de Sevigne, Comtesse de – (1646 – 1705) 
French letter writer
Francoise Margeurite de Sevigne was born (Oct 10, 1646) in Paris, the only daughter of the famous woman of letters, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, and her husband the Marquis Henri de Sevigne. Her father died when she was a child (1651) and Francoise and her brother Charles were raised by their mother, though Francoise was always her favourite and Madame de Sevigne worshipped her with almost insane affection. Until 1658 she resided with her mother in Paris, and at Les Rochers, Livry, of Bourbilly in the Maconnais. Francoise de Sevigne was married (1668) to Francois d’Adhemar de Monteuil, Comte de Grignan (1632 – 1715), lieutenant governor of Languedoc from 1669, as his third wife, and bore him several daughters, including Pauline, Marquise de Simiane.
Her mother visited her in Provence (1672 – 1673) and the entire Grignan family stayed with Madame de Sevigne at the Hotel de Carnavalet in Paris (1677). Her husband’s official position as viceroy in Provence brought prestige, but little money, and their position caused the couple to become deeply in debt in order to maintain their official rank at their own expense. Much of Madame de Grignan’s correspondence with her mother dealt with the problems that ensued from this situation. The comtesse later resided with her mother in Paris (1691 – 1694) and Madame de Sevigne died in her daughter’s home (1696). Her son Louis d’Adhemar de Monteuil, Marquis de Grignan, who had fought at the Battle of Blenheim, died of smallpox at the battle of Thionville (1704), whilst her eldest daughter Marie Blanche d’Adhemar de Monteuil (1670 – 1735) became a nun. With her husband’s death (1714) the main line of the de Grignan family became extinct. All of Madame de Grignan’s descendants stem from the children of her surviving daughter, Madame de Simiane. Madame de Grignan died (Aug 16, 1705) aged sixty-eight, at Lambesc in Provence.
Most of her mother’s voluminous correspondence was directed to the comtesse. Most of these letters were destroyed (1784) fifty years after the order for their destruction had been given by Madame de Simiane at her death (1737). Madame de Sevigne’s letters refer to the lengthy correspondence which continued between mother and daughter (1668 – 1693), but only a few short notes to her uncle, Roger de Bussy-Rabutin (1618 – 1693) have survived, these being salvaged from the conflagration of her papers by a relative.

Grigorievna, Xenia    see    Xenia of St Petersburg

Grigson, Jane – (1928 – 1990)
British cookery expert and culinary writer
Born Heather Mabel Jane McIntire (March 13, 1928) in Gloucester, she was the daughter of the town clerk. Jane attended Newnham College at Cambridge, and later worked as an editorial assistant and as an Italian translator.  She married the poet Geoffrey Grigson (1905 – 1985). During the early part of her career she worked as an assistant with various London art galleries, and then became a publishing assistant. Her first published cookery work Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery (1967) was influenced by the work of Elizabeth David. 
Grigson published several notable works in the field such as Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book (1978) and Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book (1982). She was a member of the Guild of Food Writers, and served as cookery correspondent with Observer Colour Magazine for over two decades (1968 – 1990). Her other published works included Fish Cookery (1973), English Food (1977), Food with the Famous (1980) and Exotic Fruits and Vegetables (1986). Her culinary works formed the nucleus of the Jane Grigson library at the Guildhall Library in London. Grigson died (March 12, 1990), the day before her sixty-second birthday, in Wiltshire.

Grillet, Louise Hortense    see   Pert, Camille

Grimaldi, Clelia – (1760 – 1830)
Italian botanist and naturalist
Clelia Durazzo was born in Genoa, the daughter of the patrician and noted bibliophile and naturalist, Giacomo Filippo Durazzo (1719 – 1812), and his wife Maddalena Pallavincini. Clelia was married to the nobleman Marchese Giuseppe Grimaldi, who was related to the ruling princes of Monaco. Marchesa Clelia established her own private botanical garden and herbarium in the grounds of her own residence, the Villa Durazzo-Pallavincini. This was popularly known as the Giardino botanico Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi. Her private collection of several thousand plant specimens were given to the Civico Museo Doria di Storia Naturale in Genoa.

Grimaldi, Ippolita Maria    see   Ippolita Maria Grimaldi

Grimberghe, Maria Franziska von – (1651 – 1724)
Flemish nun
Countess Maria Franziska von Grimberghe was born (June 4, 1651), the fourth daughter of Eugen de Glymes de Grimberghe (c1620 – 1670), Count de Grimberghe and his wife florentina Margareta von Renesse, the daughter of Rene von Renesse, Comte de Warfusee and his wife Albertine van Egmond. As a child she was sent to the Abbey of St Gertrude at Nivelles (1662) where she became a canoness. Forty years later Maria Franziska was elected as joint Abbess of that house (1706) with her own niece Maria Franziska Josephine von Grimberghe (1678 – 1724), the daughter of her brother Philipp Franz de Glymes, Prince de Berghes. Maria Franziska retained the position until her death ((Nov 25, 1724) aged seventy-three. She was buried at Nivelles.

Grimke, Angelina Emily – (1805 – 1879)
American abolitionist and social reformer
Angelina Grimke was born (Feb 20, 1805) in Charleston, the younger sister of Sarah Moore Grimke, and to Thomas Smith Grimke, the noted South Carolina state senator. Her father was a noted judge who was a prominent slave owner. Angelina later removed to Philadelphia to reside with her elder sister Sarah. She converted to the Quaker faith, and the two sisters worked devotedly to bring about an end to the practice of slavery.
Angelina was the author of the Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836), which was followed by the Appeal to Women of the Nominally Free States (1837). She and her sister were the first women to conduct public lectures for the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York and collaborated to publish American Slavery as it is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1838). She was married (1838) to the abolitionist, Theodore Dwight Weld. Angelina Grimke died (Oct 26, 1879) at Hyde Park, Massachusetts, aged seventy-four.

Grimke, Charlotte Forten     see    Forten, Charlotte Louisa

Grimke, Sarah Moore – (1792 – 1873)
American abolitionist and feminist
Sarah Grimke was born (Nov 26, 1792) in Charleston, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, and was the elder sister of Angelina Emily Grimke, they being cousins to the noted secessionist Robert Barnwell Rhett. Disgusted by the entrenched southern practice of slavery, Sarah removed to reside in Philadelphia (1821) where she joined the Quaker community, and devoted herself to the cause of the abolition of slavery.
Sarah was the author of the Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States (1836) and The Condition of Women (1838), and with her sister lectured in New York for the American Anti-Slavery Society. Sarah remained unmarried and resided with her sister in Massachusetts from 1838). She worked as a teacher until they both retired (1867). Sarah Moore Grimke died (Dec 23, 1873) at Hyde Park, Massachusetts, aged eighty-one.

Grimonia – (d. c450 AD) 
Irish Christian martyr
Grimonia travelled to Laon in Picardy, together with a companion called Proba, and the women lived there as religious recluses. They were later martyred there. Their relics were preserved at the Abbey of Herford, in Westphalia. A chapel was erected on the actual site of their deaths, which later evolved into the town of Chapelle. Sometimes referred to as ‘Germana’ the church honoured her as a saint (April 29 and Sept 7).

Grimshaw, Beatrice – (1871 – 1953)
Irish traveller and writer
Ethel Beatrice Grimshaw was born at Cloona, in County Antrim, the daughter of Nicholas Grimshaw. She received her education at Caen in Normandy and in Belfast, before going on to study at Bedford College, London. Grimshaw began her career as a journalist in London and travelled to the South Pacific (1906) as a press-agent for shipping lines. She travelled extensively throughout South East Asia and the Pacific, and was the first woman to travel up the notoriously dangerous Sepik and Fly rivers. She wrote and published over three dozen travel books such as From Fiji to the Cannibal Islands (1907) and Vaiti of the Islands (1907), besides novels and collections of short stories. She spent the last years of her life in Australia. Her last published work was Wild Mint of Moresby (1940). Beatrice Grimshaw died (June, 1953) at Bathurst, New South Wales.

Grindea, Carola – (1914 – 2009)
British pianist and teacher
Born Carola Rabinovici (Jan 29, 1914) at Piatra Neamt in Moldavia, she studied piano in Bucharest in Hungary, and she became the wife (1936) of the music critic and art editor Miron Grindea. With the rise of the Nazi regime the Grindeas managed to come to England (1939), with the help of Dame Myra Hess, and Carola continued her piano studies under Tobias Matthay. After this she performed with chamber groups, whilst her home in Kensington was open to both English and international literary and musical figures such as Yehudi Menuhin, Moura Lympany, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jean Paul Sartre and Pablo Neruda.
Madame Grindea established the International Society for Study of Tension in Performance (1980) in order to promote physical and mental health as a means of enhancing the performance of musicians. She also founded the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe which held an annual musical competition and was a professor of music for three decades at the Guildhall School of Music in London. She published a collection of conversations with famous figures of the music world entitled Great Pianists and Pedagogues (2008). Carola Grindea died (July 10, 2009) aged ninety-five

Grinevskaia, Izabella Arkadievna – (1864 – 1944)
Russian poet, dramatist, translator and literary critic
Izabella Grinevskaia was fluent in Italian, German, Polish, and French. Her first published work was the play The First Storm (1895). Her best known work was the verse drama Bab, which was first staged in St Petersburg with great success (1904). She wrote two other plays Harsh Days (1909), which was set during the Pugachev rebellion, and Bekha Ulla (1912). Grinevskaia published the collection of plays and stories The Little Lights (1900) and was the author of the pamphlet The Right of Books, in which she protested against censorship. Her published collections of verse included Poems (1904), Salute to Heroes (1915) and Poems (1922).

Grippenberg, Baroness Alexandra van     see    Van Grippenberg

Grisi, Carlotta – (1819 – 1899)
Italian ballerina
Born Caronne Adele Josephine Marie Grisi (June 28, 1819) at Visinada, Istria, near Mantua, she was cousin to the sopranos, Giuditta and Giulia Grisi. She received her training at the ballet school of La Scala in Milan. Her teacher, Jules Perrot, later became her husband. Carlotta danced in London and Venice, with enormous success, and achieved fame at the Paris Opera by being the first dancer to perform the title role of the ballet Gisele (1841) which Gautier wrote for her. She also performed the original roles in the operas Esmerelda (1844) and Paquita (1846). Grisi retired after returning from a successful tour of Warsaw in Poland (1854), and retired to live near Geneva, in Switzerland. Carlotta Grisi died (May 20, 1899) at Saint-Jean, near Geneva, aged seventy-nine.

Grisi, Giuditta – (1805 – 1840)
Italian mezzo-soprano
Giuditta was born (July 28, 1805) in Milan, Lombardy, the elder sister of Giulia, and the cousin of the ballerina Carlotta Grisi. She received her vocal training at the Milan Conservatory, and made her stage debut in Venice in the opera Bianco e Faliano, written by Gioacchino Rossini (1826). Giuditta Grisi performed with great success in London, Madrid, and Paris, and was famous for creating the role of Romeo in the opera I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830) written by Vincenzo Bellini. Giuditta retired from singing after her marriage (1838) with Conte Barni. Giuditta Grisi died (May 1, 1840) at Robecco d’Oglio, aged thirty-four.

Grisi, Giulia – (1811 – 1869)
Italian soprano
Giulia was born (July 28, 1811) in Milan in Lombardy, the younger sister of Giuditta Grisi and cousin of the famous dancer Carlotta Grisi. She was taught singing by her elder sister, and was particularly admired for her performances of the operas of Vincenzo Bellini, who created several roles specifically for Giulia such as Giulietta in I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830) and Adalgisa in Norma (1831). Giulia performed in London and Paris, with success equivalent to that of her sister, and later appeared in the works of Rossini such as the title role in Semiramide (1832) and Ninetta in La gazza ladra (1834). From 1839 until her death three decades later, Giulia was involved in a liasion with the noted tenor, Giovanni Mario, though the couple never married. Her first marriage (1836) with the Comte de Melcy ended in divorce, and Giulia remarried to Giovanni Mario, Conte de Candia (1810 – 1883). Giulia Grisi died (Nov 20, 1869) in Berlin, Prussia, aged fifty-eight.

Grissellini, Margherita – (1724 – 1791)
Italian dancer
Margherita Grissellini was born in Venice, the sister of Francesco Grissellini, the poet, translator and historian. Their father was a dyer (tintore), hence her popular epithet of ‘La Tintoretta,’ as the leading ballerina on the day.   An intelligent woman, whose dancing talent and looks were considered rather mediocre, Margherita nevertheless established her career with patrons to look after her, being the mistress of the elderly Girolamo Lin, thirty-five years her senior, the member of a prominent Bergamo family. Later, Margherita continued her involvement with Prince Karl August von Waldeck (1704 – 1763) whilst managing to retain her long standing liasion with Lin.

Gritsi-Milliex, Tatiana – (1920 – 2005)
Greek novelist and feminist
Tatiana Gritsi was born in Athens and studied at the university there. She continued to reside there during the Nazi occupation of WW II, during which time she worked as a volunteer for the Red Cross. She was married to a French citizen and bore two children, but later returned to live in Greece (1947 – 1959). Her first novel Thision Square (1947), dealt with the Greek resistance to the German regime. When her husband was transferred to the Cypriot French Institue, the couple resided in Cyprus for over a decade (1959 – 1971).
Active in the cause of women’s issues, Gritsi-Milliex represented Greece at the International Women’s Conference in Paris (1945). She worked in Greek broadcasting, and wrote and published articles in Greek and Cyprian newspapers. She was best known for her two collections of stories Lacerations (1981) and Retrospectives (1982). Gritsi-Milliex was elected a member of the Rakina Academy in Paris, and was a fouding member of the Company of Writers. Tatiana Gritsi-Milliex died (Feb 14, 2005) aged eighty-four.

Groa     see   Ingeborge Finnsdotter

Grogger, Paula – (1892 – 1984)
Austrian novelist, poet, dramatist and autobiographer
Grogger was born (July 12, 1892) in Oblarn, Styria, and attended a Catholic college in Salzburg. She resided in Styria for most of her life. Paula Grogger was best known for her novel Das Grimmingtor (The Door in the Grimming) (1926), which was translated into many languages and went through thirty editions. She dedicated her work Das Gleichnis von der Weberin (The Parable of the Weaver Woman) (1929) to the famous novelist Enrica Handel-Manzetti. She also published two atobiographical works Der Paradeisgarten: Geschichte einer Kindheit (1980) and Die Reise nach Brixen (1987) which was published posthumously. Paula Grogger died (Jan 1, 1984) aged ninety-one, in Oblarn.

Grondahl, Agathe     see    Backer-Grondahl, Agathe

Gropius, Alma    see   Mahler, Alma Maria

Grossman, Haike – (1919 – 1996)
Jewish war heroine and politician
Haike Grossman was born in Bialystok, in Poland. She moved to Vilno where she became a lader of the left wing Zionist movement, committed to the ideals of kibbutz life, the Hashomer Hatzair. Trapped in the Russian zone of partitioned Poland (1939), Haike quickly became involved in consducting sabotage operations against the German defence installations and line of communications. Haike returned to Bialystok (1942) to bolster the resistance there, but later, with several others, she managed to reach the relative safety of Warsaw. After the war she married and moved to Israel (1948), and was later elected to the Knesset (1968), as a member of the Mapam, the ruling Labour Party.

Grosvenor, Anne – (1679 – 1750)
British letter writer
Her correspondence with the antiquarian Sir Horace Walpole survives. Anne Grosvenor remained unmarried. In 1738 she was appointed under housekeeper at Somerset House, London, being promoted to housekeeper in 1739.

Grosvenor, Beatrice Elizabeth Katharine – (1915 – 1985) 
British nursing organizer
Beatrice Grosvenor was born (Nov 6, 1915), the elder daughter of Lord Edward Arthur Grosvenor (1892 – 1929) and his wife, Lady Dorothy Margaret Browne, daughter of the fifth Earl of Kenmare. Her stepfather was Sir Evan Charteris (died 1940). During WW II Beatrice Grosvenor served as the assistant Superintendent-in-Chief of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, and was mention in despatches. Her marriage (1944) was annulled the following year and she retained the Grosvenor name. She was appointed D.St.J (Daughter of the Order of St John of Jerusalem) and after the war served as deputy Superintendent-in-Chief of the Brigade (1954 – 1958). Mrs Grosvenor was made CBE (Commander of the Order of the Britsh Empire) by King George VI (1952) in recognition of her valuable volunteer work for the war effort during WW II.

Grosvenor, Henrietta Vernon, Countess – (1743 – 1828)
British Hanoverian courtier and society beauty
A member of the court of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III (1760 – 1820), Henrietta Vernon was born at Hilton Park in Staffordshire, the daughter of Henry Vernon, of Hilton Park, Staffordshire, and his wife Henrietta, the daughter of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Her father was descended from Henry Vernon (born 1637), the second son of Sir Henry Vernon, of Sudbury (1615 – 1658). Henrietta was married (1764) in Hanover Square, London, to Sir Richard Grosvenor (1731 – 1802), first Earl Grosvenor, and was the mother of Robert Grosvenor (1767 – 1845), who succeeded his father as second Earl Grosvenor (1802) and was created first Marquess of Westminster by King William IV (1831).
Her scandalous liasion with the king’s brother, the Duke of Gloucester, created quite a public cause celebre, and her husband brought a libel against the countess for adultery with the prince (1770) and the couple seperated, her husband settling a generous yearly allowance on her. Extremely vain, but apparently possessedof only moderate beauty, and little sensible understanding, the countess was paid to hand over her letters from the prince to the royal family, and damages of ten thousand pounds were awarded Lord Grosvenor, despite the efforts of the Chief Justice Lord Mansfield, to spare the Duke. Lady Henrietta long survived her husband as Dowager Countess Grosvenor (1802 – 1828). She remarried two weeks after his death to Lieutenant-General George Parker, Baron de Hochepied (1759 – 1828), who narrowly predeceased her. The countess died (Jan 2, 1828) aged eighty-four, and was interred in the Grosvenor vault at Shareshill, Stafford.

Grosvenor, Mary (Lady Grosvenor) – (1665 – 1730)
English Stuart heiress and dynastic matriarch
Mary Davies was the only child and heiress of Alexander Davies (1635 – 1665), of Edbury, Middlesex. Her mother died at her birth and her father died when she was three months old, leaving Mary an estate of 430 acres in Middlesex. An act of Parliament was later passed to enable some of her estates to be sold in order to pay her father’s debts (1675). These properties included Goring House and its grounds. Popularly known as the ‘Maid of Ebury,’
Mary was married (1677) to Sir Thomas Grosvenor (1664 – 1700), third baronet, the wedding being performed by her maternal grandfather, Reverend Alexander Dukeson. Her mind had shown signs of feebleness, but her husband died before he could make adequate provision for her protection. She lost the entire Ebury property due to the machinations of two unscrupulous brothers named Fenwick, who gained control of Lady Grosvenor’s person and her decisions. One of the brothers claimed he had married Lady Grosvenor in order to gain futher control of her property, which claimwas contested by Lady Mary’s legal guardian, Charles Cholmondeley. Despite evidence showing that Lady Grosvenor had been drugged with opium, the court found the marriage, though forced, was valid, and they found in favour of Fenwick. However, the court of Delegates of Sarjeants Inn overturned this verdict on the grounds that Mary had not been compose mentis at the time of the alleged marriage, and imposed silence upon Fenwick. Lady Mary left eight children,

• Sir Richard Grosvenor (1689 – 1732). He succeeded his father as fourth baronet (1700 – 1732), was married twice, but died childless.
• Thomas Grosvenor (c1691 – c1692). He died in infancy.
• Sir Thomas Grosvenor (1693 – 1733). He succeeded his elder brother as fifth baronet (1732 – 1733), but died unmarried.
• Sir Robert Grosvenor (1695 – 1755). He succeeded his elder brother as sixth baronet (1733 – 1755), was married and left descendants.
• Roger Grosvenor. He died young.
• Elizabeth Grosvenor. She died young.
• Mary Grosvenor. She died young.
• Anne Grosvenor (1700 – 1731). She was married to the Hon. (Honourable) William Leveson-Gower (died 1756), and left descendants.

Grote, Harriet – (1792 – 1878)
British biographer and writer
Born Harriet Lewin near Southampton, she was raised at Bexley, and was married secretly (1820) to the reformer George Grote, the son of a banker. The death of her first child left her sufferring permanent ill-health.When her husband was elected to parliament, Harriet established herself as a leading salon hostess of Radical politicians, but after 1839 increasingly turned her interest, and talent, towards patronage of the arts. She befriended the composer Mendelssohn, and brought the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind to perform in London. She wrote articles which were published in the Spectator (1842 – 1852) and produced the biography of the painter Memoir of the Life of Ary Scheiffer (1860). Grote supported the Society for the Promotion of Employment for Women and supported reforms to the marriage laws which would enable women to have property rights. She was widowed in 1871 and then published The Personal Life of George Grote (1873). Grote was also the author of A Brief Retrospect of the Political Events of 1831 – 1832 (1878).

Grotell, Maija – (1899 – 1973)
Finnish potter and artist
Grotell attended secondary school, and then studied painting, sculpture, and design in her own country before removing to New York in the USA (1927), where she established her own ceramic studio. She was later employed as a lecturer at Rutgers University in New Jersey (1936 – 1938). Maija Grotell became known for her trademark art deco style of ceramics, whoch she decorated with harbour scenes, and received prizes for work which was exhibited in Paris and in Barcelona. She was appointed to head the ceramics department of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, a post she filled for almost three decades (1938 – 1966). She was particularly known for the perfecting several rough-textured glazes, and a particular cratered glaze.

