Rachel Butler

Lady Rachel Evelyn Butler (née Rachel Evelyn Russell) was born in 1826. She was a member of the British aristocracy, the daughter of John Russell, the 6th Duke of Bedford, and Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford. Her mother was recognized as a patron of the arts and had a documented affair with the painter Edwin Landseer, who was twenty-one years her junior. Landseer frequently visited Woburn Abbey, the Russell family estate, and painted portraits of family members, including Rachel. Subsequent biographical accounts and contemporary opinions have suggested that Rachel may have been the natural daughter of Landseer, though this was not definitively established.

In 1856, Rachel Russell married Lord James Wandesford Butler, the son of James Butler, the 1st Marquess of Ormonde. Lord Butler served briefly as a state steward to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and owned a small estate in Drumcondra. The marriage produced four children.

Rachel Butler was an author of novels, including "Jessie Cameron" (1857), a work set in the Scottish Highlands. The novel was well-regarded; the novelist George Eliot commented that it contained "deep feeling, void of sentimentality." Her other notable work is "The Prophecy" (1862), a two-volume historical novel structured as a document supposedly discovered in 1822. The narrative details the history of the Butler family during the early 17th century.

Rachel Evelyn Butler died on 21 February 1898.