Duff-Gordon, Lady Lucie (Austin) I Lady Duff Gordon I 1821-1869, translator and author. Received little regular schooling; from a childhood stay in Germany spoke German like her native language; was taught Latin by her mother; showed interest in learning Greek; for a time attended a young ladies' school. In 1840 married Sir Alexander Duff-Gordon. Their home in Westminster was centre of brilliant circle of friends and acquaintances, English and foreign. Noted for her beauty and charm, her independence of mind and keen intellect. Because of her health, obliged to spend last years of her life in Egypt. Contributed to Bentley's Misc., Macmillan's, and other periodicals. Translated various works from the German and the French. Author of Letters from the Cape, 1864 (in Francis Galton, ed., Vacation Tourists); Letters from Egypt, 1865; Last Letters from Egypt, published posthumously.

      Dickens was acquainted with the Duff-Gordons. In a letter to Mark Lemon, Jan. 26, 1858, he referred to Lady Duff-Gordon as "a literary woman of real ability." An unpublished letter to her from Dickens, Oct. 6, 1855, is in answer to her query about submitting to H.W. an article based on a foreign book. Her one contribution to H.W. ["Darling Dorel" Lady Duff Gordon & W.H.W. II, 581-85. March 15, 1851] is based on a German source.
      The H.W. article "Amber Witchery" mentioned Lady Duff-Gordon's "admirable translation" of Meinhold's Maria Schweidler.
      Harper's reprinted "Darling Dorel," without acknowledgment to H.W.
                                                                                                                         D.N.B. 

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971 

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography