Edith Finch, Countess Russell (5 November 1900 – 1 January 1978) was an American writer and biographer. She was the fourth and last wife of
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
.
Biography
Finch was born to Edward Bronson Finch, a physician, and his wife, Delia. Raised in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, she graduated from
Miss Chapin's School. She studied at
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...
(A.B. 1922) and
St Hilda's College,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
where she was awarded degrees in 1925 and 1926.
Finch was primarily an independent scholar but did teach
English literature at
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...
in the late 1920s. She traveled extensively in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, while continuing to write and lecture. She published biographies of
Wilfred Scawen Blunt in 1938 and
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life
...
, a president of Bryn Mawr, in 1947.
Finch was
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
's fourth and last wife. She first met Russell in the 1930s through her close friend and housemate
Lucy Martin Donnelly, who was a friend of Russell's first wife, Alys. Finch moved to England in 1950 and married Russell in December 1952. By all accounts it was a very happy marriage. The couple settled in Wales, where Bertrand died in 1970. Edith died in 1978.
Works
* ''Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, 1840-1922'', 1938
* ''Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr'', 1947
* ''Strange Humanity. Original thoughts'', 1954
References
External links
*
1900 births
1978 deaths
Bertrand Russell
Bryn Mawr College alumni
20th-century American biographers
American women biographers
20th-century American women writers
Bryn Mawr College faculty
British countesses
Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford
Writers from New York City
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