Constance Battersea (1843–1931)

Constance Rothschild was the elder daughter of Baron Sir Anthony de Rothschild and his wife Louisa (née Montefiore). She and her sister and co-heiress Annie (later Hon. Mrs. Eliot Yorke) thus were members of the wealthiest and most distinguished Jewish banking family in England. Their elite social circle consisted of the leaders of English politics and society. Initiated by their mother into social philanthropy, Constance and her sister taught at the Jewish Free School for the poor in London. Together they wrote The History and Literature of the Israelites, published in 1870. In 1877, Constance married the Liberal politician Cyril Flower, later created Baron Battersea. As Lady Battersea, she combined a lavish social life with public campaigning for the temperance movement and other social causes, becomeing a founding member of the Society for Preventive and Rescue Work. A close friend of Princess Louise, a daughter of Queen Victoria, Lady Battersea joined the committee of which the princess was president, the RESA (Recreative Evening Schools’ Association). She later was elected president of the National Union of Women Workers. She was also closely connected with the founding of the New Cromer Hospital. She published her memoirs in 1922.