Yaa Akyaa – (c1845 – 1917)
Ashanti queen mother
Yaa Akyaa was born into the royal Oyoko dynasty, and was married to Kwasi Gyambibi, the royal councillor, to whom she bore thirteen children. Yaa Akyaa succeeded Queen Afua Kobi as asantehemaa (queen mother) after she led the Mumasi people to victory in battle (1883). Her son Kwaka Dua II was proclaimed king with her younger son Agyemon Badu as his successor.
With the death of the king and his brother, a period of political confusion ensued. Her right to place her third son Agyemon Prempe on the throne was disputed and the queen mother appealed to the British for help. She was able to prevail and Prempe was duly elected as king (1890), where upon she requested that all Ashanti return to their homeland, for which in return, she gave the British promises of peace and trade concessions.
The queen refused to concede to the British concerns about the domestic slavery which was vital to the Ashanti plantation economy, and finally Yaa Akyaa and her son were arrested by the British in Kumasi (1894). She was exiled with her son firstly to Sierra Leone (1896) and later to the Seychelles Islands (1900) where she died.
Yalland, Zoe – (1922 – 1995)
Anglo-Indian author and historian
Zoe Yalland was born in Kanpur, India, where her family had managed mills for several generations. She returned home to England to attend school at Wycombe Abbey, and returned to India at the beginning of WW II (1939). She was married and had three children. Yalland established the UKCA School, now known as Shieling House, for which she was later awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II (1958). She was the author of such authoritive works concerning the role of the British in India such as Traders and Nabobs: The British in Cawnpore 1765 – 1857 (1987) and Guide to Kacheri Cemetery and the Early History of Kanpur (1983).
Yamama – (fl. c1780 – c1770 BC)
Assyrian princess
Yamama was the sister of Zimri-Lim, king of Mari, and was probably the daughter of Yahdun-Lim, king of Mari and of his wife Addu-duri. Yamama was married to the official court divinator Asqudum, who achieved great political prominence during the reign of her brother. They were highly important personages at the Marian court, and her husband’s personal archive has been discovered in the ruins of the palace of Tell el Rimah.
Yanagiwara, Naruko – (1855 – 1943)
Japanese Imperial concubine
Naruko Yanagiwara was the daughter of Count Nakayama Tadayasu (1809 – 1888). She served at the court as lady-in-waiting, and was mistress to the Emperor Meiji (1867 – 1912). She bore him five children including his son and successor Taisho. Due to the protocol of the court, the Empress Shoken adopted Naruko’s son as her own. Her children were,
Yandell, Christian see Waller, Christian
Yang, Alice Huei-Zu – (1961 – 1997)
American art historian
Yang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and came to the USA as a teeanger (1976). She studied art at Yale University and then became the wife of the architect Gerald Szeto. Alice Yang was appointed the assistant curator (1988 – 1993) of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Soho, New York, which included an exhibition of the works of Alfredo Jaar (1992).
During this time she continued her studies at the Fine Arts of New York University. Alice Huei-Zu Yang died (Feb 8, 1997) in Manhattan, New York, aged thirty-five, the result of a car accident. At the time of her death she was organizing an exhibition of the work of Taiwanese painters in Southampton, Long Island.
Yang Bi – (1922 – 1968)
Chinese novelist, dramatist and translator
Yang Bi was the younger sister to Yang Jiang (born 1911), the wife of the novelist Qian Zhongshu (1910 – 1998). Yang Bi obtained an honoured reputation as a translator, but was best remembered for her version of William Thackeray’s classic novel Vanity Fair.
Yang Gufei – (c715 – 756)
Chinese concubine
Her family came from the province of Sichuan. Yang herself was renowned for her musical accomplishments, witty conversation, and love of dance. Originally married to one of the sons of the Emperor Xuanzong, Yang left her husband and entered the Imperial Palace as a Daoist priestess (745). The elderly emperor became completely infatuated with Yang and could deny her nothing. Gradually her family, notably her cousin, Yang Guozhong, the governor of Sichuan, came to dominate the Imperial court, and Yang herself became involved in a dangerous liasion with the politically shrewd general, An Lushan. He gained so much influence over Yang that she formally adopted him as her son (751).
With the decisive defeat of the Chinese Imperial army by the Arabs (751), the political power of the dynasty had begun to weaken. Finally, An Lushan attempted to take the Imperial throne for himself (755). The emperor, his family, and Yang were all forced to flee the capital by night for Sichuan. However, the Imperial escort mutinied, killed Yang’s cousin, Yang Guozhong, and demanded the death of Yang herself. The distraught emperor had no choice but to obey, and ordered her to be strangled by his chief eunuch. The poet Bai Juyi wrote the romantic epic The Everlasting Wrong, which recorded Yang’s tragic death.
Yang Xianrong – (c287 – 322 AD)
Chinese empress (319 – 322 AD)
Yang Xianrong was the daughter of Yang Xuanshi, an Imperial official and was the maternal granddaughter of the noted general Sun Qi. She was married firstly to the Emperor Hui of Jin (300 AD) as his second wife. When the throne was usurped by Sima Lun (301 AD) her grandfather was killed, whilst Hui remained a ruler in name only during the ‘War of the Eight Princes.’ Due to internal plotting concerning the succession Empress Yang Xianrong was deposed from her position several times but always reinstated.
When Sima Yong retained custody of the emperor at Chang’an (305 AD) he persuaded him to order the empress to commit suicide but her life was spared due to the intervention of Liu Tun, the local governor, after which Sima Yong cancelled the order. Hui was poisoned (307 AD) most probably at the instigation of Sima Yue, Prince of Donghai, and his brother Sima Chi became the Emperor Huai. Fearing for her position Yang Xianrong had attempted to prevent Huai’s enthronement but proved unsuccessful. She was honoured as Empress Hui but was not accorded the rank of style of Empress Dowager. She thereafter lived in comfortable retirement in the city of Luoyang until it was conquered by the armies of Prince Liu Yao of Shi’an (311 AD). Liu Yao caused large numbers of the city’s administrators and officials to be put to death but spared the empress and married her.
Yang Xianrong bore her second husband three sons. When the Han Zhao family and the aristocracy were murdered in the city of Pingyang (318 AD) Liu Yao was offered the imperial throne and accepted it. He established his capital at Chang’an and Yang Xianrong was restored to her former position as empress consort (319 AD) whilst her eldest son Liu Xi was proclaimed crown prince. Liu Yao respected her knowledge of state affairs and she was involved with the governmental administration. She was given the epithet of ‘the wise and civil empress.’
Yan Ji – (c95 – 126 AD)
Chinese empress
Yan Ji was the daughter of Yan Chang, an imperial official of the Han dynasty. Two of her aunts had been consorts of the Emperor Mingde. She was chosen as a consort (107 AD) for the Emperor An (94 – 125 AD) who then granted her the Imperial titles and styles (108 AD). Possessed of beauty as well as intelligence the empress was also quite ruthless and removed by poison the consort Li who had born a son Liu Bao.
With the death of the Dowager Empress Deng Sui (121 AD) her powerful clan was displaced from power and An caused Yan Ji’s brothers to be raised to his confidence. The empress herself attained considerable influence over affairs of state though her intervention was not beneficial. She falsely accused her stepson Crown Prince Liu Bao to his father so that the emperor caused the prince to be removed from the succession (124 AD). With the Emperor An’s death (125 AD) Yan Ji conspired with her brothers and court eunuchs to place Liu Yi as emperor instead of Liu Bao.
However several important eunuchs at the court conspired to restore Liu Bao to the throne, and when the child emperor died a few months afterwards, there was a coup d’etat within the palace and Liu Bao was proclaimed as Emperor Shun. The forces of the Empress Dowager and her family were eventually defeated and the male members were all killed. Empress Yan Ji was placed under house arrest. Though advised to depose Yan Ji from her Imperial position Emperor Shun declined to do so and she was permitted to retain all the honours due to an Empress Dowager. Yan Ji died several months afterwards and was interred with Emperor An. She received the epithet of ‘the peaceful and deep-thinking empress.’
