Social Victorians/People/Gabrielle Borthwick

Also Known As

• Family name: Borthwick
• Miss Gabrielle Borthwick
• Hon. Gabrielle Margaret Ariana Borthwick
• The Hon. Miss Gabrielle Borthwick
• Golden Dawn motto: Sine Metu (S.M.) — "Without fear" (Alastor; Küntz 180)

Demographics

• Nationality:

Residences

• From 1870, estate of Ravenstone, co. Wigtown (Ravenstone, Glasserton (or Whithorn?), Wigtownshire, Scotland); still there in 1895
• In 1891, Borthwick was likely living in or near London, as she joined the Isis-Urania Temple of the Golden Dawn.

Family

• Cunninghame Borthwick, 19th Lord Borthwick (6 June 1813 – 24 December 1885)
• Harriet Alice Day (c. 1835 – 17 February 1917)

1. Hon. Gabrielle Margaret Ariana Borthwick (30 Jun 1866 – 10 October 1952)
2. Archibald Patrick Thomas Borthwick, 20th Lord Borthwick (3 Sep 1867 – 4 Oct 1910)
3. Hon. Alice Rachel Anne Borthwick (17 Dec 1868 – )
4. Hon. Violet Dagmar Marion Aga Borthwick (3 Jun 1871 – )
5. Hon. Mary Francis Harriet Borthwick (11 Feb 1876 – )

Relations

• Is Algernon Borthwick, Lord Glenesk, related to Gabrielle Borthwick or one of the Lords Borthwick?

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Acquaintances

• Knew John and Frances Brodie-Innes?
• Knew Bram Stoker?

Friends

• Lady Gertrude Cochrane, Lord Sefton's sister (who was "a master turner, a 'Freeman' of the Turners' Company, and a skilled worker at the lathe" ["Women Estate Agents"]); they ran a garage, a restaurant, and a hostel, and in the article are going into real estate

Business Associates and Partners

• Lady Gertrude Cochrane
• Mrs. Bernard Drake ("Women Motor Drivers' Trade Union")
• Miss McLaren, "who had been from the first deeply interested in the development of the trade" ("Women Motor Drivers' Trade Union")
• Miss Tynan, "who had wide experience in trade-unionisation" ("Women Motor Drivers' Trade Union")
• Mrs. Chettle, "who undertook the secretaryship" ("Women Motor Drivers' Trade Union")

Organizations

• Isis-Urania Temple of the Golden Dawn, both Outer Order and Inner Order
• Ladies' Automobile Workshop (during World War I) (Clarsen 39)
• Honourable Gabrielle Borthwick School of Motoring and Engineering (http://theimageworks.com/pub/nn031/warwomen/ppages/ppage16.html)
• "one of the principal organizers of The Society of Women Motor Drivers and owner of the most prominent and long-loved of the women's garages, first established a motor garage in Slough and then Northwood in West London, where she taught women owner-drivers as well as trained women as chauffeurs and mechanics for business and private service. When the demand for professional training rose at the beginning of the war, she moved to central London, setting up a workshop and driving school near Hyde Park Corner and a branch in Camberwell" (Clarsen 39).
• "Gabrielle Borthwick's garage was listed as a Royal Automobile Club agent and a member of the Motor Trade Association. Borthwick was still providing motor services in 1928, advertising 'bargains' to professional women in secondhand and small cars from the same Picadilly premises that she had occupied during the war" (Clarsen 40).
• The Women Motor Drivers' Trade Union, "Early in the war"; later it merged with the Licensed Vehicle Workers' Union, which was opening its membership to women ("Women Motor Drivers' Trade Union")
• The Gypsy Lore Society (1909) (http://archive.org/stream/journalofgypsylo02gypsuoft/journalofgypsylo02gypsuoft_djvu.txt)

Timeline

1884 July, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott visited Edinburgh and the Scottish Lodge of the Theosophical Society was founded. Where was Gabrielle Borthwick at that point? Olcott met her brother, who founded the lodge? He stayed at the Borthwick house for two weeks? (Olcott 102)

1891 July, Borthwick joined the Isis-Urania Temple of the Golden Dawn.

1897 July 8, Borthwick reached the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn (Howe 50; Küntz 180).

1902 August 9, it is possible that Borthwick attended the coronation of Edward VII: The Honourable Oliver Borthwick (son of the Baron Glenesk Borthwicks) and Miss Harriet Borthwick are listed (Bodley 387), as is someone named Gabriel Berthwick among a number of what looks like honorable daughters of barons (Bodley Appendix 1 [384?]). Could be bad OCR.

1952 October 10, Gabrielle Borthwick died at "Wickhurst," Broadbridge Heath, Sussex (Times 28 Feb. 1953: p. 2, col. 5)

1953 March 18, Borthwick's estate was auctioned by Christies: "the properties of ... The Late Honourable MRS. GABRIELLE BORTHWICK (Sold by Order of the Executrices)" (Times 3 March 1953: p. 14, cols. 6–7).

Questions and Notes

1. "Gabrielle Borthwick, the leading female garage proprietor in London and a sister [should this be "daughter"??] of Lord Borthwick, who founded the Theosophical Society, was a member of London's 'Upper Bohemia.' A spiritualist and occultist, she had been associated with lesbian literary and artistic circles since the turn of the century" (Clarsen 42).
2. There is a Bassano, Ltd., portrait of a Mme Gabrielle Botsoa Borthwick in the Temple University Archives, ca. 1920–1939 (PC-59, Box 3). Could this be the portrait in the National Portrait Gallery of Hon. Gabrielle Borthwick or one related to it? (http://old.library.temple.edu/collections/urbana/pc59.jsp) (accessed October 2017).
3. Alexander Bassano may have done her carte-de-visite photo: http://www.cartedevisite.co.uk/photographers-category/photographers/photographers-b/ (accessed October 2017).

Bibliography

• Alastor
• "Baron's Daughter Runs Garage and 'Cleans Up.'" The Lethbridge Daily Herald Saturday, 22 September 1923: 10. The Newspaper Archive. newspaperarchive.com (accessed October 2017).
• Bodley, John Edward Courtenay. The Coronation of Edward the Seventh: A Chapter of European and Imperial History.
• Clarsen, Georgine. Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
• "Cunninghame Borthwick, 19th Lord Borthwick." "Person Page – 13762." The Peerage: A Genealogical Survey of the Aristocracy of Britain as Well as the Royal Families of Europe http://thepeerage.com/p13762.htm#i137620 (accessed July 2020).
• "Harriet Alice Day." "Person Page – 13763." The Peerage: A Genealogical Survey of the Aristocracy of Britain as Well as the Royal Families of Europe http://thepeerage.com/p13763.htm#i137621 (accessed July 2020).
• Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes. 1882.
• Küntz
• Olcott, Henry Steel. Old Diary Leaves. Third series, 1883–1887.
• Times 28 Feb. 1953
• Times 3 March 1953
• "Women Estate Agents." [Launceston, Tasmania] Examiner Tuesday, 6 May 1924: 7. Trove: Digitised Newspapers and More. Online (accessed October 2017).
• "Women Motor Drivers' Trade Union." The Common Cause 26 April 1918 (or 3 May 1918?): 8 (accessed October 2017).