Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle

Rosalind Frances Howard, Countess of Carlisle (née Stanley; 20 February 1845 – 12 August 1921), known as The Radical Countess, was a promoter of women's political rights and temperance movement activist.

The Countess of Carlisle was born probably at Alderley Park, Chelford in Cheshire. She was the tenth and last child of the Whig politician Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, and the women's education campaigner Henrietta Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley. She was educated at home by private tutors. The Stanley family was exceptionally diverse in terms of religious convictions: Lord and Lady Stanley were high church Anglicans, their eldest son Henry was a Muslim, their third daughter Maude was a low church Anglican, their youngest son Algernon became a Roman Catholic bishop, their penultimate daughter Kate leaned towards atheism, while Rosalind herself identified as an agnostic.

On 4 October 1864, she married the painter George Howard, who became an active Liberal MP from 1879. She took part in election campaigns of her husband and father-in-law Charles by canvassing, but refrained from speaking publicly, which was considered improper for a woman. In sharp contrast to her moderate husband, however, Howard soon joined the radical left, denouncing William Ewart Gladstone's occupation of Egypt and campaigning for women's suffrage. She once responded to criticism of herself by saying: "Fanatics have done a lot of the world's work, and I don't mind being classed with the fanatics."

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