Yarborough, Marcia Amelia Mary Pelham, Countess of – (1863 – 1926)
British peeress
Hon. (Honourable) Marcia Pelham was born (Oct 18, 1863), the elder daughter of Sackville George Lane-Fox, the twelfth Baron Conyers and fifteenth Baron Darcy de Knayth and his wife Mary Curteis. Her father died in 1888 and the two baronies fell into abeyance. The abeyance of the barony of Conyers was terminated in the favour of Lady Yarborough (1892) when then succeeded as the thirteenth Baron Conyers. The abeyance of the barony of Darcy de Knayth was terminated at this time in favour of her younger sister Violet, Countess of Powis. A decade later the abeyance of the barony of Fauconberg was terminated by King Edward VII in Lady Yarborough’s favour also and she became the Baroness Fauconberg (1903 – 1926).
Lady Marcia was married (1886) to Charles Alfred Worsley Pelham (1859 – 1936), the fourth Earl of Yarborough (1886 – 1936), to whom she bore several children. Lady Yarborough owned extensive estates in the north and west Riding of York, and was the owner of a fine collection of pictures and miniatures by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and the French painter Drouet. The countess contributed to the nursing effort during WW I and was appointed L.J.St.J.(Lady Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem) and OBE (Order of the British Empire) by King George V, in recognition of her valuable volunteer work. The Countess of Yarborough died (Nov 17, 1926) aged sixty-three. She left three sons,
Yarde-Buller, Joan see Aly Khan, Princess
Yarmouth, Amalia von Wallmoden, Countess of see Wallmoden, Amalia Sophia von
Yarmouth, Charlotte Fitzroy, Countess of see Fitzroy, Lady Charlotte Jemima Henrietta Maria
Yarunchikova, Mariya Vasilievna – (1870 – 1902)
Russian painter and designer
Yarunchikova was born at Wiesbad, Germany, and studied art under Yelena Polenova and Vasily Polenov (1885 – 1888), becoming closely involved with the Abramtsevo group. Mariya also studied in Paris, where her first exhibition of women’s works took place (1894). Mariya Yarunchikova designed the interior of the Russian Pavilion at the Exposition Universelle in Paris (1895), and in her works such as The Window and Aspen and Fir Tree (1896) she strove to bring to the surface the inner vitality of natural life, and made use of forest motifs to accentuate this theme. Besides painting, Yarunchikova’s handiwork included furniture design, embroidery and ceramics. Mariya Yarunchikova died (Dec 27, 1902) at Chene Bougerie, near Geneva, Switzerland, aged thirty-two.
Yarwood, Dame Elizabeth Ann – (1900 – 1989)
British councillor and director
Elizabeth Gaskell was born (Nov 25, 1900) and attended school in Manchester, Lancashire. She was married (1918) to Vernon Yarwood to whom she bore two sons. Mrs Yarwood became involved in local government and served for over thirty-five years (1938 – 1974) as a councilor with the Manchester City Council and served as a Justice of the Peace (1945). She also served for two decades as an alderman (1955 – 1974) and was the Lord Mayor of Manchester (1967 – 1968).
Elizabeth Yarwood was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1969) in recognition of her valuable community work. She was the vice-president of the Manchester County Girl Guides association and was later appointed as a Freeman of the City of Manchester (1974). Dame Elizabeth Yarwood died (Dec 31, 1989) aged eighty-nine.
Yates, Elizabeth (1) – (1799 – 1860)
British actress
Born Elizabeth Brunton in Norwich, Norfolk, she was the daughter of a theatre manager. She made her stage debut as Desdemona in Charles Kemble’s play Othello (1815), but was more suited to comic roles, for which she became famous. She worked for three years at Covent Garden (1817 – 1820) and was married (1823) to actor Frederick Yates. She performed with her husband at the Drury Lane Theatre and with his death (1842) she took over the management of the Adelphi Theatre. She retired in1849.
Yates, Elizabeth (2) – (c1844 – 1918)
New Zealand politician and suffrage campaigner
Born Elizabeth Oman in Caithness, Scotland, she was the daughter of a labourer, and immigrated to Auckland with her parents as a child (1853). She was married at Onehunga (1875) to Michael Yates (died 1902), a master mariner. There were no children. Her husband served as mayor of the Onehunga Borough Council (1885 – 1892). When he was stricken with ill-health Elizabeth assisted with his official duties. She was a strong supporter of female suffrage and was the first woman to record her electoral vote under the new Electoral Act (1893).
Elizabeth Yates accepted and won the nomination as mayor of Onehunga (1893) becoming the first female mayor in the British Empire, and received congratulations from Queen Victoria herself. However, Elizabeth Yates’s martinet style exacerbated the resentment of a woman filling this role, and lead to concerted opposition from within her own council against her. Yates was defeated at the next election, though even her enemies acknowledged her ability as an administrator. She later returned for a second time in office (1899 – 1901) but her style had not abated. Several years afterwards Mrs Yates was admitted to a mental hospital in Auckland (1909). Elizabeth Yates died (Sept 6, 1918).
Yates, Dame Frances Amelia – (1899 – 1981)
British Renaissance scholar and author
Frances Yates was born (Nov 28, 1899) the daughter of an architect and was educated at Glasgow and Liverpool. She majored in French and graduated from the University College in London. Her earliest works included a translation of some work of the French writer Montaigne into English, and a biography John Florio (1934) the Italian who resided in England in the reign of Elizabeth I. With the outbreak of World War II Yates joined up and worked as an ambulance attendant. She later became a research assistant at the Warburg Institute, where she worked as a lecturer and as editor of publications (1944 – 1956).
Frances Yates was then appointed as Reader in the History of the Renaissance (1956 – 1967). She wrote The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century (1947) and The Valois Tapestries (1959), but was best remembered for two following works Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964) which explored the importance of mysticism on Renaissance writings, and The Art of Memory (1966). Other works included The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972) and Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age (1979). She received the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1972) and was later made a DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) (1977) in recognition of her valuable contribution to history and literature. Dame Frances Yates died (Sept 29, 1981) aged eighty-one.
Yates, Katherine Merritte – (1865 – 1951)
Canadian children’s author
Kattherine Yates was born in Drumbo, Ontario. Her published works included What the Pine Tree Heard (1903), Through the Woods (1906), “Chat” (1909), Tales from the Rainbow Land (1914), On the Hill-Top (1919) and In the Valley (1922), amongst others.
Yates, Mary Ann – (1728 – 1787)
British actress
Mary Ann Yates was married to the famous comic Richard Yates. Her husband and David Garrick trained Mary Anne for the stage, and she made her own debut at the Drury Lane Theatre in London (1754). Her talents were suited to serious and tragic roles. Yates performed a series of unremarkable roles until the death of the reigning actress Susannah Cibber (1766), whereupon she assumed a position of prominence amongst the performers of classical roles. When her husband and Garrick fell foul of each other due to a financial disagreement, the couple left Drury Lane and joined the troupe at Covent Garden, from where she retired in 1785.
Yavorska, Lydia – (1874 – 1921)
Russian actress
Lydia Yavorska was born in Kiev, Ukraine and made her debut on the stage in Moscow (1894) and later ran a theatre of her own in St Petersburg, after her first marriage with Prince Vladimir Bariatinski. She married secondly (1920) the author and dramatist John Pollock. Coming to London (1909) she appeared with great success at the Lilte Theatre, performing roles in The Royalty (1911), The Court (1912) and The Ambassador (1913). She gave memorable performances in the roles of Rebecca in Ibsen’s Rosmerscholm and Nora in The Doll’s House.
