Background
In London on 28 January 1816, Caroline Ashurst was born to Elizabeth Brown and William Ashurst. She grew up in the Ashurst home in Muswell Hill.
In London on 28 January 1816, Caroline Ashurst was born to Elizabeth Brown and William Ashurst. She grew up in the Ashurst home in Muswell Hill.
1500 of his letters to the family have been published in East.F. Richards’collection: Letters to an English Family. She was actively involved in the London Society for Women"s Suffrage between 1867 and 1883. She supported abolitionism and the side of the Union in the United States Civil War.
Stansfeld had a close relationship with Giuseppe Mazzini, the Italian revolutionary and republican.
Mazzini "referred to Caroline as ‘his ministering angel’: she assisted him in a variety of capacities, helping not only with his personal and domestic affairs but aiding him with his literary work, as well as becoming involved in more dangerous activities, such as securing money and documents for Italian revolutionaries and providing secret places of refuge for them." In 1864, James Stansfeld was implicated in a plot to assassinate Napoleon III and had to leave his government post. In 1871 she served on the executive committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage.
Stanfeld"s physical and mental health declined starting in 1881. She died on 29 March 1885 of a cerebral haemorrhage in her home, Stoke Lodge, Hyde Park Gate, London.