Background
Lady Ripon was born in 1859 to Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea and his wife, Elizabeth, a writer and notable convert to Catholicism.
Lady Ripon was born in 1859 to Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea and his wife, Elizabeth, a writer and notable convert to Catholicism.
Lady Ripon married Street George Lowther, 4th Earl of Lonsdale, and had a daughter, Juliet. At this time, she was known as Gladys de Grey. They had no children.
Lady Ripon was a patron of the arts, supporting the restoration of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
She exerted great influence through the impresario Augustus Harris, because of her ability to persuade important people to purchase season tickets in advance. She died in October 1917, aged 58.
Lord Ripon survived her by six years and died in September 1923, aged 71. They are buried together in the Ripon family tomb at Studley Royal Church.
Lady Ripon was descended from George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke.
His mother was the Russian-born Countess Catherine Woronzow (or Vorontsov), daughter of the Russian ambassador to Britain, Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov. Her mother was the granddaughter of Sir William à Court, 1st Baronet. Most of Lady Ripon"s six siblings were notable:
George Robert Charles Herbert (1850–1895), who became the 13th Earl of Pembroke.
Michael Henry Herbert (The Honorary Sir Michael Herbert, Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George, Central Bank, Personal Computer) (1857–1904), a diplomat who ended his career as British Ambassador to the United States. in Washington District of Columbia, after whom the town of Herbert in Saskatchewan, Canada, is named.
Mary Catherine (1849–1935), who married, in 1873, the modernist theologian, Baron Friedrich von Hügel. Elizabeth Maud (1851–1933), who married, in 1872, the composer, Sir Charles Hubert Parry.