Yazdandokta – (fl. 345 AD)
Persian Christian supporter
Yazdandokta came from a high-ranking family, attached to the court of King Sapor II. She brought robes and food for the one hundred and twenty Christian martyrs put to death together by Sapor II at Seleucia (April 6, 345 AD), and then arranged for their honourable internment.
Yazova, Yana – (1912 – 1974)
Bulgarian poet and novelist
Yana Yazova studied Slavonic literature at Sofia, and published her first collection of verses in 1931. Until the Communist takeover (1944) Yana travelled extensively, her beauty and intellectual interests gaining her entrée to cosmopolitan European society. After the rise of the Communist regime she was forced to survive by selling the antiques she had acquired over the previous decades. She was eventually murdered in 1974, and most of her private papers disappeared.
Her most accomplished and admired work, published posthumously, was the trilogy Levski (1987), Benkovski (1988) and Shipka (1989) which dealt with the Bulgarian struggle against the Turks in the later nineteenth century. Her diary, written (1963 – 1969) and entitled Zlatni iskri na skrabta (Golden Sparks of Sorrow), has not yet been published.
Ydubergue see Iduberga of Aquitaine
Yeamans, Isabel – (c1637 – 1704)
English Quaker writer
Isabel was the daughter of Margaret Fell and was married firstly (1664) to William Yeamans, who died in 1674 leaving her with four children. She remarried secondly (1689) to Abraham Morice, of Lincoln. One of the Quaker group who witnessed the death-bed narrative of Robert Jekyll (1677), she was amongst the group who visited Elizabeth of the Palatine, the Protestant abbess of Herford in Germany. Her pamphlet An Invitation of Love, was written in clear, concise prose.
Yearsley, Ann – (1752 – 1806)
British author and poet
Born Ann Cromartie in Bristol, she was the daughter of a milk-seller and was taught to read by her brother. She later married (1774) a labourer John Yearsley and raised a family of six children. Despite living in abject poverty she managed to write at night. She was noticed and lionized by the author Hannah More who arranged for her collection of verse Poems on Several Occasion to be published (1785). She was known by the poetic name of ‘Lactilla’ but her relationship with More became increasingly uneasy as the older woman attempted to control Yearsley’s life, career and finances.
The partnership split acrimoniously and Yearsley controlled her own career from then on and several other collections followed such as Poems on Various Subjects, and Other Pieces (1787) to which was affixed an account of her dispute with Hannah More, Stanzas of Woe (1790), and An Elegy on Marie Antoinette (1795). She established a circulating library at Hot Wells in Bristol and her play Earl Goodwin (1789) was performed in Bath and Bristol. During her later years she resided at Melksham as a recluse. She also wrote a novel about the infamous Man in the Iron Mask entitled The Royal Captives: a Fragment of Secret History (1795). Ann Yearsley died (May 8, 1806) at Melksham, Wiltshire, aged fifty-three, and was interred at Clifton. Her portrait was painted by Sarah Shiells and a mezzo-tint engraving of this portrait is preserved in the print-room of the British Museum. Her portrait by Lowry also survives as does one of her letters (1797).
Yehudit see Gudit
Yelding, Emmie – (1919 – 2008)
British circus performer
Emmie Cook was born (Aug 14, 1919), the daughter of circus performer Ellis Cook and his wife Emmiline Fossett, and was trained as a circus performer with horses and dogs. She performed firstly with the George Bruce Chapman Circus at the age of eleven (1930) and became a talented bare-back rider and trapeze artist. Emmie appeared in the films Old Mother Riley at the Circus (1941) with Arthur Lucan and Kitty MacShane, Red Wagon (1934) and her family featured prominently in the book British Circus Life (1948) by Lady Eleanor Smith.
Emmie worked as a Land Girl during WW II and was married to fellow circus performer Johnnie Yelding with whom she established a circus at Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire (1951 – 1952). They established and ran the Empire Zoo at Southend on Sea for twenty-five years (1953 – 1978). With her husband’s death (1980) she resided at Skegness. Emma Yelding died (Nov 26, 2008) aged eighty-nine.
Yelverton, Anne – (c1457 – 1495)
English Plantagenet gentlewoman
Anne Paston was the younger daughter of John Paston I (1421 – 1466) of Paston, Norfolk, and his wife Margaret, the daughter of John Mautby of Mautby, near Yarmouth. During her youth Anne Paston spent some time in the household of Sir William Calthorpe. Family correspondence preserved in the famous Paston Letters, reveals that Anne was suspected by her family of being involved in a clandestine romance with one of their servants, John Pamping. A similar scandal had resulted in her older sister Margery secretly marrying her lover, Richard Calle.
Whatever the details, Anne was married according to the wishes of her family (1477) to William Yelverton (died 1500), the grandson of the judge and lawyer, William Yelverton (c1405 – 1478). This marriage is thought to have healed a long standing feud between the two families. Anne Yelverton left two surviving children, and died from the effects of childbirth.
Yelverton, Barbara – (1810 – 1858)
British peeress
The Hon. (Honourable) Barbara Yelverton was born (May 29, 1810) at Brandon House, the only child and heiress of Henry Edward Yelverton (1780 – 1810), nineteenth Baron Grey de Ruthyn and his wife Anna Maria Kelham, who remarried to Reverend Hon. William Eden. Her father died when she was five months old and Barbara as his sole heiress succeeded as the twentieth Baroness Grey de Ruthyn. She was married firstly (1831) to George Augustus Francis Rawdon-Hastings (1808 – 1844), the second Marquess of Hastings and became the Marchioness of Hastings (1831 – 1844). Barbara bore Lord Hastings six children.
Lord Hastings was the Bearer of the Spurs at the coronation of William IV (1831) which office he held by right of Lady Barbara, it being a hereditary office in the Grey family. With her husband’s death she became the Dowager Marchioness of Hastings (1844 – 1858). Lady Hastings remarried secondly (1845) to Admiral Sir Hastings Reginald Henry (died 1878) who took the surname of Yelverton. This marriage produced an only daughter the Hon. Barbara Yelverton (1846 – 1924) who became the wife of John Yarde-Buller (1846 – 1910), second Baron Churston and left issue. Lady Hastings died (Nov 19, 1858) aged forty-eight, in Rome and was buried there. The children of her first marriage were,
Yelverton, Maria Theresa – (1832 – 1881)
British writer and traveller
Maria Theresa Longworth was born in Cheetwood in Lincolnshire. She became the wife (1857) of Major William Charles Yelverton, Viscount Avonmore. Her husband later bigamously remarried and managed to have his first marriage with Maria Theresa annulled after he had squandered her fortune. This case caused a great groundswell of public support for Lady Avonmore and her husband was forced to go into hiding for his own safety. Maria Theresa then travelled overseas extensively, particularly in the USA where she resided with the Hutchings family in Yosemite (1870). Mrs Yelverton died (Sept 13, 1881) in Natal, South Africa.
Yendes, Lucy – (1851 – after 1914)
American author
Yendes was born in Champion, New York. She produced Preston Papers (1882) and Miss Preston’s Leaven (1895). Lucy Yendes co-wrote What Shall I Do? (1899) with J.S. Stoddard.
Yeo, Catherine see Jemmat, Catherine
Yeo, Margaret Routledge – (1877 – 1941)
British author and biographer
Margaret was born in Canterbury, Kent, and was educated privately at home before attending a finishing school at Lausanne in Switzerland. She was married (1906) to Eric Yeo and was later converted to Roman Catholcisim (1916). Margaret Yeo wrote biographies of such people as Don Juan of Austria and the saints Carlo Borromeo and Francis Xavier, as well as several collections of short stories. Her published novels included Salt (1927) and Full Circle (1933).
Yerke, Mary – (1912 – 1978)
American film and television script supervisor
Yerke was best known for supervising the scripts of such popular shows as Maverick (1957) and Petticoat Junction (1963). She also supervised the scripts for the films Invaders from Mars (1953) and Betrayal (1974). Mary Yerke died (June 9, 1978).
