Gordon, Lucie (Lucy). Lady Duff Gordon
Woman of letters. London 24.6.1821 – Cairo 14.7.1869. Lucie’s father was John Austin, a distinguished lawyer. She received little formal education until the age of fifteen, when she attended a boarding school at Clapham. However, she visited France and Germany with her parents and was fluent in both languages. She also knew a little Italian, Latin and Greek.On 16 May 1840 she married Sir Alexander Cornewall Duff Gordon (1811-72). She began translating German and French works, the best known translation being Mary Schweidler, The Amber Witch (1844), from Maria Schweidler, die Bernstein Hex (1843) by Wilhelm Meinhold. Her acquaintances at this period included George Meredith, Charles Dickens, W. M. Thackeray, A. W. Kinglake and Tennyson. In 1854 in Paris she paid her last visits before he died to Heinrich Heine, whom she had befriended as a young girl.
By 1860 she was ill with consumption, and in September of that year reached Cape Town in an effort to regain her health. She lived very economically in Cape Town in a boarding-house with only one maid to attend to her needs. At the end of 1861 she made a tour of Simon’s Bay, Caledon, Genadendal and Worcester. Her Letters From the Cape (1862-63), published in 1865, are interesting for the description of the local inhabitants, particularly the Coloured people. She made an intensive study of the Malay people, even visiting mosques during services. She relates how she met the last surviving Hottentot at Genadendal.
Most of her stay of 1 ½ years was spent at Caledon. She returned to England ill the late summer of 1862, but ill-health compelled her to leave again, this time for Egypt. Her Letters from Egypt 1863-65 (1865) and Last letters from Egypt (1875) became more famous than the Letters to the Cape. Her works reveal the warm humanity and gentle humour with which Lady Duff Gordon regarded her fellow-beings.
Source: Standard Encylopeadia of South Africa