Ruth Larsen

Historian Ruth Larsen uncovers the lives of the mistresses of some of the great country houses of England and Wales and explains how much power and influence they really had.

Larsen and her co-author and fellow historian, Professor Anthony Fletcher, focused on 18 women from five centuries in their book, Mistress: A History of Women and their Country Houses. They look at the way these women shaped their houses and families and at the impact they had on society, culture and politics. The women include Brilliana Harley, who defended her castle at Brampton Bryan, Frances Boscawen, who oversaw the building of Hatchlands, and Lady Mary Elcho, who preserved her secret life as mistress to Arthur Balfour. They look at women who managed houses without a man, women who set up home with other women, the changing nature of duty and sex and the aristocratic woman.

Larsen is a senior lecturer in history at the University of Derby and an expert on gender and the country house.