Yermolova, Mariya Nikolaievna – (1853 – 1928)
Russian actress
Mariya Yermolova was the daughter of a stage employee at the Maly Theatre in Miscow. She was trained for the stage from an early age, and made her debut at the Maly in the title role of Lessing’s, Emilia Galotti (1870). Mariya became famous for her portrayals of tragic, but independent women such as Judith in Uriel Acosta (1879) by Gutzkov, the title roles of Maria Stuart (1886) by Schiller, and Phedre (1890) by Racine.
However, she was best remembered for her performance in Schiller’s production of Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans) (1884). Yermolova became involved in political issues, and staged a performance of the historical drama Fuenteovejuna (1876), which depicted the struggles of the oppressed Spanish peasantry. Her portrayal created such a public stir that the play was banned by the government. A supporter of the 1917 revolution, Yermolova was later awarded the title of People’s Artist of the Republic (1920) as part of the public celebrations of her five decades on the stage. The Maly Theatre was later renamed the Yermolova Theatre in her honour (1930).
Yeshimabet (Elizabeth) – (1864 – 1894)
Ethiopian princess consort (1872 – 1894)
Yeshimabet was the daughter of Dejazmatch (prince) Aliye aba-Djiffar by his wife Walatta Gyorgis, the daughter of Ato Yemerou, of Gurage. Yeshimabet was married at the age of eight (1872) to Prince Makonnes Wolde Mikael of Shoa (1852 – 1907), as his second wife. Princess Yeshimabet was the mother of Tafari Makonnen (1892 – 1975), who later became emperor of Ethiopia as Haile Selassie I (1930 – 1975). Her other ten children died in infancy. Princess Yeshimabet died (March 14, 1894) at Harar, aged twenty-nine, and was interred in the Church of St Michael there.
Yessayan, Zabel – (1878 – 1943)
Armenian prose writer
Zabel Yessayan was born in Scutari, Constantinople, and studied literature at the Sorbonne. Having written articles and stories for French and Armenian magazines she retired to Constantinople (1908). For six years Zabel was a prominent literary figure, but in 1909 she went to provide humanitarian assistance to survivors of the massacre perpetrated by the Turks in Cilicia. Her work Among the Ruins (Averaknerunmej) (1911) describes her own impressions of the scenes she encountered. Her publication angered the Turkish government, and she was forced to flee the country for her life (1915).
Visiting Bulgaria, Egypt and Paris, in 1927 Zabel finally settled at Yerevan in Soviet Armenia and became a citizen. She published her childhood reminiscences of Scutari entitled The Gardens of Silihader (Silitarhi Partezner) (1936). Banished as a counter-revolutionary criminal (1937) Zabel died in exile. She also wrote two novels concerned with the bitterness of unhappily married women entitled Hours of agony (Anjkut ‘yan zhamer) (1911) and The last cup (Verjin Bazhakee) (1917).
Yevonde, Philonie – (1893 – 1975)
British photographer
Born Yevonde Cumbers in London, she was educated at home, and then abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris (1910), she decided to make photography her career and became an apprentice to the noted female portraitist Lallie Charles (1911 – 1914). She was later married to the dramatist Edgar Middleton (1921).
Yevonde later established her own studio in London, and with the end of the war she gained a name for herself as an advertising photography, becoming especially noted for her extremely effective use of colour. Her most noted work was her famous set of costumed debutante portraits known as the ‘Goddess’ series.
Yezierska, Anzia – (1880 – 1970)
Jewish-American sociologist and author
Yezierska was born (Oct 19, 1880) in Plinsk, on the border of Russia and Poland, and possessed little formal education. She immigrated to New York in the USA with her family (1900). There she was employed in a sweatshop and attended nightschool to learn English. She later gained a scholarship which enabled her to attend Columbia University. Anzia Yezierska achieved fame with her first story The Fat of the Land (1919), whilst her next work Hungry Hearts (1920) gained her a short term contract as a film scriptwriter before she decided to return to New York to work as a freelance writer.
Her other works included Salome of the Tenements (1922), Children of Loneliness (1923), Bread Givers (1925), Arrogant Beggar (1927) and All I Ever could Be (1932). The main theme of her work was the problems experienced by emigrant Jewish women after their arrival in America. She was involved in a lengthy romantic liasion with the noted educator John Dewey, and wrote the autobiographical Red Ribbon on a White Horse (1950). Anzia Yezierska died in poverty and obscurity (Nov 21, 1970) aged ninety, in Ontario, California.
Yim, Louise – (1899 – 1977)
South Korean political leader
Yim was born (Nov 21, 1899) and worked for many years to secure the independence of Korea from Japan. She served as the first Korean representative to the United Nations (1945 – 1948) and was appointed minister of Commerce and Industry by President Syngman Rhee. An ardent educator, Louise Yim founded the Central Women’s College in Seoul (1934) and served as the first president of that university. She later served as the president of Chuangang University in Seoul (1953 – 1961). Louise Yim died (Feb 17, 1977) aged seventy-seven.
Yim Wing Chun see Wing Chun, Yim
Yin, Qiao see Hong, Xiao
Yin, Sin Sa-im-dang – (1504 – 1551)
Korean calligrapher and painter
Sin Sa-im-dang Yin was born at Kangnung in Kangwon province. Proficient at copying from an early age, Sin was as also talented in poetry, cursive writing, and embroidery. Her most renowned works included the painting of grass insects, combined with ink paintings and flowers, fruit and birds. The most notable example of her style is Mice Nibbling at a Watermelon. Sin Sa-im-dang Yin was the mother of two famous sons I Yi (1536 – 1584), the Confucian scholar and statesman, and the noted painter and calligrapher U Yi (1542 – 1609).
Yin Lihua – (1 BC – 64 AD)
Chinese empress
Yin Lihua was the second wife of the Emperor Guang Wudi (5 BC – 57 AD), who reigned (25 – 57 AD). Born into a powerful southern family, Yin had become concubine to the emperor in her youth, and bore him five sons, including the Emperor Mingdi (28 – 75 AD). After becoming involved in intrigues concerning the succession Yin Lihua and her family caused the deposition of the empress Guo Shengtong (41 AD), whereupon Guang Wudi married her and granted her the Imperial title and privileges in her rival’s place. She was honoured as empress dowager during the first decade of her son’s reign.
Yi Pangya – (1901 – 1989)
Korean princess, activist for the disabled
Yi Pangya was the wife of Prince Yi Un of Korea (1897 – 1970). She was the daughter of Prince Nashimoto of Japan and his wife Nabeshima Itsuko. Originally named Masako, she took the Korean name of Yi (Yi Pangya) at her marriage in 1920. The marriage which produced two sons, had been arranged to strengthen political ties between Korea and Japan. During 1927 – 28 Yi accompanied her husband on a visit to Europe.
From Oct, 1947, at the end of World War II, husband and wife were officially relegated to the status of commoners, but remained resident in Tokyo, and kept up their connections with the Imperial family. In 1963 the couple returned to reside at the royal palace in Seoul, with an allowance paid by the South Korean government. After her husband’s death, Princess Yi remained resident in Seoul, and was actively involved in social welfare work, her especial interest being with the physically and mentally disabled. For this work she was honoured by the Korean government in 1981.
Ylla – (1911 – 1955)
Austrian animal photographer
Born Camille Koffler in Vienna, she studied sculpture in Belgrade. She was employed by the photographer Ergy Landau, and decided to try her hand at photography (1932). She began with photographs of animals taken whilst on holidays, which so impressed Landau that he arranged for a viewing of her work at the Galerie de La Pleiade. After this she adopted the professional name of ‘Ylla’ and established a studio in Paris, where she specialized in animal portraiture. She published the work Petits et Grands (Big and Little) (1938), and did the photographs for Julian Huxley’s Animal Language (1938).
