Eliza Amelia (Leila) Gore

Title: 
Countess of Erroll
Other names: 
Her married surname was Hay.
Dates: 
1829-1916

The daughter of General the Hon. Sir Charles Gore and Sarah Rachel Frazer, she was born in Montreal, Canada.

She became a skilled horsewoman, and also loved skating.

She married William Harry Hay, the nineteenth Earl of Erroll, who was in Canada as aide-de-camp Lord Elgin, in 1848.

In 1854 she accompanied her husband to the Crimea. Wearing pistols at her belt and riding sidesaddle, she quickly became a recognisable figure. Her husband was wounded at the Battle of Alma and they moved to Scotland.

In 1856, on her way to Haddo House, she attempted to drive her carriage across a ford while the river was in spate. The carriage started to float away, but she managed to bring both horses and carriage to safety.

The couple had seven children, one of whom died in infancy.

In 1872 she was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria.

She was widowed in 1891 and died in 1916,at Kew.

Sources
Narrow Escape of the Countess of Erroll
Morning Chronicle 1 Dec 1856