Groth, Doris – (1830 – 1878)
German literary figure and journal writer
Doris Groth was the wife of the author Klaus Groth. Her private journal was published posthumously as Wohin Das Herz uns Treibt: Die Tagebucher Der Doris Groth Geb.Finke. (1985).

Grouzinskaya, Salome Pharnaozievna – (1797 – 1860)
Russian Imperial courtier
Salome Pharnaozievna Grouzinskaya was born a Princess of Georgia, being the eldest daughter of Prince Pharnaoz of Georgia (1777 – 1852) and his wife Princess Anna Giorgievna Eristoff-Ksansky, the daughter of Prince Giorgi Eristoff-Ksansky. She never married and served at the court as lady-in-waiting to the empresses Alexandra Feodorvna and Marie Alexandrovna, wives of Nicholas I and Alexander II. Princess Salome Grouzinskaya died (April 1, 1860) in St Petersburg. Her younger sister Princess Elena (1799 – 1867) held the same court appointment as Salome, and likewise never married.

Grove, Agnes Pitt Rivers, Lady – (1864 – 1926)
British soprano, traveller and author
Agnes Pitt Rivers was born (July 25, 1864). She was the author of The Human Woman (1908) and On Fads (1910). Lady Grove died (Dec 7, 1926) aged sixty-two, at Shaftesbury, in Wiltshire.

Grumbach, Argula von – (1492 – after 1563)
German Protestant and theological debater, letter writer and poet
Born Argula von Stauffer in Seefeld, Bavaria, she served at the Bavarian court in Munich, as a lady-in-waiting to the duchess, Kunigunde of Austria, daughter of the emperor Maximilian I. With the deaths of her parents (1502) she became a ward of Duke Wilhelm, son of Kunigunde, who arranged a suitable marriage for her (1516) with Freidrich von Grumbach.
A supporter of the new Protestant theology, as given by Martin Luther, Argula sent a letter of protest to the University of Ingoldstadt when it forced a lecturer, Arsacius Seehofer, to retract her Protestant views (1523). A copy of the letter, along with complaints of clerical abuses, she sent to Duke Wilhelm. She received no answer, but her husband soon lost his employment, and she was abandoned by her family. Madame von Grumbach finally met Luther in 1530 at Coburg Castle, and thereafter corresponded with him. With the death of Grumbach, Argula remarried to Count Schlick, but her second husband soon died, and she remained a widow. As an old lady of seventy she sufferred a period of inprisonment (1563) for practising forbidden religious rituals.

Grummer, Elisabeth – (1911 – 1986)
German dramatic actress and soprano
Grummer was born (March 31, 1911) at Niederjentz, near Diedenhofen in Alsace (now Thionville). Because of their German antecedents, the family were expelled from Lorraine at the end of WW I (1918), and retired to Meiningen. Elisabeth received her stage training there and made her debut in the role of Klarchen in Johann Wolgang Goethe’s Egmont. She was married to the theatre concertmaster, Detlev Grummer, and resided with him at Aachen, bearing several children.
After some considerable vocal training the conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908 – 1989) cast Grummer as the first flower maiden in Richard Wagner’s Parsifal. Widowed by a bombing raid, after WW II, Grummer settled in Berlin, where she performed at the Stadische Opera, as well as performing in several other European cities and in the USA, being was particularly admired for her concert performances of Brahms’ German Requiem. Elisabeth Grummer died (Nov 6, 1986) in Warendorf in Westphalia, aged seventy-five.

Gruoch – (c1012 – 1057)
Queen consort of Scotland
Gruoch was the daughter of Prince Bodhe, a younger son of King Kenneth III. With her brother Malcolm, Gruoch was the elder respresentative of the royal Scottish house, in opposition to Malcolm II, who had taken the throne in 1005. Her marriage to Gillecomgain, Earl of Moray (c1026), was arranged to strengthen his claim to the high-kingship of Scotland. Gruoch bore a son and heir, the future King Lulach (1031 – 1058). Gruoch managed to escape a fire at Inverness with her infant son (1032), though her husband was killed. This had been instigated by Malcolm II with the intention of wiping out the whole family. Malcolm then arranged for the murder of her brother (1033), and Gruoch remarried to Macbeth, mormaer (earl) of Moray, who adopted her son as his heir.
With the murder of Duncan I (1040) Macbeth became king of Scotland. Both husband and wife were generous patrons of the church, notably to the abbey of Loch Leven, in Kinross, and their benefactions were noted by the Register of St Andrews. The queen died shortly before the death of her husband, aged about forty-five. The writer Hector Boethius, writing nearly five hundred years later, was the first writer to turn Queen Gruoch into the evil ‘Lady Macbeth’ and laid the foundation for the creation of one of the most evil women in literature, the ‘fiend-like queen,’ of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth (1605 – 1606), a character who bore no similarity whatever to her historical namesake.

Gruszecka, Aniela – (1884 – 1976)
Polish novelist and literary critic
Aniela Gruszecka was born (May 18, 1884) in Warsaw. Aniela was a member of the literary society in Krakow and wrote popular historical novels for juvenile readers such as Krol (The King) (1913) and Nad jeziorem (By the Lake) (1921). Gruszecka was also the author of the six volume Powiesc o kronie Galla (A Novel About the Gallus Chronicle) (1960 – 1970) and Cale zycie w przyrodzie mowy ojczystej (A Lifetime Spent Immersed in My Mother Tongue) (1976).

Grymeston, Elizabeth – (1562 – 1603)
English author
Elizabeth Bernye was the daughter of Martin Bernye of Gunton Hall, Suffolk, and his wife Margaret Flynte. Elizabeth had musical training during her childhood and then became the wife (1584) of Christopher Grymeston, the bursar of Caius College at Cambridge University, who later became a lawyer (1599). Elizabeth bore her husband a large family of nine children, of whom only one son, Bernye Grymeston, survived to adulthood. With Christopher she shared definite Roman Catholic sympathies, and she wrote the volume entitled, Miscelana.Meditations. Memoratives, which was published posthumously (1604) and intended as a legacy for her surviving son. In it she included moral maxoms and quoted from the works of the Catholic poets Robert Southwell and Richard Verstegan.

Gryzimislava Ingvarievna – (c1191 – 1258) 
Polish ruler
Princess Gryzimislava Ingvarievna was the daughter of Ingwar, Prince of Kiev and Luszk. She was married (1207) to Leszek I, Duke of Poland (1186 – 1227). Her attempt to rule for their son Boleslav I (died 1279) was frustrated by the determined attempts of her brother Conrad of Masovia, to gain control of the throne. When the duchess and her son were imprisoned by Conrad in the monastery of Sieciechow, the duchess managed to bribe the abbot so that he allowed them all to escape. The duchess fled with her children to Breslau, the court of Duke Henry I of Silesia, and his wife Hedwig, and threw themselve on their protection (1228). In 1237 Duke Henry reoccupied Cracow, and Boleslav was restored as reigning prince, and Gryzimislava as queen mother. The duchess undertook the education of her son’s wife Kunigunde, daughter of Bela IV of Hungary, for her future role as queen, and in 1241, during the Tartar invasions she accompanied her family to the safety of the Hungarian court. She encouraged her son to build the Franciscan abbey of Zavichost, where she was buried. Her tomb was destroyed when the Tartars again overan Poland (1260).

Gsovskaia, Tatjana – (1901 – 1993)
Russian ballerina, dancer and choreographer
Govskaia was born (March 18, 1901) nee Issatchenko. She was married to the choreographer Victor Gsovsky (1902 – 1974). Madame Gsovskaia died (Sept 29, 1993) aged ninety-two.

Guadalcazar, Marquesa de    see   Guzman y de la Cerda, Maria Isidra Quintina de

Guaineri, Antonia – (1407 – 1507)
Italian nun and saint
Guaineri was born in Brescia and was placed as a child in the Dominican convent of Santa Caterina the Martyr in that city. She was once stripped and beaten before the other sisters over a minor infraction, to teach her submission, and Antonia became a model nun. Decades later (1473) she was sent with other sisters of her order, to reform the convent of St Caterina in Ferrara, and was elected prioress there. Antonia Guaineri died aged one hundred and was revered as a saint (Oct 27).

Gualdrada of Tuscany    see    Waldrada of Tuscany

Gualtar, Elvira – (fl. c1100 – c1110)
Portugese courtier
Dona Elvira Gualtar was the mistress of Henry of Burgundy, count of Portugal, the husband of Queen Teresa (1116 – 1128). Elvira bore Henry an illegitimate son whom he recognized as Pedro Afonso de Portugal (1105 – May 8, 1179). Pedro later became noted as the friend of the Cistercian patron, St Bernard of Clairvaux, and became a Benedictine monk at Alcantara. Elvira became a nun when her association with Count Henry ended.

Guandilmodis    see    Wandelmodis of Troyes

Guard, Betty – (1814 – 1870)
Australian-New Zealand pioneer and hostage
Baptized Elizabeth Parker (Dec 3, 1814) at Parramatta, New South Wales, she was raised in Sydney in the household of her mother’s common-law husband, and was married young (1830) to the older Jacky Guard, a seaman. Betty accompanied Jack to New Zealand, where they lived at the whaling station at Te Awaiti (Tar’white) in the Tory Channel, on the South Island. Betty Guard was the first European woman to settle in the South Island, as her eldest son, John Guard was the first European (Pakeha) born child. After surviving the shipwreck of the Harriet at Cape Egmont, Taranaki, with her husband and children (Jan, 1834), the survivors were then attacked by some of the seaman and some local Maoris, and most of the crew were killed, leaving only Betty, her husband, and children, and a handful of others.
Her husband was sent for ransom, whilst Betty and her children were stripped naked, and would have been killed by their Maori captors, had not the local chieftain, Oaoiti, intervened and saved their lives. Betty was forced to live with the chief as his wife until she was finally rescued by a strong and brutal force directed her her husband (Oct, 1834). Though many believed she had borne Oaoiti twin sons, it was never proven. Betty retired to Kakapo Bay with her husband, and bore him six more children. Betty Guard died there (July 16, 1870) aged fifty-five.

Guarienti di Brenzone, Vittoria Francesca Calvi di Bergolo, Contessa – (1927 – 1985)
Italian patrician and society figure
Born Contessa Vittoria Francesca Anna Maria Consolata Paolina Calvi di Bergolo (June 22, 1927) in Turin, Piedmont, she was the granddaughter of King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy (1900 – 1946), being the second daughter of his eldest daughter Princess Yolanda of Savoy and her husband, Giorgio Carlo Calvi, Conte di Bergolo. Vittoria Calvi de Bergolo was married in Alexandria, Egypt (1947) to the Conte Guglielomo Guarienti di Brenzone (born 1919), to whom she bore three children, and left descendants. The Contessa Garienti di Brenzone died (March, 1985) aged fifty-seven, at Gorda.