Ylla worked in the USA from 1941, and established a studio in New York. She was the author of the two children’s books The Sleepy Little Lion and Two Little Bears which were translated into various languages. She travelled to Kenya and Uganda to photograph wild animals for Animals in Africa (1952) and several volumes of her work was published posthumously. Ylla died (March 30, 1955) at Bharaptur, India, after an accident.
Yochiko Kawaskima see Eastern Jewel
Yodogomi – (1567 – 1615)
Japanese ruler
Yodogomi was the daughter of Nagamasa Asai and his wife Otani-no-Kata. Born with the name Chacha, after her marriage (1583) with the warlord Hideyoshi Toyotomi, she resided at the castle of Yodo, from which the popular version of her name derives. Yodogomi bore Totoyomi two sons, Tsurumatsu and Hideyori, the younger of whom survived to adulthood.
After the death of her husband Yodogomi led the warriors in Osaka Castle against the Tokugawa clan, but eventually she successfully concluded peace with them. During a second attack of the Tokugawas, Osaka was captured and Yodogomi and her remaining son committed suicide to avoid capture.
Yogin Ma – (1851 – 1924)
Indian mystic and religious leader
Born Yogindra Mohini Mitra (Jan 16, 1851) in North Calcutta, she was married young to a dissolute husband. She later abandoned him in order to become the devoted disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Yogin Ma died (June 4, 1924) in Calcutta, aged seventy-three.
Yoko – (c1849 – 1906)
Queen of Seneghun
Perhaps better known as ‘Madam Yoko,’ she was the only woman in the history of Sierra Leone to be sole ruler of one of the pre-colonial states. She was originally named Soma, and was born at Gbograma, the daughter of Njiakundohun, a famous Kpaa-Mende leader. A talented dancer, she trained the girls of the ruling families in the initiation rites of the Sande women’s secret society. Yoko was married firstly to the warriore Gongoima, from whom she was divorced, and secondly to Gbenjei, chief of the Taiama tribe who left her a widow. Her third husband was a powerful Mendelend chieftain, Gbanya Lango and, as his head wife, Yoko became closely involved with local politics.
A skilful diplomat, she took over the position of chief after her husband’s death (1878). Through local alliances she developed a large confederacy and negotiated with the British for protection, using them in the late 1880’s to destroy her political rival, Kamanda. Officially descrined as ‘queen’ of Seneghun, Yoko further extended her territories after her support of the British suppression of the Hut Tax insurrection (1898). Though she realized the necessity of British support for her rule, and she actively worked for their interests in order to preserve her own position,
Queen Yoko disliked missionaries, and refused to be converted to Christianity. Through continued political manoeuvering and continuous minor warfare she managed to dominate the chiefs of the Kpaa-Mende confederacy. Her death in her mid-fifties (Aug, 1906) was rumoured to be suicide, as it was believed that she either feared encroaching old age, or felt forever dishonoured by the loss of her town of her birth, Gbogroma, to Beimba I of Kakua.
Yolanda Margherita Milena Elisabetta Romana Maria – (1901 – 1986)
Princess of Savoy and Italy
Princess Yolanda was born (June 1,1901) in Rome, the eldest daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele III (1900 – 1946) and his wife Elena, the daughter of Nikola I, King of Montenegro (1910 – 1921). Princess Yolanda was married in Rome (1923) to Conte Giorgio Carlo Calvi di Bergolo (1887 – 1977), despite the opposition of her mother, Queen Elena, who did not approve of her daughter marrying a peer instead of a foreign prince. Yolanda survived her husband as Dowager Countess di Bergolo (1977 – 1986). Princess Yolanda died (Oct 16, 1986) in Rome, aged eighty-five. She left five children,
Yolande of Brienne see Isabella II of Jerusalem
Yolande of Burgundy – (1247 – 1280)
French mediaeval heiress
Yolande was born (Dec, 1247) the daughter of Eudes of Burgundy, Count of Nevers and his wife Matilda de Dampierre, Dame de Bourbon. She was married (June, 1265) to Prince Jean Tristran Capet (1250 – 1270), Count of Valois, a younger son of St Louis IX, King of France (1226 – 1270). The marriage remained childless and the Count of Valois died at Tunis in Africa and was buried at the Abbey of St Francois at Nevers. Yolande became Dowager Countess of Valois and received the city of Nevers which she ruled as her own appanage. Countess Yolande died (June 2, 1280) aged thirty-two, and was interred with her husband.
Yolande of Dreux (Jolenta, Joletta, Yoleta) – (1267 – 1330)
Queen consort of Scotland (1285 – 1286) and Duchess consort of Brittany (1302 – 1312)
Yolande was the daughter and heiress of Robert IV, Count of Dreux, a direct descendant of Louis VI, King of France (1108 – 1137). Her mother was Beatrice, the daughter of Jean, Comte de Montfort and La Ferte-Alais, and his wife Jeanne de Chateaudun. From her mother she inherited the county of Montfort. Yolande’s first marriage arranged with the widowed Alexander III (1241 – 1286), King of Scotland (1249 – 1286) was one of political necessity, as the king’s two sons had died childless, leaving him with an only daughter as his heir. Yolande travelled by sea to Scotland, and was married to Alexander at Jedburgh Abbey (Nov 1, 1286).
The new queen was considered to be a great beauty, and the king quickly became enamoured of his new bride. This attachment would eventually lead to his death. Ignoring the foul weather, Alexander insisted on riding through the night, despite the fears of his attendants, in order to be with the queen, who was waiting for his arrival at Jedburgh. His horse plunged over a cliff between Burntisland and Kinghorn, Fife, and Alexander was killed (March 19, 1286). He was buried at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife. There were no children from the brief marriage, though according to the Lancercost Chronicle, after Alexander’s death the queen announced that she was pregnant, but this ruse, if true, was soon discovered, and Yolande fell into the background of the ensuing political events.
The young queen then returned to France (1287). Yolande was the Queen Dowager of Scotland for over three decades (1286 – 1322). She was eventually remarried (1292) to Arthur of Brittany, Comte de Montfort (1265 – 1312) as his second wife. Comte Arthur later succeeded to the dukedom of Brittany as Duke Arthur II (1302) and Yolande became duchess consort. She survived her second husband as Dowager Duchess of Brittany (1312 – 1322). Queen Yolande died (Aug 2, 1330), aged about sixty-three. The county of Montfort then passed to her son Jean. The children of her second marriage were,
Yolande of Montferrat – (1271 – 1317)
Byzantine Augusta
Yolande of Montferrat was the daughter of William IX, Marquis of Montferrat and his second wife Beatrix, the daughter of Alfonso X, King of Castile. She married (1284) the Emperor Andronikos II as his second wife, and bore him nine children. Her marriage had been arranged because of her descent from Boniface of Montferrat, the crusader of 1204 who had become king of Thessalonika, which made Yolande a claimant to the Byzantine throne.
It was hoped that her marriage to Andronikos would end forever all the attempts made by the west to gain control of Thessalonika. Yolande’s efforts to secure principalities for her own sons at the expense of her stepsons led to her seperating from her husband (1304), and installing herself in her own patrimony of Thessalonika as hereditary ruler. To appease her, the emperor made their son John governor of Thessalonika, by Yolande refused to return to him. With the death of her only brother marquis Giovanni I (1305) Yolande inherited Montferrat, but transferred her claim to her second son Theodore (1292 – 1338), the empress ruling as regent during his minority. She arranged that her daughter Simonis Palaeologina should become the fourth wife of Stephen Milutin II, King of Serbia. Empress Yolande remained estranged from the emperor until her death at her capital of Drama, but left a substantial bequest to the Cathedral of St Sophia in Constantinople.
