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Women’s Lives in the Sutherland Papers

Many women wrote to the Leveson-Gower family during the nineteenth century, particularly to Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1806-1868), the second Duchess of Sutherland, who gave generously to a number of charities for widows and women in prison. The women who wrote to the Duchess were often poor and unable to support themselves or their families, particularly those who had been widowed and left with children to care for. Their letters tell us about life as a working class woman or single parent in the nineteenth century.

Click here to see documents relating to women’s lives in the Sutherland Papers