Guarini, Anna – (1563 – 1598)
Italian virtuoso vocalist
Anna Guarini was the daughter of the poet Giovanni Battista Guarini and his wife Taddaea Bendidio. She was the niece to Isabella and Lucrezia Bendidio and established a reputation for herself as famous vocalist at the court of the Este family at Ferrara. The poet Torquato Tasso admired her in his verse Mentre in concento alterno. She was married (1585) to a nobleman Conte Enrico Trotti, who later believed her to be guilty of committing adultery, though without direct evidence. He and her brother, Girolamo Guarini, then murdered Anna with an axe in her bedchamber whilst she was recovering from an illness (May 3, 1598). She was aged thirty-four.

Guarna, Rebecca – (fl. c1200 – c1220)
Italian physician and medical author
Rebecca Guarna was a native of Salerno. Famous for her extensive knowledge of medicinal herbs, Rebecca wrote three treatises De Febribus, De Urinis, and De Embryone, which included detailed information on the treatment of fevers and urine analysis.

Guda – (fl. c1150)
German illuminator
Guda lived as a laywoman of nun in Westphalia, Saxony, where she worked in the scriptorium as an illiminator of manuscripts. Guda wrote and decorated a Homiliary of St Bartholomew which was preserved at the Stadt und Universitats Bibliothek at Frankfurt-am-Main, which she signed with her own self-portrait.

Gudaigne, Judith Angelique Le Castelier de Saint-Pater, Marquise de – (c1626 – 1702)
French courtier and espionage agent
Judith Le Castelier de Saint-Pater was the daughter of Louis Le Coustelier, seigneur de Saint-Pater, and his wife Judith, the niece of Henri, Marquis de Beringhen. She was married firstly to the seigneur de Barneville, and secondly (1666) to the marquis de Gudaigne, leaving issue by her first husband a daughter, Marie Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, better known as the traveller, diarist and children’s author, the Baronne d’Aulnoy.
With the death of her first husband, Madame de Barneville quickly remarried to the Marquis de Gudaigne, who soon died. In 1669 the marquise and her daughter instituted a prosecution against her son-in-law, the Baron d’Aulnoy for high treason. He was initially inprisoned within the Bastille, but a conspiracy was quickly exposed, and the two women saved themselves by fleeing France, and eventually arrived at the court of Madrid, in Spain (1679). From the details available concerning this vague conspiracy, it would appear that Mme de Gudaigne was the prime mover in the affair.
Attached to the household of the French queen Marie Louise d’Orleans, the first wife of King Carlos II, from 1690 Madame de Gudaigne acted as an unofficial informer on Spanish affairs to the French ocurt, and several of her letters have survived. Granted a generous pension by the Spanish court, she was eventaully caught double-dealing (1698), and ordered to exile herself from Madrid. This order was later rescinded and her pension restored, it being continued by order of the king’s successor, Philip V, in favour of her two granddaughters, who had been residing with Madame de Gudaigne in Madrid, at the time of her death.

Gudeliva – (fl. c500 – 536)
Ostrogothic queen
Queen Gudeliva was the wife of King Theodahadus of the Ostrogoths, and was probably the mother of his son Theudegisculus who was placed under guard in Rome by King Vitigis after the murder of Theodahadus (536). Gudeliva was also the mother of a daughter named Theodenantha, wife of Ebrimuth, who was granted patrician rank by the Emperor Justinian I (536).
The chronicler Procopius of Caesarea referred to Gudeliva in his de belle Gothico though he did not name her. Cassiodorus in his Variae mentoed two letters sent to the Byzantine empress Theodora signed by Gudeliva regina. She is thought to have been involved in the murder of Queen Amalsuntha (535), the daughter of Theodoric the Great, through the machinations of Theodora who was thought to be jealous of her.

Guden, Hilde – (1917 – 1988)
Austrian coloratura soprano and chamber vocalist
Born Hulda Geiringer (Sept 15, 1917) in Vienna, of Jewish antecedents, she made her singing debut at the Vienna Volksoper (1937). She sang in Zurich and with the Vienna State Opera before joining the Munich State Opera in Bavaria (1942). Due to WW II and the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, Guden fled to safety in Italy, and performed in Rome and Florence. After the war she returned to Austria and joined the Vienna State Opera, where she sang for almost three decades (1946 – 1973). A member of the Vienna Mozart Ensemble, she sang with the Metroplitan Opera in New York (1951 – 1965), and was the first to perform the role of Sophie in Rosenkavalier, at Salzburg (1960). Hilde Guden died (Sept 17, 1988) at Klosterneuburg, aged seventy-one.

Gudit (Judith, Yehudit) – (c940 – 1003)
Abyssinian chieftain or queen
Queen Gudit was the non-Christian wife of the ruler of the Agau people, from the kingdom of Damot (Demdem), south of the Blue Nile, and southwest of Shawa, and is traditionally said to have practiced the Jewish religion with her husband. Sometime prior to 978, perhaps after being widowed Queen Gudit assumed the control of the government of her own kingdom and conducted a devastating campaign against the Christian provinces of Abyssinia as far as the mountains of Tigre.
The queen organized the overthrow of the ancient Christian dynasty of the Menelik kings of Axum (Aksum), whose royal family she then exterminated. She oppressed the Christian population and destroyed their churches. Gudit then took over the rule of Axum which remained under the control of the Agau until the Christian Zagwe dynasty finally managed to reclaim the kingdom one hundred and fifty years afterwards (1137). Gudit was sometimes referred to by the name Esato (The Fire), and the tenth century Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal from Baghdad wrote, As for Abyssinia, it had been ruled by a woman for many years. It is she who killed the Emperor of Abyssinia known as the Hadani and she still holds sway over her own country and the neighbouring regions of the Hadani’s country in the west of Abyssinia.

Gudrid Thorbjornsdotter – (fl. c990 – c1000)
Scandinavian colonist
Gudrid lived as a widow in Greenland with her father-in-law, Erik the Red. She later remarried (c998) to a wealthy Icelandic merchant, Thorfinn Karlsefni, with whom she sailed with others to settle in ‘Vinland’ in North America. Her son Snorri Thorfinsson was born there, becoming the first North American white child. When the settlement failed after a few years the family resettled in Iceland.

Guebriant, Renee du Bec-Crespen, Comtesse de – (1614 – 1659)
French courtier and diplomatic figure
Renee du Bec-Crespen served at the Bourbon court as maid-of-honour to the queen mother, Marie de Medici, the widow of Henry IV. She became the wife (1632) of Jean Baptiste Budes, Comte de Guebriant (1602 – 1643) and Marshal of France.
The comtesse and her husband attended the court of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, and when he travelled to Poland as ambassador, Renee accompanied him there as ‘ambassadress,’ and attended Marie Louise de Gonzaga on her marriage with the Polish king, Ladislas IV. She then served as lady-in-waiting to Anne of Austria, the mother of Louis XIV. Her private correspondence which dealt with the period of her life at the polish court was later published as Lettres a la Palatine. Madame de Guebriant died (Sept 2, 1659) at Perigueux.

Guemenee, Charlotte Elisabeth de Cochefilet, Princesse de – (1657 – 1719)
French Bourbon aristocrat
Charlotte de Cochefilet became the second wife (1679) of Charles III de Rohan (1655 – 1727), Duc de Montbazon and Prince de Guemenee. With her husband the princesse attended the court of Louis XIV at Versailles. She died during the Regency period. Madame de Guemenee left thirteen children,

• Princess Charlotte de Rohan-Guemenee (1680 – 1733). She was married firstly to Antoine de Colins, Marquis de Mortagne (died 1720), and secondly to Jean de Crqui, Comte de Canaples.
• Prince Louis Henri de Rohan-Guemenee (1681 – 1689). He died young.
• Francois Armand de Rohan-Guemenee (1682 – 1717), Prince de Montbazon. He was married and left issue, but predeceased his father.
• Princess Anne Therese de Rohan-Guemenee (1684 – 1738). She became a nun and appointed Abbess of Jouarre.
• Louis Charles Casimir de Rohan-Guemenee (1686 – 1749), Comte de Rochefort. He took holy orders and became a priest.
• Hercule Meriadeuc de Rohan-Guemenee (1688 – 1757). He succeeded as Duc de Montbazon and Prince de Guemenee, and left issue.
• Princess Marie Anne Benigne de Rohan-Guemenee (1690 – 1743). She became a nun and was appointed as Abbess of Panthemont in Paris. Twin with her sister Marie Anne.
• Princess Marie Anne de Rohan-Guemenee (1690 – 1711). She became a nun with her elder twin sister at Jouarre.
• Princess Angelique Eleonore de Rohan-Guemenee (1691 – 1753). She became a nun and was appointed as Abbess of Preaux and Marquette.
• Charles de Rohan-Guemenee (1693 – 1766), Prince de Rochefort. He was married and left issue.
• Prince Armand Jules de Rohan-Guemenee (1695 – 1762). He became a priest and was appointed as Archbishop of Rheims.
• Princess Charlotte Julie de Rohan-Guemenee (1696 – 1756). She became a nun under her sister Angelique at Preaux.
• Prince Louis Caesar Constantine de Rohan-Guemenee (1697 – 1779). He became a priest and was appointed Bishop of Strasbourg, and made a Cardinal.

Guemenee, Victoire Armande Josephe de Rohan-Soubise, Princesse de – (1743 – 1807)
French courtier
Princesse Victoire de Rohan-Soubise was born (Dec 28, 1743), the daughter of Charles de Rohan, Prince and Marechal de Soubise-Soubise (1715 – 1787), and his wife Victoria (Victoire), the daughter of Joseph, the Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Rheinsfels-Rothemburg (1705 – 1744), and granddaughter to Landgrave Ernst Leopold (1684 – 1749).
Victoire was married (1761) to her cousin, Henry Louis Marie de Rohan (1745 – 1808), Prince de Rohan-Guemenee. She became the mistress of Augustin Franquetot, Comte de Joigny (1740 - 1817). Madame de Guemenee, as she became known at Versailles, was appointed to serve as governess (1778 - 1782) to Madame Royale (Princess Marie Therese Charlotte, later Duchesse d' Angouleme), the daughter of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. Her portrait with Madame Royale survives, but the artist remains unknown.
Her enormous gambling debts became a source of embarassment at court, and her appointment had been an attempt to provide the princesse with some financial relief. She survived the horrors of the Revolution and emigrated with her husband and family to Austria. They later settled at Sychrov Castle in Bohemia. The princesse is mentioned in the correspondence of the British antiquarian Sir Horace Walpole. She appears in the historical novels Flaunting, Extravagant Queen (1956) by Jean Plaidy, and in The Queen's Confession (1968) by Victoria Holt.
Princesse Victoire de Guemenee died (Sept 20, 1807) aged sixty-three, in Paris. The Prince de Guemenee survived her only a few months and died in Prague, Bohemia. The couple had five children,

• Princess Charlotte Victoire de Rohan-Guemenee (1761 – 1771). She died young.
• Prince Charles Alain Gabriel de Rohan (1764 – 1836), Prince de Rohan-Guemenee (1808 – 1836) and Duc de Rohan. He was married and left issue.
• Princess Marie Louise Josephine de Rohan-Guemenee (1765 – 1839). She was married to her cousin, Charles Louis Gaspard de Rohan (1765 – 1843), Prince de Montauban-Rochefort, and left issue.
• Prince Louis Victor de Rohan (1766 – 1846), Prince de Rohan-Guemenee and Duc de Montauban. He was married and left issue.
• Prince Jules Armand Louis de Rohan (1768 – 1836), Prince de Rohan-Guemenee. He was married but died childless.

