Amabel Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey

Amabel Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey, 5th Baroness Lucas (née Yorke; 23 January 1751 – 4 March 1833) was a British diarist and political writer who was a countess and baroness in her own right. Had she been male, she would have served in the House of Lords as a Whig. She wrote particularly about the French Revolution.

Amabel Hume-Campbell
Portrait with her younger sister, Mary, by Joshua Reynolds in 1760
Countess de Grey
Tenure	1816–1833
Successor	Thomas de Grey
Other titles	Baroness Lucas Lady Polwarth
Born	Lady Amabel Yorke 23 January 1751
Died	4 March 1833 (aged 82) Westminster, Greater London, England
Spouse(s)	Alexander Hume-Campbell, Lord Polwarth
Father	Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke
Mother	Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey
Occupation	Writer artist

Life and family

Lady Amabel Yorke was born in 1751, the elder daughter of Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, and his wife, Jemima Campbell, 2nd Marchioness Grey, 4th Baroness Lucas. She was educated at home, which was either Wrest Park in Bedfordshire or the family's London home in St James's Square. She loved books from the age of five, and she became a diarist. She was painted as a child by Joshua Reynolds, and engravings of that portrait are in the National Portrait Gallery in London.[1]

She was taught about art by James Basire and Alexander Cozens, and about etching by James Bretherton.[2] Her own prints are kept in the British Museum.[3] She wrote about political matters, and had she been male, she would have served in the House of Lords as a Whig. She wrote particularly about the French Revolution.[4]

She married Alexander Hume-Campbell, Lord Polwarth, on 17 August 1780,[5] but the marriage was childless.

In 1790, she became 5th Baroness Lucas, inheriting the title from her mother.[lower-alpha 1] In 1816, she was created Countess de Grey in her own right, with a special remainder to her sister and her sister's male heirs.[lower-alpha 2] Her younger sister, Mary, who predeceased her, married Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham, and had children, the eldest of whom inherited the earldom of de Grey and the barony of Lucas.[5]

The countess died in Westminster in 1833.[6] She left over 4,000 etchings to the British Museum, and many of these are thought to be from her own collecting.[2]

Notes

1. Her mother's other peerage, Marquess Grey became extinct on her death.
2. The new title was named "de Grey" rather than "Grey" like her mother's to distinguish it from the earldom of Grey, a title that had been created in 1806.

References

1. "Mary Jemima Robinson (née Yorke), Lady Grantham – Person – National Portrait Gallery". npg.org.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
2. "Term details". British Museum. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
3. "Collection search: You searched for Campbell, Amabel Hume". British Museum. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
4. "Amabel Hume-Campbell (Yorke)". University of Warwick. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
5. John Debrett (1836). Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. [Another]. p. 158.
6. Gerhold, Dorian (23 September 2004). "Campbell, Amabel Hume- [née Lady Amabel Yorke], suo jure Countess De Grey (1751–1833), political writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68352. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)