What is Angela Burdett-Coutts?
[[File:Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Burdett-Coutts from NPG.jpg|thumb|220px|Lady Burdett-Coutts, ca. 1840]] '''Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts''' (21 April 1814 – 30 December 1906), born '''Angela Georgina Burdett''', was a noted nineteenth century [[wikt:philanthropy|philanthropist]]. She was the daughter of [[Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet]] and Sophia Coutts, daughter of [[Thomas Coutts]] the banker. In 1837 she became the wealthiest woman in [[England]] when she inherited her grandfather's fortune of nearly three million [[pounds sterling]]. At the same time she got a Royal Licence (permission from the monarch) to join her father's and grandfather's surnames and become Angela Burdett-Coutts. Lady Burdett-Coutts did not mary until she was 67. She married her 29-year-old secretary, the American born [[William Burdett-Coutts|William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett]], who later became MP for [[Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Westminster]] on 12 February, 1881. Her new husband changed his surname to Burdett-Coutts. Lady Burdett-Coutts had no children. ==Philanthropy== [[File:Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts.jpg|thumb|upright|Angela Burdett-Coutts in later life]]She gave away most of her wealth, setting up on scholarships, endowments, and giving to a wide range of [[Charitable organization|charitable]] causes. One of her earliest was to establish, with the novelist [[Charles Dickens]], Urania Cottage, a home that helped young women who had 'turned to a life of immorality'including theft and [[prostitution]]. Among many gifts to churches, she also personally endowed the bishoprics of [[Cape Town]], and [[Adelaide]] (1847), and the founding bishopric of [[British Columbia]] (1857). The money from these endowments was invested to help pay for the Bishop's expenses. The granite fountain in Edinburgh, with a statue of [[Greyfriars Bobby]], was erected by Baroness Burdett-Coutts. <ref>[http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Scotland-History/GreyfriarsBob.htm Man's Best Friend