Guercheville, Antoinette de Pons, Marquise de    see    Pons, Antoinette de

Guerchy, Gabrielle Lydie d’Harcourt, Comtesse de – (1722 – after 1790)
French diplomat and salonniere
A member of the princely Harcourt clan, she became the wife (1740) of Claude Louis Francois de Regnier, Comte de Guerchy (1715 – 1767) who served as French Ambassador to the British court of George III and Queen Charlotte in London (1763 – 1767). The Comtesse and her husband were also prominent members of society at the inner court of Louis XV at Versailles. Considered to be plain in appearance, the Comtesse was a relative of the famous salonniere Mme Du Deffand, for whom her cook prepared orange jelly, and of the Duchesse de Fronsac. She was also a friend to Horace Walpole, the English antiquarian and letter writer, who entertained her in England, at his estate of Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, near London, and with whom she corresponded. Taken to visit the popular Vauxhall Gardens, the comtesse visited the estate of the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood House, and received the notorious Duke of Queensberry during her stay there.  
Despite her ordinary appearance, Louis XV was fond of her, and the Chevalier d’Eon mistakenly believed that she would succeed Madame de Pompadour as the king’s mistress. Her daughter Victoire Felicite Regnier de Guerchy (c1749 – 1838) married (1768) Joseph Louis Bernard de Cleron, Comte d’Haussonville. Madame de Guerchy withdrew into permanent retirement after her husband’s death (1767) and was still living in 1790. She disappeared during the upheavals created by the Revolution, and her date of death remains unknown.

Guerin, Eugenie Henriette Augustine de – (1805 – 1848)
French journal and letter writer
Guerin was born (Jan 29, 1805) at the Chateau de Cayla, in the Tarn region, near Albi, the daughter of a rural gentleman. She was the sister of popular dandy, poet, and philosopher, Maurice Guerin, who died before her, and whose works were better known. She remained unmarried. Eugenie led a quiet, contemplative life, unlike that led by her brother, and this is fully described in her Journal, written over a six year period (1834 – 1840), and published posthumously (1862). Guerin was also the author of a large number of letters to her brother, composed in an elegant style, which were published in 1864 by the family friend, the critic Barbey d’Aurevilly. Eugenie Guerin died (May 31, 1848) aged forty-three, of tuberculosis at Le Cayla.

Guerrabella, Ginevra    see   Ward, Dame Genevieve

Guertes, Dolores Adios     see    Menken, Adah Isaacs

Guery, Fortuna Augustin – (c1894 – 1975)
Haitian memoirist and songwriter
Guery was born at Port-au-Prince, and published the work Temoignages (1950). Fortuna Guery died at Port-au-Prince.

Guesclin, Julienne de – (1333 – 1405)
French heroine and nun
Julienne was born into the minor Breton nobility, the daughter of Guillaume du Guesclin and his wife Julienne de Beaumont de Gitte, and was the sister of Bertrand du Guesclin (c1320 – 1380), the Constable of France. She became a nun and abbess and was forced to flee to the castle of Pontorson during an attacke by English forces led by Thomas Felton. When the English led an assault on the castle the abbess, in a fit of rage, pushed away the scaling ladders placed against the castle walls.

Guesnerie, Charlotte Marie Anne Charbonniere de la – (1710 – 1785)
French novelist
Charlotte de la Guesnerie is best remembered as the author of a quartet of extremely popular sentimental novels, prized by their contemporaries for their elegant style Memoires de Milady B (1760), sometimes attributed to Madame Riccoboni Iphis et Aglae (1768), Memoires de Milady Varmonti (1778) and Les Ressources de la vertu (The Resources of Virtue) (1782).

Guest, Charlotte Elizabeth Bertie, Lady – (1812 – 1895)
Anglo-Welsh scholar and diarist
Lady Charlotte Bertie was born at Uffington House, Lincolnshire, the daughter of Albemarle Bertie, ninth Earl of Lindsey. With the death of her father (1818), her mother remarried to David Parsons, a clergyman. Lady Charlotte was married firstly (1833) to the Welsh industrialist, Sir Josiah John Guest of Dowlais, Glamorgan, and secondly (1855), Charles Schreiber, amember of parliament.
With the death of her first husband (1852), Lady Guest successfully managed his ironworks at Dowlais in Merthyr Tydfil. Especially interested in Welsh literature and traditions, Lady Guest is best known for her translation and editing of The Mabinogion (1838 – 1849), with which she received valuable assistance from Thomas Price and John Jones. She was also a noted collector of fans, china, and playing cards. Her collections were bequeathed to the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Lady Charlotte’s personal diary, which she began as a young girl in the reign of George IV (1822), was later edited and published by Lord Bessborough (1952).

Guest, C.Z. – (1920 – 2003)
American socialite and gardening author
Born Lucille Douglas Cochrane (Feb 19, 1920) in Boston, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of Alexander Lynde Cochrane, an investment banker. ‘C.Z.’ was a family nickname that stuck. She studied art and later worked briefly on stage with the Ziegfeld Follies (1944). C.Z. became the second wife (1947) in Havana, Cuba, of the British nobleman from the family of the Barons Wimborne, Winston Frederick Guest (1906 – 1982), a captain with the US marines, a great-grandson of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, and cousin to Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. The novelist Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) was her husband’s best man.
The couple had homes in Sutton Place South, New York, and in Palm Beach, Florida. C.Z. bore her husband a son, Alexander Guest (born 1954), whilst her daughter Cornelia Guest was once romantically linked with the actor Sylvester Stallone. She herself was friends with such luminaries as Truman Capote (1924 – 1984) and the Duchess of Windsor. From 1976 C.Z. Guest wrote gardening advice columns for the New York Post, and her book First Garden, was illustrated by Sir Cecil Beaton (1904 – 1980). C.Z. Guest died (Nov 8, 2003) aged eighty-three, in Westbury, New York.

Guette, Catherine de la – (1613 – 1676)  
French memoirist
Born Catherine Meudrac (Feb 20, 1613) at Mandres en Brie, Normandy, she received an excellent education and was trained in the martial arts. Catherine was married (1635) without the permission of her family, to Captain Jean Marius de la Guette, to whom she bore ten children. Her personal reminiscences entitled Memoires, escrits par elle-meme (1681) were published posthumously, and provide descriptions of her personal experiences as a royalist supporter during the Wars of the Fronde (1649 – 1653). Her husband died in disgrace (1665) and Catherine retired to Holland to raise her children in exile, where she was provided with a small pension by William III. Madame de la Guette died at The Hague, Holland.

Guggenheim, Minnie – (1882 – 1966)
American music patron
Minnie was born (Oct 22, 1882). Mrs Guggenheim became the founder (1918) and organizer of the famous summer public concerts which were presented annually at Lewisohn Stadium in the City College of New York City. Minnie Guggenheim died (May 23, 1966) aged eighty-three.

Guggenheim, Olga Hirsch – (1877 – 1970)
Jewish-American philanthropist and patron of the arts
Born Olga Hirsch (Sept 23, 1877) in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was the daughter of Henry Hirsch. She was married (1898) to the wealthy industrialist and politician Simon Guggenheim (died 1941) who served as senator for Colorado (1907 – 1913). Together with her husband she established the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1925) in memory of their late son. The purpose of this philanthropic organization was to provide assistance to scholars, writers, poets, composers, painters, and scientists of all kinds with their careers.
Olga Guggenheim made substantial donations to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and also established the Mrs Simon Guggenheim Fund to enable the museum to purchase art masterpieces. She donated many manuscripts and letters from her own collection to the New York Public Library (1953), and provided paintings and furniture to the Denver Art Museum. Mrs Guggenheim received the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for her service to the arts. Olga Guggenheim died (Feb 7, 1970) aged ninety-two, in New York.

Guggenheim, Peggy – (1898 – 1979)
American art collector and patron
Margeurite Guggenheim was born (Aug 26, 1898) in New York, the daughter of the wealthy industrialist, Meyer Guggenheim, and was the niece of Solomon Guggenheim, who founded the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Peggy Guggenheim received an excellent upper class education, and met such literary giants as Marcel Duchamp, Exra Pound, and James Joyce during her youth.
With the failure of her marriage to the painter Laurence Vail, to whom she bore two children, and their subsequent divorce, which was followed by the death of her lover, Peggy removed to Paris where she resided for the next decade (1930 – 1941). Guggenheim was an avid collector of paintings and art, and obtained examples of the works of many now famous artists in her own collection. She remarried (1941) to the German painter, Max Ernst, and returned with him to the USA. This marriage also ended in divorce (1946).
Peggy Guggenheim established her own art gallery ‘Art of This Century’ in New York, and where she exhibited the works of many up and coming artists such as Hans Hofmann and Jackson Pollock, amongst others. She long resided at her villa, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, along the Grand Canal in Venice, and was given an entire pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1948). Peggy arranged that after her death this palazzo would house the famous Guggenheim Collection, then worth more than thirty million American dollars. She published several works such as Out of this Century (1946) and Confessions of an Art Addict (1980), which was published posthumously. Peggy Guggenheim died (Dec 23, 1979) aged eighty-one, in Venice.

