Daughter of a silk weaver from France, Peter Abraham Ogier and his wife Catherine Rabaud, Louisa Courtauld was born in London, in which city she spent most of her career. At the age of 20 she married Samuel Courtauld (goldsmith), son of Augustin Courtauld, a metalsmith of Huguenot extraction.
Her family"s home at 19 Princelet Street, a "brick messuage" built in 1719, is now being conserved as a museum of immigration and diversity. With him she had seven children, and until his death in 1765 they ran a successful business. This arrangement lasted three years.
When it ended the two closed the business.
Samuel moved to America, while Louisa retired to Essex. Courtauld"s firm was known for the high quality of its wares.
However, by the time of her partnership with Cowles, tastes had shifted towards Neoclassicism, and the company changed its output accordingly. As a widow, she may have lived in a cottage behind Joseph Priestley"s house off Clapton Square on the corner of Clapton Passage and Lower Clapton Road in Hackney.
Her last will and testament, probated January 27, 1807, identifies her as "Louisa Perina Courtauld, Widow of Saint John Hackney, Middlesex." She was originally buried in the vault of Christ Church, Spitalfields, East London.
However, following extensive archaeological excavation of the Spitalfields church crypt in the 1980s, prior to the church"s restoration, her body was removed and examined. Her remains were reburied in Gosfield Church, Essex in 2002.
Louisa Courtauld"s portrait was painted by Johann Zoffany, whose commissions included members of the British royal family.
