Eleanor Florence Rathbone was born on May 12 1872 in London. Her parents were the Liverpool Unitarian philanthropist and Liberal MP William Rathbone VI and his second wife, Emily A. Lyle. Eleanor was the only child of William to be born outside Liverpool, as the family was in residence at the time at Princes’ Gardens because Parliament was in session. In 1893 Eleanor went to Somerville College, Oxford, to read classics.
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 Birth Certificate of Eleanor Rathbone |
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