Yolande of Wassenberg (Jolanta) – (c1091 – c1130)
Flemish countess and ruler
Yolande of Wassenburg was the elder daughter of Count Gerard of Wassenberg, who became Count of Gueldres as Gerard I, and his wife Clemence of Poitiers, the widow of Konrad I, Count of Luxemburg. She was called Adelaide prior to her first marriage. Yolande became the wife (c1107) of Baldwin III (Baudoin) (c1087 – 1120), Count of Hainault (1095 – 1120), to whom she bore several children,
Countess Yolande ruled for several years as regent for her son Baldwin IV (1120 – c1125) till he came of age. She then remarried to Godfrey de Bouchain, vicomte de Valenciennes, to whom she bore two further children. She died rather young, and was buried at the abbey of St Waldetrude (Waudru) at Mons in Hainault. The children of Yolande’s second marriage later sold the chatellanie of Valenciennes, as well as the comital seigneurie of Ostrevant, to their half-brother, Count Baldwin IV.
Yoli, Lupe Victoria see La Lupe
Yomei-monin see Sadako (1)
Yonge, Charlotte Mary – (1823 – 1901)
British Anglican novelist
Charlotte Yonge was born (Aug 11, 1823) in Otterbourne, near Winchester in Hampshire, the daughter of a retired army officer. She received a thorough education at home in history, literature, and languages. Yonge never married and taught Sunday school for over seven decades. She wrote with a strongly religious theme and produced almost two hundred volumes of fiction. Her work achieved immense popularity and included her famous work The Heir of Radclyffe (1853), from which the noble heroic character of Sir Guy achieved popular cult status.
Charlotte Yonge wrote several volumes for small children such as The Little Duke (1854) and The Lances of Lynwood (1855), and edited the girls’ periodical Monthly Packet for forty years (1851 – 1890) and contributed articles to The Magazine for the Young. Deeply involved with missionary and evangelical works, proceeds from The Heir of Radclyffe were expended by Yonge is outfitting the missionary ship Southern Cross for Bishop George Selwyn, whilst proceeds from her children’s work The Daisy Chain (1856) were used to establish a missionary college in Auckland, New Zealand. Other works included Biographies of Good Women (1862), a volume devoted to the meaning of Christian Names (1863) and a Life of Bishop Patterson (1873). Charlotte Yonge died (March 24, 1901) aged seventy-seven.
Yonge, Dame Felicity – (1921 – 1995)
British politican
Ida Felicity Ann Yonge was born (Feb 28, 1921), the daughter of a naval commander. She was educated at a convent at St Leonard’s-on-the-Sea and then served as a second officer with the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service) during WW II (1940 – 1946). Yonge remained unmarried and later became private secretary to the chairman of the Conservative Party (1951 – 1964) and then to the Leader of the Opposition (1964 – 1965), the Opposition Chief Whip (1965 – 1970) and to the Leader of the House of Commons (1970 – 1974). Yonge served as special adviser to the government Chief Whip’s Office (1979 – 1983) and was appointed DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II (1982) in recognition to her contribution to politics. Dame Felicity Yonge died (April 1, 1995) aged seventy-four.
Yonge, Juliana – (fl. 1783 – after 1806)
British moralist writer
Nothing is known of her personal life. Juliana Yonge’s first work Essays and Letters on the Most Important and Interesting Subjects was published with her first initial only, so as to not reveal the sex of the author. Her work reveals that she had been writing for many years and her theme is conservatively religious. Her second work On the Importance of the Baptismal Vow no longer survives. In 1787 she produced Practical and Explanatory Commentary on the Holy Bible, and was still living in 1806 when she annotated a second edition of her Essays.
York, Anne Hyde, Duchess of – (1637 – 1671)
English Stuart royal
Anne Hyde was born (March 12, 1637) at Cranbourne Lodge, Windsor Park, Berkshire, the eldest daughter of Sir Edward Hyde (1609 – 1674), first Earl of Clarendon, chief minister to Charles II, and his second wife Frances, the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury (1576 – 1657). Anne accompanied her family to Breda in Holland (1653) where she was appointed to serve as lady-in-waiting to Princess Mary of Orange. She became a favourite with the Queen Dowager of Bohemia and first met James Stuart, brother of Charles II in Paris (1656). Anne was later married secretly to James, Duke of York, much to the anger of her father, whilst King Charles smoothed matters over, by having the couple remarried publicly at Worcester House in London (1660), and welcomed Anne into to the family.
Following his example, and at the request of Cardinal Mazarin, the queen mother Henrietta Maria accepted Anne as her daughter-in-law. The duchess’s court was small and select and she patronised the artist Sir Peter Lely. She became extremely jealous of her husband’s various amours, and is said to have complained about her husband’s attachment to Lady Chesterfield, who was forced to retire from the court (1665). The duchess was converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before her death from cancer (March 13, 1671), the day after her thirty-fourth birthday. Her husband and Queen Catharine were present during her final hours. The duchess of York was interred in the vault of Mary, Queen of Scots in the chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey. She was the mother of queens Mary II, the wife of William III of Orange, and Anne, the last ruler of the Stuart Dynasty (1702 – 1714).
York, Anne Mowbray, Duchess of see Mowbray, Anne
York, Annie – (1844 – 1926)
British society figure, philanthropist, traveller and letter writer
Born Annie de Rothschild, she was the sister to Constance, Lady Battersea. Annie was married to the Hon. (Honourable) Philip York. Her correspondence with her sister and their mother, Lady Louisa de Rothschild, was published in London as Lady De Rothschild and Her Daughters (1937).
York, Elizabeth – (1923 – 1969)
American television actress
York was born (Jan 21, 1923) and was best known for her role in the popular Portia Faces Life (1954) series. York also made appearances in various episodes of popular shows such as The Best of Broadway (1955), Have Gun – Will Travel (1959), Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1959) and Bonanza (1960). Elizabeth York died (March 24, 1969) aged forty-six.
Yorke, Susan – (1915 – 1997)
Anglo-Australian novelist
Born Susan Telenga in Germany, of Dutch-Belgian parentage, she was the daughter of a diplomat. Her family fled the Nazis (1938) and she spent time in India and China, before coming to New York to continue her education at Vassar College. She married three times, firstly and secondly to career diplomats, one American and one British, before marrying Edgar Shuttleworth, a British planter in Malaya.
Her first novel The Widow was published under the pseudonym of Susan Yorke, which she then retained. Other novels included The Agency House: The Girl in the Cheong-Sam, written during her time in Malaya, and Star Sapphire. A teacher and lecturer with the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) in Bathurst St, Sydney, Yorke was also closely associated with the Australian Fellowship of Writers and the Society of Women Writers.
Yosano, Akiko – (1878 – 1942)
Japanese poet
Born Akiko Otori in Sakai, near Osaka, she was the daughter of a confectionary producer. She specialized in writing in the then outmoded verse form known as tanka, which had been superseded by the haiku and waka styles popularised in the nineteenth century. Yosano sent some of her poems to the editor of the Myojo (Morning Star) periodical (1900), but it was her first published work, the collection of lyrical romantic verse entitled Midaregami (1901) which created much scholarly controversy. It was later translated into English as Tangled Hair: Selected Tanka from Midaregami (1971). She was married (1901) to the editor Yosano Hiroshi who had arranged for the publication of the Midaregami.
Yoshiko – (c1010 – c1034)
Japanese crown princess
Born Fujiwara no Kishi, she was the daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, and his wife Minamoto no Rinshi. Yoshiko was the much younger half-sister of the Empress Akiko, the wife of the Emperor Ichijo. Yoshiko was married (1025) to her nephew, the Crown Prince Atsunaga (1009 – 1045), the son of Ichijo and Akiko, and became his first wife. She died young, prior to her husband’s accession to the throne as the Emperor Go-Suzaku (1036 – 1045), though the exact date of her death has not been recorded. Princess Yoshiko was the mother of Prince Chikahito (1025 – 1068), who later succeeded to the throne as the emperor Go-Reizei.
