Lil Coolidge (1857-1906)

Of all the women I have learned about in my family it is my great grandmother Lil who intrigues me the most.  She certainly had an unusual life full of ups and downs and a disproportionate amount of curved balls. Nevertheless she seems to come through her experiences with a quiet dignity.

• Exodus from the New World to the Old

  Aug 1857 to Sep 1864, New York to the French Riviera

• The wandering years

  Oct 1864 to Jan 1875, a circuitous route from Cannes to Oxford

• A most difficult year

  Jan 1875 to Dec 1876, introduction to Dorking society

• Staying in and ‘Coming Out’

  Jan 1877 to Jun 1880, the rocky and twisting road to finding love

• A doctor’s wife

  Jun 1880 to May 1896: happiness and tragedy in a small country town

• Things are never so bad

  Jul 1896 to Oct 1906: doing the best she could

_{Image from An Eccentric in the Alps the story of the Rev. W.A.B Coolidge the great Victorian mountaineer by Ronald W CLARK | Published by Museum Press in 1959}