Angela Burdett-Coutts was born into a wealthy, English family in 1814. She was brought up as an evangelical Christian and her faith infused every area of her life. In 1837, at the age of 23, she inherited almost two million pounds when her grandfather, Mr Coutts, the famous banker, died. This was a huge fortune by any standard and Angela had suddenly become the wealthiest woman in England.

It would have been so easy for Angela to waste her life in idle living, gambling and conspicuous consumption. Indeed many of her wealthy contemporaries indulged their craven cravings for comfort, inertia and ostentatious living. Angela was having none of it.

She was determined to invest her life and money in the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. As a young girl she indwelled the biblical story and metabolised its profound message. She became acutely aware that the gospel challenges the rich to live exemplary lives of generosity, virtue and humble service.

Her first act of mercy and generosity focused upon the miserable lives of ‘fallen’ women. In the 19th century large numbers of poor working class girls earned their crust by satisfying the lusts of rich and important men. This employment is sometimes referred to as prostitution and the risks and dangers therein are familiar to us all. Angela was horrified by this social evil and so she set up excellent homes for these women. She provided work and training for these vulnerable girls and taught them the humble skills of sewing, knitting, and cooking. Now these ‘ladies of the night’ could obtain gainful employment. This was a significant advance of the kingdom of God. It is a story of restoration, healing and love.

We should not think that Angela was a narrow-minded and priggish sermoniser. Indeed she loved throwing parties and she savoured the visual arts. She enjoyed buying paintings and often sponsored artists who were struggling to pay the rent. She was a lover of culture in its broadest sense but it would be foolish to imagine her as a participant in Channel Four’s Big Brother ‘entertainment’. She was a warm, gracious and refined lady. She was virtuous but aesthetically rich.

It is also remarkable that she transformed entire communities! In the East End of London she spent considerable sums of money building first-rate houses for the poor and needy. She commissioned builders and artisans to design attractive playgrounds for children and even dogs were cared for as she installed special drinking fountains for the grateful pooches. She sent out nurses into these communities and provided free medical supplies and clothes for the destitute.

When a community of weavers became unemployed, Angela furnished funds for the entire community to travel to Queensland in Australia. Many of these destitute people formed a vibrant and happy community ‘down under’. They wrote back many letters to Mrs Burdett-Coutts thanking her for her generosity and compassion. Angela helped entire communities in both Scotland and Ireland! Doing good was her favourite hobby and loving her neighbours was her addiction.

Angela was a great supporter of the Ragged School movement. This initiative grew out of a recognition that normal schools were not providing for significant numbers of children in inner-city areas. Working in the poorest districts, teachers (who were often local working people) initially used such buildings as could be afforded - stables, lofts and railway arches. There was a strong emphasis on reading, writing, arithmetic and bible study. It is estimated that around 300,000 children went through the London Ragged Schools  alone between the early 1840s and 1881 and Mrs Burdett-Coutts lavished considerable sums upon this wonderful kingdom project.

In 1877, when word reached England of the suffering through war of the Bulgarian and Turkish peasantry, Angela instituted a "Compassion Fund," by which thousands of pounds were sent abroad and thousands of lives were rescued from abject misery, starvation and death. For this generosity the Turkish Sultan conferred upon her the Order of Medjidie, the first woman ever to receive this distinction.

She also helped to establish the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and was closely involved with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). In 1871, Burdett-Coutts became the first woman to become a baroness, and in the early 1870’s she was given the freedom of the cities of London and Edinburgh.

 
In 1881, at the age of 67, she shocked polite society when she married an American man who was only 27. Unusually Angela’s husband changed his name to Mr. Burdett-Coutts.

 
When Angela finally died of acute bronchitis in 1906 she had exhausted her fortune to the tune of three million pounds sterling. She had lavished her time and money on furthering the kingdom of God.

Written by Mark Roques