Youckney, Elizabeth – (fl. 1668 – 1680)
English Stuart actress
Her surname is variously given as Yackley or Yockney. She was a member of the King’s Company at the Bridges Street Theatre in London, and also performed at Edinburgh, in Scotland later in her career. Elizabeth Youckney’s only two recorded stage roles were those of Francescina in The Sisters (1668 – 1669) and Bellinda in The Man of Mode (1679 – 1680).
Young, Alse – (c1590 – 1647)
American colonial victim of witchcraft accusations
Alse Young was a native of Connecticut, New England, and was found guilty and hanged (May 26, 1647). Her death predated the more famous witchtrials of Salem, in Massachusetts forty years later.
Young, Cecilia Arne see Arne, Cecilia
Young, Mrs Charles see Vezin, Jane Elizabeth
Young, Elizabeth – (fl. 1553 – 1558)
English Protestant exile
Elizabeth young was one of the group of religious exiles who fled to Europe at the beginning of the reign of Mary I. She employed in smuggling Protestant works such as the pamphlet the Antichrist by John Olde, back into England. She was arrested in London whilst engaged in distributing the pamphlet and was imprisoned. Despite numerous interrogations Young refused to compromise her associates, and finally was able to obtain her release.
Young, Elizabeth Lee, Lady (Betty) – (1693 – 1740)
British Hanoverian society figure
Lady Elizabeth Lee was the granddaughter of King Charles II (1660 – 1685), being the daughter of Sir Edward Lee, first Earl of Litchfield, and his wife Lady Charlotte Fitzroy, the illegitimate daughter of King Charles and Barbara Villiers. Lady Betty was married firstly to Colonel Francis Lee (died c1730) to whom she bore three children including Elizabeth Lee (1717 – 1737), the wife of Henry Temple, the heir of Lord Palmerston. Lady Lee was married secondly to Dr Edward Young, the vicar of Welwyn in Hertfordshire, to whom she bore a son. She was referred to in correspondence of the period as ‘Lady Betty Lee’ and she established herself as a fashionable Georgian hostess in London. Lady Young appears as a character in the historical novel Devil Water (1962) by Anya Seton.
Young, Isabella see Lampe, Isabella
Young, Janet Mary Baker, Lady – (1926 – 2002)
British Conservative politician
Janet Baker was was the daughter of an academic and was educated at Oxford. During World War II she spent several years abroad in the USA and then returned to study politics and economics at the College of St Anne at Oxford. She married (1950) fellow academic Geoffrey Young, and the couple had two daughters. Young became involved in local politics and served for fifteen years as a member of the Oxford City Council (1957 – 1972), ultimately becoming an alderman and then elected leader of the Conservative Group (1967). She had desired to stand for election to parliament, but was instead offered a peerage by the then Prime Minister, Edward Heath (1971).
Lady Young was the first woman to be appointed as a Whip in the House of Lords (1972) and then served briefly as the Under-secretary of State for Education (1973 – 1974). When her longtime friend Margaret Thatcher took over as leader of the Conservatives Young was appointed as vice-chairman of the Party. With the Conservative victory (1979) Young entered the Cabinet as Minister of State in the Department of Education and Science. Later appointed as Leader of the House of Lords (1981 – 1983) she was then appointed Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth (1983). Lady Young died (Sept 6, 2002).
Young, Julia Evelyn – (1857 – after 1912)
American author and poet
Julia Young was born (Dec 4, 1857) in Buffalo, New York. Her published works included Adrift: A Story of Niagara (1889), Black Evan (1901) a volume of verse, and the poem Barham Beach (1908), amongst others.
Young, Loretta – (1912 – 2000)
American film and television actress
Young was a leading actress from the 1930’s and 1940’s. She was best remembered for her Oscar winning performance in The Farmer’s Daughter (1947). She bore an illegitimate child to actor Clark Gable, and later hosted The Loretta Young Show on television (1953 – 1963). Loretta Young died (Aug 12, 2000) in Los Angeles, California, aged eighty-seven.
Young, Marie Grice – (1876 – 1959)
American musician and author
Miss Young was an accomplished musician and instructed Ethel Roosevelt, the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. She was a passenger on the ill-fated liner Titanic (1912) which she boarded at Cherbourg in France to return to Washington in the USA. She survived the sinking and was rescued in lifeboat 8. She wrote an account of this event entitled Lest We Forget which was published in the Washington Post and the National Magazine (1912). Marie Young never married and died (July 27, 1959) in Amsterdam, New York.
Young, Martha Strudwick – (1862 – 1941)
American writer
Martha Young was born at Newbern in Alabama, the granddaughter of educator Henry Tutwiler. She was raised in Greensboro and attended the Tuscaloosa Female Academy and the Livingston Female Academy. She wrote stories using local negro dialects beginning with A Nurse’s Tale (1884) which was published in a New Orleans newspaper under the pseudonym ‘Eli Shepperd.’ Other works were published in newspapers and journal using this pseudonym and included Woman’s Home Companion, Southern Churchman and Cosmopolitan. With the publication of her books Plantation Songs (1901) and Plantation Bird Legends (1902) she resumed her own name. Young wrote books for children and travelled the country giving lectures. She remained unmarried and died in Greensboro.
Young, Rose Emmett – (1869 – 1941)
American feminist and editor
Rose Young was born in Lexington, Missouri, and worked as an editor with the University Publishing Company in New York (1903 – 1907), and with the New York Evening Post newspaper (1912 – 1913). Long prominent in the suffragist movement, Young was for four years the editor of the feminist periodical Woman Citizen (1917 – 1921).
Young also wrote several popular novels earlier in her literary career such as Sally of Missouri (1903) and Henderson (1904). These were followed by Murder at Manson’s (1927) and A Complete Record (1929), amongst other works, which were produced during her retirement. Rose Young died (July 6, 1941) aged seventy-one.
Younger, Maud – (1870 – 1936)
American trade union activist, suffrage leader and author
Maud Younger was popularly known as ‘The Mother of the Eight-Hour Law.’ She published works concerning union and suffrage matters.
Younghusband, Dame Eileen Louise – (1902 – 1981)
British social work pioneer
Eileen Younghusband was born (Jan 1, 1902) in London, the daughter of the noted explorer and diplomat, Sir Francis Younghusband (1863 – 1942), and was raised in Kashmir, India. Returning to England she worked doing university settlement work and then studied at the London School of Economics, where she ultimately became a teacher for three decades (1929 – 1957). During World War II she worked tirelessly for the National Association of Girls’ Clubs (1939 – 1944) and she was appointed to direct courses for the British Council for Social Welfare (1942 – 1944).
Younghusband pioneered the first ever CAB (Citizens Advice Bureaux) and was later appointed as the principal adviser to the National Institute for Social Work Training (1961 – 1967). She wrote The Education and Training of Social Workers (1947) and was the author of the two volume work Social Work in Britain, 1950 – 1975 (1978). In recognition of her valuable work Eileen Younghusband was appointed MBE (Member of the British Empire) (1946) by King George VI, and then CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) (1955) and DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) (1964) by Queen Elizabeth II. Dame Eileen Younghusband died (May 27, 1981) aged seventy-nine, in the USA.
Yourcenar, Margeurite – (1903 – 1987)
Belgian-French novelist and poet
Born Margeurite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine de Crayencour (June 8, 1903) in Brussels to a wealthy patrician family, she the only child of Michel de Crayencour, of Mont-Noir, Flanders, and his wife Fernande, the daughter of Arthur de Cartier de Marchienne. She was educated at home under the tutelage of a governess. Her first poetic verses were published during her teenage years and she travelled extensively before settling in America (1939) where she later became a citizen (1947).