Guggisberg, Decima Moore, Lady – (1881 – 1964)
British actress, vocalist and diplomatic figure
Decima Moore was the daughter of Edmund Henry Moore, and his wife Emily Strachan. She was educated at Boswell House College, and later studied at the Blackheath Conservatoire of Music. Decima Moore performed the original stage role of Casilda in, The Gondoliers, at the Savoy Theatre, and she also performed in comedy roles, and sang in concert at the Albert Hall and Queen’s Hall. Decima became the second wife (1905) of Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg (1869 – 1930), the noted army engineer and surveyor. Decima Guggisberg accompanied her husband to the Gold Coast in Africa where he was appointed director of surveys (1905 – 1908), after which they returned to England, before spending several years in Nigeria (1910 – 1914) where her husband held the same post.
With the beginning WW I her husband rejoined his regiment, and Decima returned to England, and served as the honorary organizer and director-general of the British Navy, Army and air Force Leave Club in Paris, during this conflict, and later again served in the same capapcity during WW II (1939 – 1945). In recognition of this valuable volunteer service Decima Guggisberg was appointed CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by King George V (1918) and received the Medaille de Reconnaissance Francaise from the French government. Her influence with Lord Milner is said to have secured her husband’s appointment at governor of the Gold Coast (1919 – 1927), during which time she served as the colonial first lady. Decima was then governor’s lady in British Guiana when her husband served his last appointment (1928 – 1929), which was cut short by his increasing ill-health. She was for several years the exhibition commissioner and chairman of the British Empire Exhibition. Decima survived her husband for thirty-five years as the Dowager Lady Guggisberg (1930 – 1964). After WW II she continued her voluntary work in Paris for the British Welfare Service. She published the memoir We Two in West Africa. Lady Guggisberg died (Feb 18, 1964).

Guglielma of Milan – (c1240 – 1281)
Italian religious prophet
Guglielma established herself as a popular mystic at Milan in Lombardy. There she led a sect comprised of women, who revered Guglielma as the Holy Spirit. She was arrested and put to death as a heretic.

Guglielminetti, Amalia – (1885 – 1941)
Italian poet, novelist and children’s writer
Amalia Guglielmetti was born in Turin, Piedmont, into a comfortable middle class family. Her first collection of verse Voci di giovinezza (Voices of Youth), was published when she was eighteen (1903). Guglielminetti became involved in romantic liasions with the poet, Guido Cozzano, and with the novelist Pitigrilli, but this last affair ended badly, and she sufferred a mental breakdown. Her most successful novel was Gli occhi cerchiati d’azzurro (Eyes Circled with Blue) (1920), whilst her other published works included Vergini folli (Crazed Virgins) (1907), Le seduzioni (Seductions) (1909), I volti dell ‘amore (The Faces of Love) (1913), La Porta della gioia (The Gate of Joy) (1921), Quando avevo un amante (When I Had a Lover) (1924) and I serpenti di Medusa (Medusa’s Snakes) (1934). She founded and edited the periodical Seduzioni. Amalia Guglielminetti died in Turin during WW II, from a fall during an air raid.

Guibert, Elisabeth – (1725 – 1788)
French poet and dramatist
Elisabeth Guibert was born (March 31, 1725) at Versailles, near Paris. Her play La Coquette Corrigee (The Reformed Coquette), did not support the emancipation of the female sex. This, and two other plays Le Rendezvous (The Meeting) and Les Triumvirs, were published in the volume Poesies et ouevres diverses (Poems and Other Works) (1764). Some of her poetic verses were published in L’Almanach des Muses (1766 – 1769). Guibert produced two comedies written in verse, whilst her poem ‘Le phileniens ou le patriotisme’ was entered in the Academie Francaise competition (1775). She ended her life comfortably, supported by a pension granted by Louis XVI (1774 – 1792).

Guibert, Louise Alexandrine de Courcelles, Comtesse de – (1755 – 1826)
French novelist
Louise de Courcelles became the wife of the Comte de Guibert, who had abandoned his longtime affair with the salonniere Julie de Lespinasse in order to marry Madamoiselle de Courcelles. With her husband’s death (1790) Madame de Guibert survived the horrors of the Revolution, and later edited his personal correspondence as Lettres de Mlle de Lespinasse au Comte de Guibert (1773 – 1776) (1809). She also published several novels Margaretha, Comtesse Rainsford (1797) and Agatha ou la religieuse anglaise (Agatha, or the English Nun) (1797). Her own Unpublished Letters (1887) were published posthumously.

Guiccioli, Teresa Gamba-Ghiselli, Contessa – (1802 – 1873)
Italian author, the last mistress of Lord Byron
Contessa Teresa Gamba-Ghiselli was born in Ravenna, the daughter of Conte Ruggero Gamba-Ghiselli, and was educated at the convent of St Clara, Faenza. She married firstly (1818) to Conte Alessandro Guiccioli (1760 – 1840), and secondly (1847) to Octave Hilaire, Marquis de Rouille de Boissy (1798 – 1866). Teresa met Lord Byron in 1819, at the salon of Contessa Benzoni, and the two became infatuated. Thenceforward, thanks to an alternately complacent and jealous husband, from whom she subsequently seperated, the contessa was more or less closely associated with Byron until the end of his life (1824), and he himself often referred to her as ‘my last love,’ ‘my last adventure,’ or ‘my last passion.’ It was at Teresa’s suggestion that Byron wrote his Prophecy of Dante.
With Byron’s death, Teresa travelled to Rome where she indulged in an affair with Henry Fox, the son of Lord Holland, and she flirted with the poet Lamartine, because of his admiration for Byron. She was also romantically linked with Lord Malmesbury, who left a record of her recollections of Lord Byron in his own memoirs. Her second husband was proud of her association with the great poet, and in society would actually introduce her as ‘La Marquise de Boissy ma femme, ancienne maitresse de Byron’ She herself never forgot him and kept his portrait in her salon. In 1868 she published Byron juge por les temoins de sa vie which was translated into English soon after (1869). Her letters survive.

Guidenhilda of Barcelona    see   Gunhilda of Barcelona

Guido, Beatrix – (1922 – 1988)
Argentinian novelist
Beatrix Guido was born at Rosario, and was best known for the works La Casa del angel (The House of the Angel) (1957) and La caida (The Fall) (1959). She became the wife of the film producer Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, who adapted several of her works for the screen. Beatrix Guido died in Madrid.

Guilbert, Yvette – (1865 – 1944)
French comedienne, actress and singer
Born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert in Paris, she worked as a seamstress before turning to the stage to become an actress. She specialized in songs and ballad which dealt with everyday Parisian life and the lyricist Aristide Bruant wrote songs especially for her. Guilbert was painted by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and later visited the USA (1920) and founded a school of acting in New York (1920). She was author of the textbook L’Arte de chanter une chanson (How To Sing a Song) (1918), and also wrote her autobiography La Chanson de ma vie (Song of My Life: My Memories) (1929) as well as several novels.

Guildford, Anne Speke, Countess of – (1740 – 1797)
British Hanoverian letter writer
Anne Speke was the daughter of George Speke of White Lackington in Somerset. She attended the court of George III and Queen Charlotte, and was married to Frederick North (1732 – 1792), who later succeeded as second Earl of Guildford (1790). Anne survived her husband as Dowager Countess (1792 – 1797). Her correspondence has been edited and published, and she was mentioned in the correspondence of the noted antiquarian Horace Walpole. Her children were,

• George Augustus North (1757 – 1802). He succeeded his father as third Earl of Guildford (1792 – 1802). He was married twice but left no surviving male issue.
• Lady Catherine Anne North (1760 – 1817). She was married to Sylvester Douglas (1743 – 1823), Baron Glenbervie, and left issue.
• Francis North (1761 – 1817), who succeeded his elder brother as fourth Earl of Guildford (1802 – 1817). He died unmarried.
• Lady Anne North (1764 – 1832). She became the second wife of John Baker Holroyd (1735 – 1821), first Earl of Sheffield, and left issue.
• Frederick North (1766 – 1827). He succeeded his elder brother as fifth Earl of Guildford (1817 – 1827) and also died unmarried. Frederick was succeeded as sixth Earl of Guildford by his cousin, Francis North (1772 – 1861). He left male descendants.
• Lady Charlotte North (1767 – 1849). She was married to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Lindsay (died 1826).

Guildford, Dame Joan – (c1469 – c1530)
English Tudor courtier
Joan Vaux was born at Harrowden in Northamptonshire, the daughter of Sir William Vaux (died 1471), and his wife Katherine Peniston, and was sister to Nicholas, Lord Vaux of Harrowden. Her sister Frideswide Vaux became the wife of Sir Matthew Browne, of Betchworth Castle, Surrey. Joan became the second wife (c1485) of Sir Richard Guildford (1455 – 1502), master of the ordnance under Henry VII. Lady Joan was appointed by Lady Margaret Beaufort as the governess to her granddaughter, the Princess Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII, whom she accompanied to Scotland for her marriage with King James IV (1503).
With the death of Sir Richard in Jerusalem, whilst engaged upon a pilgrimage in the Holy Land, Joan remarried to the noted diplomat, Sir Anthony Poyntz (1480 – 1534), of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, as his second wife. Her children by her first marriage included Sir Henry Guildford (1489 – 1532), who served at the court of Henry VIII as master of the horse and controller of the royal household. Through her daughter Jane Guildford, the wife of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, she was the maternal grandmother of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1533 – 1588), the favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Lady Guildford appears as a character in various historical romances including The Thistle and The Rose (1965) and Katharine of Aragon (1968) by Jean Plaidy.

Guildford, Susan Coutts, Countess of – (1771 – 1837)
British Hanoverian society figure
Susan Coutts was born in London, the eldest daughter of the wealthy banker, Thomas Coutts, and his first wife Susannah Starkie, who died insane. As a child she was sent to school in London and attended the convent of Penthemont in Paris. With the outbreak of the Revolution in France, Susan and her sister Sophia returned to England. Considered something of beauty, Susan and her sisters were painted by Angelica Kauffmann as The Three Graces. Susan was presented at court to Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, and Lord Montague of Cowdray has desired to marry her, but was tragically killed in an accident in Switzerland (1793). Susan Coutts was married instead (1796) at Speen, Berkshire, to George Augustus North (1757 – 1802), third Earl of Guildford (1792 – 1802), as his second wife. The couple had three children,

• Lady Susan North (1797 – 1884). She later inherited the barony of North, and was married to Colonel John Doyle (1804 – 1894), but died childless.
• Lady Georgiana North (1798 – 1835). She remained unmarried.
• Frederick North (1801 – 1802). He was styled Baron North, but predeceased his father, dying as an infant.

Lady Guildford was present (May, 1810) when her brother-in-law, Sir Francis Burdett, was publicly arrested due to his radical political views. As a widow, the Dowager Countess of Guildford returned to reside in her father’s house in Stratton Square, London. She was deeply shocked by his second marriage with the former actress, Harriet Mellon (1815), and this greatly altered the former warm relationship that father and daughter had shared. She retired to Putney, to reside with her children in a house provided by her father. Due to this situation, Lady Guildford and her children were cut from the will of her stepmother after her father’s death (1815), though the amount of one hundred thousand pounds bequest from her late father was scrupulously paid. Lady Guildford died (Sept 24, 1837) aged sixty-six, at Highclere.

Guillaume, Jacquette – (fl. 1665)
French feminist and prose and fiction writer
Jacquette was born in Paris, and was related to Marie Anne Guillaume. Jacquette Guillaume left two published works including Les Dames illustres, ou, par bonnes et fortes raisons, il se prouvre que le sexe feminin surpasse en toutes sortes de genres le sexe masculin (1665).

