{{Short description|English political activist and philanthropist (1880–1954)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Dame Harriet Findlay | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=UK|DBE}} | image = Dame Harriet Findlay, Lady Findlay, 1904, by Sir James Guthrie.png | alt = Oil painting of woman in Edwardian era, wearing pink dress | caption = Lady Findlay, 1904, by Sir James Guthrie | birth_name = Harriet Jane Backhouse | birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|3|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Darlington, England<ref name="births">{{cite news |title= Births |work=The Times |date=15 March 1880 |page= 1}}</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|7|24|1880|3|12|df=y}} | death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland<ref name="obit"/> | other_names = Harriet, Lady Findlay | occupation = {{hlist|Political activist|philanthropist}} | years_active = | known_for = | spouse = {{marriage|Sir John Findlay|1901|1930|end=his death}} | father = Sir Jonathan Backhouse, 1st Baronet | children = 5, including: {{ubl|Sir Edmund Findlay, 2nd Baronet|Lt.-Col. Sir Roland Lewis Findlay, 3rd Baronet}} }} '''Dame Harriet Jane Findlay, Lady Findlay''', {{post-nominals|country=UK|DBE}} ({{nee}} '''Backhouse'''; 12 March 1880 – 24 July 1954) was a British political activist and philanthropist.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title=Obituary: Harriet, Lady Findlay – Many Public Services in Scotland |work=The Times |date= 26 July 1954 |page= 10}}</ref>
==Life== Harriet Jane Backhouse was born in County Durham, the only daughter of banker Sir Jonathan Backhouse, 1st Baronet (1849–1918) and Florence Salusbury-Trelawny (1845–1902), daughter of John Salusbury-Trelawny. She had five brothers; her eldest, Edmund Blackhouse, was a prominent scholar, and two others, Sir Roger Backhouse and Oliver Backhouse, had distinguished careers in the Royal Navy.<ref name="obit"/>
In 1919, Findlay joined Rosaline Masson, Ella Millar and Miss M.R. MacLeod as the first four women to become members of the Cockburn Association, Edinburgh's influential conservation organisation formed in 1875 to protect and preserve the built heritage, natural environment and civic amenity in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/history/office-bearers/ |title=Historic Cockburn Association Office-Bearers |date= |access-date= }}</ref> In 1929, she founded the Portobello Toddler Hut, the longest-running community-operated nursery school in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://edinburgh.org/900/event/storytelling-the-uks-oldest-playgroup/ |title=Storytelling – The UK’s oldest playgroup |work=Forever Edinburgh |date=2025 |access-date=28 January 2026 }}</ref>
She was active in Scottish politics becoming a Justice of the Peace in Edinburgh in 1926 and being elected president of the Scottish Unionist Association in 1927. She chaired the management board of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary during the Great Depression.
== Personal life == Harriet Backhouse married Scottish newspaper proprietor Sir John Ritchie Findlay, 1st Baronet (son of John Ritchie Findlay and Susan Leslie) on 9 July 1901. They had three sons and two daughters, including:<ref name="obit"/> * Elizabeth Findlay (died 1958) * Laetitia Florence Findlay (died 5 July 1978), married Hugh Lucas-Tooth * Sir (John) Edmund (Ritchie) Findlay, 2nd Baronet (14 June 1902 – 6 September 1962) * Lt.-Col. Sir Roland Lewis Findlay, 3rd Baronet (14 July 1903 – 28 July 1979)
Lady Harriet Findlay was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1929 and was styled as Dame Harriet Findlay.
She died in Edinburgh on 24 July 1954, aged 74.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=51972|title=Findlay , Dame Harriet Jane, Lady Findlay (1881–1954)}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
=== Sources === * {{cite book |editor=Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |title=Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage |edition=107th |volume=1/3 |location=Wilmington, Delaware |publisher=Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. |year= 2003 |page=208 |isbn= }}
==External links== * [https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/2428 Portrait], by David Foggie, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Findlay, Harriet}} Category:1880 births Category:1954 deaths Category:Backhouse family Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Daughters of baronets Category:Scottish justices of the peace Category:Scottish politicians Harriet Category:Wives of baronets