Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava

The Toboggan Party, Rideau Hall, illuminated composite photograph from Lady Dufferin's personal album. c. 1872–1875

Hariot Georgina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, (née Rowan-Hamilton; 5 February 1843 – 25 October 1936) was a British aristocrat and Vicereine of India, known for her success in the role of "diplomatic wife," and for leading an initiative to improve medical care for women in British India.

Biography Born Hariot Georgina Rowan-Hamilton, she was the eldest of the 7 children of Archibald Hamilton-Rowan of Killyleagh Castle. On 23 October 1862, she married her distant cousin the 5th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye at Killyleagh Castle; Lady Dufferin was one of the most popular of the governor-generals' wives, and was starting to build up her reputation as "the most effective diplomatic wife of her generation". Next she joined him as he served as ambassador to Russia from 1879 to 1881, and to the Ottoman Empire from 1881 to 1884, Lady Dufferin, established a fund – the National Association for supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India (known as the Countess of Dufferin Fund).

Whilst there had been previous initiatives to provide Western medical care for women in India, Lady Dufferin's fund was the first to deliver a co-ordinated programme with official backing. The fund aimed to: provide medical tuition to doctors, hospital assistants, nurses and midwives; medical relief through dispensaries; female wards; female doctors; and female hospitals.

The Countess of Dufferin fund was selected by the King in 1935 as one of the beneficiaries of the Indian Jubilee Fund. Lady Dufferin herself sent a contribution of £100 towards this fund which was earmarked for the renovation of the Dufferin Hospital in Calcutta.

Lady Dufferin received the Order of the Crown of India in 1884 and the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert in 1895.

Return to the UK When the Earl's term in India ended in 1888, they travelled back to their home at Clandeboye in Ireland and her husband was elevated in the peerage as the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava that same year. He continued his ambassadorial career in Europe, and the Marchioness accompanied him to Italy and France. She published her memoirs, based on the letters she had written to her mother: Our Viceregal Life in India (1889) and My Canadian Journal (1891). They retired to Clandeboye in 1905.

Issue The first Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava had seven children. None of her sons outlived her: Archibald was killed in the Second Boer War, Basil was killed in the First World War, Terence died of pneumonia, and her youngest, Frederick, was killed in a plane crash in 1930.

A Manitoba Historical Plaque was erected in Winnipeg, Manitoba by the province to commemorate her role as the wife of the Governor General of Canada, and thus in Manitoba's heritage.