THE NEW BARONESS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 213, 8 September 1871, Page 4

THE NEW BARONESS.

(From the Times) Miss Angela Georgina Burdefct-Coutts, of Holly Lodge, Highgate, who has just been gazetted a peeress of the United Kingdom "in her own right"— in all senses — as Baroness Burdett-Coutts, of Highgate and Brookfield, in the county of Middlesex, is the youngest daughter of the late Sir Francis Burdett, who. was for so many years the, liberal and popular M.P. for Westminster, by his wife Sophia, the youngest daughter of the late Thomas Coutts. She was born on the 25th of April, 1814, so .that she had just completed her 57th year. On the death of her grandfather's . widow in 1837 she inherited by bequest the whole, or nearly the whole, of the immense fortune of that lady, who had been married, firstly, as the second wife, to Mr. Thomas Coutts, the eminent banker of the Strand, and, secondly, as the first wife, to William Aubrey, ninth Duke of St. Albans,, by neither of whom had: she acy issue. From the time of succeeding to this magnificent property. Miss Burdett-Coutts, who, in September,. 1837, assumed the latter name by royal sign-manual, has devoted herself to the foundation and furtherance of works of charity, . benevolence, and philanthropy. Very many of these are known only to her ladyship's private friends and advisers, others possibly to herself alone; but the public generally is aware that she was either the sole or the principal agent in the establishment of. bishoprics at Adelaide, in South Australia, and in British Columbia,- that she has built and endowed a handsome church and schools : in Westminster (which her father so long; represented in Parliament), laying the first stone in July, 1847. She has also been one of the largest, most constant, and most generous supporters of our metropolitan hospitals, and of other benevolent institutions, and has founded schools, reformatories, penitentiaries, model lodging houses for the working classes, and other mnnificent charities too numerous to mention in detail. The best known of her works in this direction are the model lodging-houses in Bethnal Green, and the magnificent structure known as Columbia Market in the same neighborhood. This latter building, which was erected by her at a cost of npwards of £200,000, is lavishly decorated and almost extravagantly adorned, and altogether ecclesiastical in appearance, the style of architecture being that known as the " Second Pointed." The founder of the well-known house of Messrs Coutts and Co., bankers of the Strand, was Mr. James Coutts, the third son of an Edinburgh merchant, who at the age of 25 came up to London, and settled in St. Mary Axe as a Scotch merchant. He subsequently retired from that business, and became a banker, taking a house in the strand, the same in which the firm still exists. His brother Thomas shortly afterwards joined him in the business, and upon the death of James,- Mr. Thomas Coutts became sole proprietor of the bank. Upon the death of Mr. Thomas Coutts, in 1821 or 1822; the whole of his fortune, . amounting to some £900,000, passed to his widow "for her sole use and benefit." This lady, Mr. Coutts! second wife, was Miss Harriett Mellon, the celebrated actress, and subsequently, as, above stated, Duchess of St.. Albaus. From the period of the Duchess's, death in 1837 until about three years ago the lady who is the subject of this notice was the principal proprietor of the old : bank in the Strand, the business being conducted for her by trustees, under the old style of Coutts and C 0.,,. ;