Ruth Alice Hannah Mary Wood, Countess of Halifax (née Primrose, 18 April 1916 – 31 August 1989), was a British racehorse owner. She was one of the first three women to be elected as a member of the Jockey Club in December 1977, alongside her half-sister Priscilla Hastings and

Helen Johnson Houghton Helen Marjorie Johnson Houghton (née Walwyn; 8 November 1910 – 4 December 2012) was a British racehorse trainer. She was the first woman to train a Classic flat races winner. Her horse Gilles de Retz won the 2,000 Guineas in 1956, but her na ...

. She was the only child of Neil Primrose, son of

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death o ...

, and his wife, Lady Victoria Stanley, the third child of

Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, (4 April 1865 – 4 February 1948), styled Mr Edward Stanley until 1886, then The Hon Edward Stanley and then Lord Stanley from 1893 to 1908, was a British soldier, Conservative politician, ...

. Lady Victoria married Primrose on 7 April 1915, but he died in Palestine in 1917. His widow remarried in 1919, to Malcolm Bullock, who was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP from 1923 to 1953 and who became a baronet in 1954. Ruth's half-sister

Priscilla Priscilla is an English female given name adopted from Latin ''Prisca'', derived from ''priscus''. One suggestion is that it is intended to bestow long life on the bearer. The name first appears in the New Testament of Christianity variously as ...

was born in 1920, but Lady Victoria Bullock was killed in an accident while hunting with the Quorn in 1927. She left her elder daughter a collection of paintings of racehorses by

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds, Reynold ...

. Ruth Primrose married Charles Wood in 1936 and became Countess of Halifax after the death of her father-in-law in 1959, when her husband inherited the

earldom Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant " chieftain", particula ...

. They had three children: * Lady Caroline Victoria Wood (10 September 1937 – 15 November 2014), who married Joe Feilden, the eldest son of Major General Sir Randle Feilden in 1958; they later divorced and she remarried John Gosling in 1970 * Lady Susan Diana Wood (born 22 September 1938), who married Brigadier Ian Darsie Watson in 1959. * Charles Edward Peter Neil Wood, 3rd Earl of Halifax (born 14 March 1944). The countess and her husband won The Derby with

Shirley Heights Shirley Heights (1 March 1975 – 17 March 1997) was a British Thoroughbred race horse and winner of the Derby in 1978. The colt had previously won the Royal Lodge Stakes and the Dante Stakes, and he went on to win the Irish Derby before his ra ...

in 1978; the horse was jointly bred by the earl and his son. Her husband, who died in 1980, was master of the Middleton Foxhounds for more than 30 seasons. They are buried together in the churchyard of All Saints,

Kirby Underdale Kirby Underdale is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of Pocklington town centre and lies north of the main A166 road from York to Driffield. The civil parish is formed by ...

References

Lady Caroline Gosling - obituary
The Telegraph, 25 December 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Ruth 1916 births 1989 deaths Halifax British racehorse owners and breeders British people of German-Jewish descent

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...