Lady Elizabeth Hastings

Lady Elizabeth Hastings had the flattering nickname “Aspasia”, “the female philosopher”. An educated theologian and pioneering improver of her estates, she is best known as a philanthropist. She gave especially generously to religious and educational causes, and was a major benefactor of Queen’s College, Oxford, posthumously founding the Hastings Trust, which still provides scholarships for students from the north of England.

Lady Elizabeth Hastings by the studio of Godfrey Kneller (1710). Courtesy of The Provost and Fellows of The Queen’s College, Oxford.