Her pseudonym ‘Yourcenar’ was an anagram of her own name and she wrote many novels with historical themes including La Nouvelle Eurydice (The New Eurydice) (1931), Le Coup de grace (1939), Les Memoires d’Hadrien (Memoirs of Hadrian) (1941) and L’oeuvre au noir (The Abyss) (1976). Yourcenar produced an anthology of American spirituals in Fleuve profond, sombre riviere (The Deep Dark River) (1964) and her autobiography Souvenirs pieux (Pious Memories) (1977). Margeurite Yourcenar died (Dec 18, 1987), aged eighty-four.
Youshkevitch, Nina Semyonovna – (1921 – 1998)
Russian-American ballerina
Youshkevitch was born at Odessa in the Ukraine, the daughter of the dramatist and novelist Semyon Youshkevitch. She was taken to Paris as an infant with her family, and there studied ballet under Olga Preobrazhenskaya and Lubov Egorova and with Leo Stats at the Paris Opera Ballet. She studied the piano at the Paris Conservatory and then studied under Bornislava Nijinska at the Opera Russe de Paris. She appeared with the Ballet Russe in Monte Carlo as the Girl in Blue in the ballet Les Biches (1934).
Youshkevitch toured Australia (1936) and then returned to Europe where she performed the works of Leonide Massine and Michel Fokine and remained a leading dancer with Nijinska creating one of the two solo roles in her ballet Chopin Concerto (1939) which was first performed at the World’s Fair in New York. She settled in the USA (1942) and performed with the Metropolitan Opera ballet and toured with the company of director Felix Sadowski. She played Princess Aurora in the first production of Sleeping Beauty (1945) which had been sponsored by the San Francisco Russian Opera and Ballet Association. She established the Nina Youshkevitch Ballet Workshop in Manhattan (1977) and one of her pupils was Jennie Somogy. Nina Youshkevitch died (Nov 3, 1998) aged seventy-seven, in New York.
Youville, Marie Margeurite d’ – (1701 – 1771)
Canadian nun and founder
Born Marie Margeurite Dufrost de LaJemmerais (Oct 15, 1701) in Varennes, Quebec to French parents, she was educated by the Ursuline nuns from the age of eleven (1712). Despite her own religious vocation, her family arranged a marriage for her in Montreal with (1722) Francois d’Youville, to whom she bore three children. The union was miserable and Margeurite sufferred much from the remonstrations and cruelty of her mother-in-law. Her husband’s early death (1730) left her without financial resources and with two young sons to provide for, and she was forced to take up needlework to make a living.
Marie Youville joined the Confraternity of the Holy Family, run by the Sulpician Fathers in Qubec, who devoted themselves to caring for the poor. Margeurite herself showed particular attention to the destitute elderly and prisoners. She attracted several other women of a like mind and the Sulpician Fathers joined them into a religious order who earned money by their needlework, being layer known as the ‘Grey nuns.’ Bishop Pontbriand of Quebec later confirmed the Rule of the Grey Nuns with Mother d’Youville as superior (1755). Margeurite d’Youville was later beatified by Pope John XXIII (1959) and her congregation had seven thousand members by 1970.
Ysgafell see Williams, Jane
Yu – (c1250 – 1279)
Chinese Imperial mother
Yu was the wife of the Emperor Duzong (1240 – 1274). Suzong’s wife Chuan held the Imperial title, and Yu was styled only ‘consort.’ Yu was the mother of the short-lived child emperors, Duanzong (1269 – 1278) and Bing Di (1272 – 1279) and during their reigns the empire was besieged by the Mongol invasions. In 1279 these incursions forced the Imperial court to flee by sea. During a long sea-battle, her son Bing Di, aged six, was drowned. Distracted by grief, Yu drowned herself and was later worshipped on coastal regions as a deity of the sea.
Yu Hsuan-chi see Yu Xuanji
Yun of Korea see Sunjeong
Yuni – (fl. c1400 – c1370 BC)
Mittanian queen from Africa
Yuni was of the same dynasty as her husband King Tushratta (c1400 – c1350 BC) whom she married (c1380 BC). Their daughter Tadukhipa became a secondary wife of Amenhotep III, king of Egypt, and has been identified with Queen Nefertiti, the wife of Akhenaten.
Yuri – (1694 – 1764)
Japanese poet and calligrapher
Yuri was the adopted daughter of Kaji, the classical verse poet. Trained in waka verse by her mother, the courtier and poet Reizei Tamenura ttok her under his protection and encouraged her talent. Nearly one hundred of her poems were published (1727) in the Sayun ba (Leaves from a small lily), and the poet and scholar Rai San’-yo wrote her biography. Yuri was the mother of the painter Ike Gyokuran (1727 – 1784), who became the wife of the calligrapher Ike Taiga (1723 – 1776).
Yurieva, Isabella – (1899 – 2000)
Russian folk singer
Isabella Yurieva was born in Rostov on the Don river, and later established herself as a favoured popular musical performer in Moscow after the arrival of Communism. She was best known for her romantic ballads, though the authorities did not favour this sort of repertoire. She continued performing right up till her death at the age of one hundred.
Yurievskaia, Princess see Dolgorukaya, Catherine Mikhailovna
Yurka, Blanche – (1887 – 1974)
American stage and film actress
Yurka was born (June 19, 1887) at St Paul in Minnesota, of Czech ancestry and made an extremely successful career as a stage actress. She appeared in quite a number of films such as A Tale of Two Cities (1936), Queen of the Mob (1940), Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring (1941), A Night to Remember (1942), Tonight We Raid Calais (1943), Cry of the Werewolf (1944), The Southerner (1945), The Furies (1950) and Thunder in the Sun (1957) amongst many others. She published her autobiography entitled Bohemian Girl (1970). Blanche Yurka died (June 6, 1974) aged eighty-six, in New York.
Yussoupova, Irina Alexandrovna Romanovna, Princess – (1895 – 1970)
Russian grand duchess
Grand Duchess Irina Alexandrovna Romanovna was born in St Petersburg, the daughter of Grand Duke Alexander and his wife Grand Duchess Xenia, the daughter of Tsar Alexander III, and was niece to Nicholas II (1894 – 1917). She was married (1914) to Prince Felix Yussoupov (1887 – 1967), who achieved fame as one of the murderers of the ‘Mad Monk’ Grigori Rasputin (1916).
With the advent of the Revolution, the couple and their young daughter managed to escape from Russia (1919). With them they took two Rembrandt paintings, antiques and jewellery worth a million dollars, and resided mainly in Paris, France. The couple later won a lawsuit against the movie producers Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in London (1934), when the film Rasputin the Mad Monk depicted the princess as having been seduced or raped by the madman. Princess Yussoupova died (Feb 26, 1970) in Paris aged seventy-four.
Yu Xuanji (Yu Hsuan-chi) – (c844 – c868)
Chinese poet
Yu Xuanji was born in Xian (Chang’an), the Tang dynasty capital. She was said to have been the secondary wife of a minor rural official. He later abandoned her, possibly due to the influence of his jealous wife, and she became a courtesan, and later a Daoist priestess. She may have been the mistress of the poet Wn Tingyun (812 – c870), with whom she composed verses to music. Her surviving verses, some fifty poems and several fragments, remained ever popular with all classes of Chinese society. Yu Xuanji was executed as a young woman, condemned after she had beaten her maidservant to death.
Yvetta of Roucy see Judith of Roucy
Yxta – (c810 – c870)
German ascetic and saint
Yxta was the daughter of St Notburga, the patron of Constance and Sulzen. Her mother lived the life of religious sanctity at Buella, near Zultz, and Yxta followed her in this career. Yxta survived her mother, and at her death was interred at Jestelen, near Buella, where a chapel and an altar were later dedicated in her name. Pilgrims before the Reformation called her Hixta. Yxta was revered as a saint at Eistettin, near Schaffshausen (July 25), and jointly with her mother (Feb 6).