Katharine Russell, Viscountess Amberley

Katharine Louisa Russell, Viscountess Amberley (née Stanley), was born on April 3, 1842, in Grosvenor Crescent, London. She was the eighth child of Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, a politician, and Henrietta Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley, a campaigner for women's education. Her siblings included Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle, and Maude Stanley, known for youth work pioneering.

On November 8, 1864, she married John Russell, Viscount Amberley, son of John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, and Frances. The marriage produced several children: John Francis Stanley in 1865, twins Rachel Lucretia and a stillborn sister in 1868, and Bertrand Arthur William in 1872.

Viscountess Amberley engaged in advocacy for women's rights and was a suffragist. She supported women's medical education through scholarships, notably for Emily Bovell, and employed Elizabeth Garrett Anderson as her personal physician. In 1865, she was introduced to Helen Taylor by Harriet Grote and, in 1866, signed a petition for women's suffrage. In 1870, she became president of the Bristol and West of England Women's Suffrage Society and campaigned for equal pay, education, and professional opportunities for women.

During the 1870 visit to North America with her husband, she traveled to Canada and the United States, where she met abolitionist and women's rights advocate Lucretia Mott. She named her daughter after her. Her advocacy included speaking publicly on women's issues, notably addressing a meeting at the Mechanics Institute in Stroud on May 25, 1870. This speech drew a negative reaction from Queen Victoria.

Lady Amberley's personal life included a relationship with Douglas Spalding, a biologist and her children's tutor, with her husband's knowledge and consent. Spalding, suffering from tuberculosis, was unable to marry, and their relationship's details are partially obscured due to the destruction of their journals and correspondence by her mother-in-law after Lord Amberley's death.

Katharine Russell died of diphtheria on June 28, 1874, shortly after her daughter died from the same disease. Her death had a significant impact on her husband, Lord Amberley. Following her death, their bodies were initially cremated and laid in the grounds of their home in Wye Valley. Two years later, after Lord Amberley's death, the remains of Lady Amberley, her daughter, and her husband were moved to the Russell family vault at St Michael's, Chenies.