Guillet, Pernette du – (c1520 – 1545)
French lyric poet, musician and linguist
Pernette du Guillet received an excellent education. Pernette was fluent in Italian, Latin, and Greek, and her early mento was the scholar and poet Maurice Sceve, and she was the subject of his sonnet sequence Delie (1544). Pernette’s own style was greatly influenced by that of Petrarch. She left a large collection of poems which were unpublished at her death. Her husband caused a posthumous edition of her poems to be published by the famous printer Jean de Tournes as Rhymes (1545) which consisted of some seventy epigrams. Pernette du Guillet died (July 7, 1545) at Lyons, Burgundy, aged only twenty-five.

Guimaraes, Elina – (1904 – 1991)
Portugese lawyer and author
Guimarares became an outspoken supporter of women’s rights, and was a prominent activist on their behalf. Elina Guimaraes directed the legal section of the National Council of Portugese Women, and wrote articles on various issues which were published in the Diario de Noticias. Her other published works included Dos Crimes Culposos (Of Serious Crimes) and Mulheres Portuguesas Ontem e Hoje (Portugese Women Past and Present) (1979). Guimarares was the recipient of the Portugese Order of Liberty (1985) in recognition of her fight for women’s rights.

Guiney, Louise Imogen – (1861 – 1920) 
American poet, scholar, historian and essayist
Guiney was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her correspondence with Clement Shorter, Edmund Gosse, and other literary figures, has survived. She was the author of such works as A Roadside Harp (1898), and Happy Ending (1910). Her letters from a period of almost five decades (1872 – 1920) which were written to such literary figures as Gosse and Shorter were published posthumously as Letters of Louise Imogen Guiney (1926). Louise Guiney died (Sept 11, 1920) aged fifty-nine.

Guinilda of Barcelona – (c854 – c899)
Spanish mediaeval countess
Also called Winidilda, her marriage to Count Wifredo I the Hairy (c848 – 898) who received the county of Barcelona in Catalonia at the time of their marriage was arranged by the Emperor Charles II the Bald (875 – 877). The marriage took place (before June 27, 875) when a surviving charter recorded a donation made by Wifredo and Guinilda , and names her as the daughter of Seriofredo, which disproves the assertion that she was the granddaughter of Charles II, the child of his daughter Judith and Count Baldwin I of Flanders. This incorrect genealogy was repeated by the Cronica de San Juan de la Pena.
As her father had the same name as Wifredo’s father Count Seriofredo, she was probably a close relative. Her Catalan parentage is further proved by other surviving charters (877) and (878) when as Winidildes comitissa she granted property to the Abbey of San Juan de Ripoll. The count and countess were both named together in a later charter made the day of Wifredo’s death (Aug 21, 898). Countess Guinilda survived Wifredo (died Aug 21, 898) and may have ruled briefly as regent for her son Wifredo II. She died (before Feb 19, 900) when a surviving charter of her daughter Emma refers to her as deceased. Her ten children were,

• Emma of Barcelona (c875 – 942). She became a nun and was the Abbess of San Juan de Ripoll.
• Rodolf of Barcelona (c877 – 940). He became Bishop of urgel and Abbot of Ripoll. He was married and left issue.
• Wifredo II Borrell (c879 – 911). He succeeded his father as Count of Barcelona (898 – 911) and married leaving an only daughter.
• Suniario I (Sunyer) (c881 – 954). He succeeded his brother as Count of Barcelona, Ausona and Urgel (911 – 954) and married and left issue.
• Miro II el Joven (c883 – 927). He was Count of Cerdagne and Bergueda and married and left issue.
• Seriofredo II (c885 – 948). He was Count of Urgel and married and left issue.
• Ermesinda of Barcelona (died after 921). She remained unmarried.
• Cixilona of Barcelona (c889 – 945). She remained unmarried and became a nun.
• Riquilda of Barcelona (died before 925). She remained unmarried.
• Gunhilda of Barcelona (c890 – after 926). She was married to Raymond II (c875 – 923), Count of Toulouse and left descendants.

Guise, Antoinette de Bourbon-Vendome, Duchesse de – (1493 – 1583)
French royal and letter writer
Antoinette de Bourbon-Vendome was born (Dec 25, 1493) at the Chateau de Ham, the daughter of Francois de Bourbon, Comte de Vendome, and his wife, Marie de Luxemburg-St Pol. She was married (1513) to Claude de Lorraine (1496 – 1550), first Duc de Guise, and was the matriarch of that famous family. Through her eldest daughter Mary of Guise (Marie de Guise), she was the grandmother of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Several of her letters to her daughter Mary, queen-regent of Scotland (1542 – 1559) have survived.
A woman of admirable administrative capabilities, the duchesse organized the running of the vast palace of Joinville with equaninimity and considerable economic talent. Proud of her family and their blood, when Charles IX (1560 – 1574) one offerred the duchesse the rank of Princess of the Blood, a rank to which she was not strictly entitled, she proudly refused, maintaining that the rank of her late husband was sufficient honour. Duchess Antoinette survived her husband for over three decades as Dowager Duchesse de Guise (1550 – 1583) and was famous for her religious piety, keeping her coffin in the hallway through she passed daily on her way to chapel.
Her sons included Francois I de Bourbon (1519 – 1563), second Duc de Guise (1550 – 1563), the famous Catholic leader, and Charles de Bourbon (1524 – 1574), archbishop of Rheims and Cardinal de Lorraine (1547 – 1574). Of her daughters, apart from the queen regent of Scotland, most important were Renee de Bourbon-Guise (1522 – 1602), appointed as abbess of St Pierre, at Rheims, near Paris, and Antoinette de Bourbon-Guise (1531 – 1561), appointed as abbess of Faremoutier, Brie. The duchesse died (Jan 22, 1583) aged eighty-nine, at the Chateau de Joinville.

Guise, Catherine de Cleves, Duchesse de    see   Catherine of Cleves

Guise, Elisabeth d’Orleans, Duchesse de – (1646 – 1696)
French Bourbon princess
Princess Elisabeth de Bourbon-Orleans was born (Dec 26, 1646) the second daughter of Prince Gaston, Duc d’Orleans, son of Louis XIII (1610 – 1643), and his second wife Margeurite of Lorraine. She was the younger half-sister of La Grande Madamoiselle. During her youth she was known as Madamoiselle d’Alencon. This princess was not renowned for her attractive looks, and was marked by an attack of the smallpox. It had been intended that she should marry Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, the widower of her younger sister Francoise (Francesca), who had died early in 1664, but this marriage did not take place, according to the Prince de Conde, due to the reluctance of the bridegroom himself. Instead Princess Elisabeth was married (1667) to Louis Joseph de Lorraine (1650 – 1671), sixth Duc de Guise.
Her married life cannot have been congenial as the youthful Duc was completely under the influence of his dominating aunt, Marie de Guise, and he was not even permitted to speak to Elisabeth without her permission. The couple had an only surviving child, Francois Joseph de Lorraine (1670 – 1675), the seventh Duc de Guise. With her husband’s early death Elisabeth became the Dowager Duchesse de Guise (1671 – 1696). Louis XIV then offerred Elisabeth as a second wife to the widowed James, Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of England, and the Marquis de Louvois tried to forward the match remarking that the duchesse’s, ‘… wealth, birth, and prospects of fecundity appear to me to atone for her lack of beauty.’ However, the interview between Duchesse Elizabeth and the British ambassador, Lord Peterborough, did not go well. Peterborough found the duchess to be small and misshapen, with a bad complexion, and because of her constant unstable health he seriously doubted whether she would be able to bear a healthy child. The negotiations were then broken off and the duchesse never remarried. The Duchesse de Guise died (March 17, 1696) aged forty-nine.

Guise, Francoise de – (1621 – 1682)
French princess and nun
Francoise de Lorraine-Guise was the daughter of Charles I de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, and his wife Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse. She was appointed abbess of St Pierre, at Rheims, at the age of sixteen and fulfilled that office for eight years (1637 – 1644). Francoise was later appointed abbess of Montmartre, a position she held for twenty-five years until her death (1657 – 1682).

Guise, Marie de      see     Mary of Guise

Guise, Marie de Lorraine, Princesse de – (1615 – 1688)
French heiress
Marie de Lorraine-Guise was born (Aug 15, 1615), the eldest daughter of Charles I de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, and his wife Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse, formerly Duchesse de Montpensier. Known at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles as Madamoiselle de Guise she remained unmarried and enormously wealthy. With the death of her great-nephew Francois Joseph, seventh Duc de Guise (1670 – 1675), Marie became the sole heiress of the Guise family and became the sovereign duchesse de Guise and de Joyeuse and the Princesse de Joinville (1675 – 1688). With her younger sister the abbess of Montmartre, Marie de Guise was a woman of immense wealth, and they remained the sole survivors of that particular branch of the Lorraine family.
Princesse Marie had intended to leave Guise and Joinville to Charles de Stainville, Comte de Couvonges, with the remainder to the younger sons of the ducal family of Lorraine and their male heirs. She left the duchy of Joyeuse to Charles Francois de Lorraine, Prince de Commercy this disposition being secured by a special act of the Paris Parlement (1688). However her original gift to the Lorraine family was then voided by the Paris Parlement (1689) and Guise and Joinville passed instead to Anne Henriette Julie de Bavariere, Princesse de Conde. Princesse Marie de Guise died aged seventy-two.

Guitburge (Wibourg, Vuthbergis) – (c780 – 804)
Carolingian duchess of Septimania
Guitburge was the second wife (c795) of Guillaume I (William) of Autun (752 – 812), Duke of Septimania. In the foundation charter of the abbey of Gellone (804), made shortly after Guitburge’s death, Duke Guillaume referred to his wives as uxoribus meis Cunigonde et Guitburge. The Manual of Dhuoda (843) calls her Vuthbergis. Guitburge bore Guillaume four children before her early death, which may have occurred in childbirth, and which confirmed her husband in his desire to become a monk. Her children were,

• Gaucelm of Autun (c799 – 834). He was later beheaded at Chalons-sur-Saone.
• Theodoric IV (c801 – c827). He was Count of Autun.
• Warin (c802 – before 843). He became Count of Autun and was the father of Count Isembard of Autun (died after 881).
• Rothlinda of Autun (Chrodlindis) (c804 – before 843). She became the wife of Wala (772 – 836), Abbot of Corvie. Their only daugher died in infancy.

Guizot, Pauline – (1773 – 1827)
French novelist
Pauline received an excellent education. When her family was ruined by the outbreak of the Revolution, Pauline took up writing in order to support then financially. Guizot published several novels such as La Chapelle d’Ayton (The Chapel of Ayton) (1800), before she became a journalist with the Publiciste (Advertiser). Pauline was married (1812) to the noted historian and politician, Francois Guizot (1787 – 1874), who was nearly fifteen years her junior, to whom she bore several children. Madame Guizot published several edcuational treatises such as Les Enfants (Children) (1812), Nouveaux contes (New Tales) (1823) and the prize winning text Lettre de famille sur l’education domestique (Family Letter on Home Education( (1826).

