Angela Burdett-Coutts

Angela Burdett-Coutts, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, the Radical Whig MP, was born in 1814. Angela's mother, Sophia Coutts, was the daughter of Thomas Coutts, the wealthy banker. Angela was educated by a succession of tutors and governesses including the Evangelical, Hannah Meredith.

In 1837 Angela became the wealthiest woman in England when she inherited her grandfather's fortune. Over the next few years she gave most of this money away to good causes. This included the Ragged Schools Union and the Temperance Society. Other projects she funded included a home for former prostitutes, soup kitchens, working-class housing schemes and the building of Anglican churches. Burdett-Coutts also established the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (1883) and the Westminster Technical Institute (1893).

By the time she died in 1906 Angela Burdett-Coutts had given away nearly three million pounds.