Gulacsy, Iren – (1894 – 1945)
Hungarian novelist and author
Gulacsy was born (Sept 9, 1894) at Lazarfold Puszata, near Szeged. When her husband became an invalid Gulacsy turned to writing in order to support their family. Her work was influenced by that of Dezso Szabo and Sigismond Moricz, and her novels included Hamueso (Rain of Ashes) (1925) and Forgeteg (Storm) (1925) whilst Fekete volegenyek (Black Bridegrooms) (1927) is considered her best work. Iren Gulacsy died (Jan, 1945) during the siege of Budapest, aged fifty.

Gulbadam Begum – (1521 – 1603) 
Indian Mughal princess
Gulbadam Begum was the daughter of the Emperor Babur and his wife Dildar Begum, and was sister to Emperor Humayun. The princess was married to Khizr Khan who was later appointed as governor of Lahore and Bihar (1556). She later made a sea voyage to Mecca (1575). Gulbadam was India’s first known female historian and was best known for her work Humayun Nama (The History of Humayun) (c1580), which she wrote in Persian.

Gulcemal – (1826 – 1851)
Turkish sultana
Gulcemal was born in the Caucasus region, and became the concubine (1840) of the Ottoman sultan Abdulmecid I (1823 – 1861) who later formalized their marriage (1843). With the birth of her son Mehmed (1844) she received the title of Haseki Sultan (Princess Favourite). Princess Gulcemal died (Nov 29, 1851) at Ortakeuy, aged twenty-five. Her children were,

• Princess Fatma Osmanoglu (1840 – 1883). She married firstly to Ali Galib Pasha (1829 – 1858) and secondly to Mehmed Nuri Pasha (died 1883), leaving issue from her second marriage.
• Princess Hadice Osmanoglu (born 1842). She died young.
• Princess Refia Osmanoglu (1842 – 1879). A twin with her sister Hadice she was married to Mahmud Edhem Pasha (died 1886) and left issue.
• Mehmed V Resad (1844 – 1918). He later succeeded as sultan (1909 – 1918) and left issue.
• Princess Rukiye Osmanoglu (born 1850). She remained unmarried.

Gulcicek Khatun – (fl. c1340 – c1350)
Ottoman sultana
Gilcicek (not her original name) was either the wife or concubine of Ajlan Bey, the Muslim prince of Karasi in Anatolia, and the mother of his son Yakhsi. When the kingdom was conquered by the ottoman sultan Orhan (c1344) Gulcicek was captured and palced in the sultan’s harem. When Orhan’s son Murad I (c1326 – 1389) came of age it was decided to marry her off to another husband. According to popular tradition she refused all names offered to her until Murad suggested himself as her bridegroom. Her name means ‘rose blossom’ in Turkish and she may have only been Murad’s concubine. Sultana Gulcicek Khatun founded a monastery for dervishes and the endowment charter for this foundation survives. She also caused a mosque to be built at Bursa.

Guldregut – (fl. c810 – c833)
Spanish mediaeval countess
Her family origins remain unrecorded. Condesa Guldregut was the wife of Galindo Aznarez, Conde of Aragon, and was the mother of his son Aznar Galindez (died 839) who succeeded his father as Conde of Aragon. The condesa, together with her husband and son, Galindo comes, filius Garsiani … et coniunx mea Guldreguth granted estates to the Abbey of San Pedro de Siresa during the reign of the Carolingian emperor Louis I (816 – 840), this being recorded in the Cartulario de Siresa.

Gullett, Lucy Edith – (1876 – 1949)
Australian physician and philanthropist
Gullett was born (Sept 28, 1876) at Hawthorn in Melbourne, Victoria, the daughter of a journalist. She attended the University of Sydney in New South Wales, and became the first resident medical officer at the Women’s Hospital in Crown Street (1901 – 1902). Lucy Gullett established herself in private practice in North Sydney (1912) and served with the French Red Cross military hospital in Lyons, Burgundy, during WW I. She later served on the council of the Sydney District Nursing Association (1934 – 1949).
Lucy Gullett dounded the New South Wales Association of Registered Medical Women (1921) and was also the secretary (1921 – 1926). She co-founded the Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children in Redfern, Sydney (1925). She stood as an independent female candidate for North Sydney (1932) and twice served as vice-president of the United Associations of Women (1936 – 1938) and (1943). Her portrait was painted as a young woman by Julian Rossi Ashton (1887). Lucy Gullett died (Nov 12, 1949) aged seventy-three, in Redfern.

Gulustu (Gulistan) – (c1837 – 1861)
Turkish sultana
Gulustu was the wife (c1855) of the Ottoman sultan Abdulmecid I (1823 – 1861). With the birth of her son Mehmed at Bechiktache (Feb 2, 1861) Gulustu was granted the rank of Haseki Sultan (Princess Favourite). Mehmed (1861 – 1926) became Sultan Mehmed VI Vahideddin and was later deposed (1922). Gulustu’s daughter Princess Mediha Osmanoglu (1856 – 1928) was married to the Grand Vizier, Ferid Pasha (1854 – 1923) as her second husband. Princess Gulustu died young (May, 1861).

Gum, Maude – (1888 – 1973)
Australian painter and teacher
Maude Gum was born at Amyton in South Australia. She worked with oil and water colours, and also painted china, and was one of only two known South Australian artists to be awarded the British Gold Star for her work, an award presented by the Drawing Society of England (1925). Maude gum later worked as a teacher and instructor and the Wilderness School, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal South Australian society of Arts.

Gumeltruda – (fl. 853 – 861)
Italian princess
Her family origins remain unrecorded. Gumeltruda was the wife of Prince Ademar of Salerno (853 – 861) of the dynasty of Siconulf (849 – 978), and was the mother of his son Peter (Pietro) who appears to have predeceased his father, as he did not succeed him in Salerno. Gumeltruda was named as princess consort by the Chronicon Salernitum which also recorded that she was renowned for her greedy and avaricious nature.

Gumm, Frances     see    Garland, Judy

Gundelenda of Alsace – (c750 – c780)
Carolignian royal
Gundelenda was the daughter of Luitfrid I, Duke of Alsace and Count of Sundgau, and his wife Hedwig (Edith). She became the second wife (c770) of the Austrasian count Bernhard (c710 – 787), the illegitimate son of Karl Martel, and half-brother to King Pepin III (751 – 768), the first ruler of the Carolingian dynasty. She is said to have brought Bernhard considerable estates. She was stepmother to Abbot Adalhard of Corbie. Her children were,

• Wala of Austrasia (Walacho) (772 – 836). He became Abbot of Corbie. Wala was married and left an only daughter, Bertrude, who died in infancy.
• Gundrada of Austrasia (c773 – after 816). She became the second wife of Pepin I (773 – 810), King of Italy, and left issue.
• Bernhar of Austrasia (776 – after 821). He became a monk at Corbie.
• Theodrada of Austrasia (c778 – after 814). She was married and left two daughters, Imma and Ida. She died as Abbess of Sainte-Marie, at Soissons.

Gundelinde of Alsace    see    Gerlinda of Alsace

Gundelinde Maria Josephe – (1891 – 1983)
Princess of Bavaria
HRH (Her Royal Highness) Princess Gundelinde was born (Aug 26, 1891) in Munich, the youngest daughter of King Ludwig III (1913 – 1918) and his wife Maria Theresa of Austria and Este, the daughter of the Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este. With the fall of the monarchy in Bavaria, the princess and her future husband left Bavaria dressed as hikers and escaped through the mountains.
The princess was married (1919) to Count Johann Georg von Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos (1887 – 1924), a descendant of the Austrian empress Maria Theresa, as his second wife, and bore him children. After five years her husband died young, but the princess never remarried and survived him as Dowager Countess von Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos for almost sixty years (1924 – 1983). Princess Gundelinde died (Aug 16, 1983) at Moos, aged ninety-one. She was the mother of two children,

• Count Johann von Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos (1919 – 1940). He died unmarried, being killed in action at Zug during WW II.
• Countess Maria Theresa von Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos (born 1922). She was married firstly to Count Ludwig von Arco-Zinnenburg (1913 – 1942), who was killed in action at Projawino in Russia, during WW II, and secondly (1943) to Count Ulrich Philipp von Arco-Zinnenburg (1917 – 1980), the younger brother of her fist husband. She left children by both marriages.

Gunderrode, Karoline von – (1780 – 1806)
German poet, dramatist and woman of letters
Karoline von Gunderrode was born (Feb 11, 1780) at Karlsruhe, Baden, the daughter of a ducal councillor. From 1786 she resided at Hanau, and her education was directed by her widowed mother. Karoline then entered a cloister for upper class Lutheran women in Frankfurt-am-Main, where she studied history. After the failure of one romantic liasion she became entangled (1801 – 1803) in the same situation with Clemens von Brentano. This ended when he was married instead to the writer Sophie Mereau. A third attachment with a married academic proved equally disastrous, and Karoline committed suicide by stabbing herself (July 26, 1806), at Wintel-am-Rhein, aged only twenty-six. Gunderrode’s work was heavily influenced by the Romantic Movement and included the collection of verse Apokalyptische Fragment (Apocalyptic Fragment) and the the two volumes Gedichte und Phantasien (Poems and Fantasies) (1804) and Poetische Fragmente (Poetic Fragments) (1805), which were published using the pseudonym ‘Jon Tian.’

Gundrada of Austrasia – (c773 – after 816)
Carolingian queen consort of Italy (c798 – 810)
Gundrada was the eldest daughter of Count Bernard of Austrasia, and the granddaughter of Charles Martel, Duke of Austrasia. Her mother was Bernard’s second wife Gundelenda of Alsace, the daughter of Luitfrid I, Duke of Alsace. Gundrada was full sister to abbot Wala, and the half-sister to Adalhard, abbot of Corbie, as recorded in the Vita Adalhardi. Gundrada was married (c798) to her cousin, Pepin I, King of Italy (773 – 810), the son of Charlemagne, to whom she bore several daughters. She died in France, having been forced to become a nun at the Abbey of Sainte-Croix (Holy Cross) at Poitiers by the emperor Louis I, her brother-in-law.

Gundrada of St Bertin     see    Warenne, Gundrada de

Gundred – (d. c400 AD)
Cornish Christian saint
Gundred was the daughter of a leper, though she herself did not suffer from the disease. Gundred daily attended her sick father at his hermitage and a chapel was later built to honour her memory at a well that was popularly called ‘St Gundred’s’ at Roach Rock in Cornwall. She was sometimes referred to as Gunnett.