Katherine Mina Courtauld was a British farmer and suffragist. She was an advocate for providing training about agriculture for women. She was a member of the Courtauld family.
Personal life
Courtauld was born 13 July 1856 at High Garrett, Bocking Essex in the UK. Her parents, George and Mina Courtauld were part of the wealthy Courtauld family. She was the eldest child. She was a boarder at a private girl's school in Hampstead, London. She later sought and obtained training in practical and theoretical aspects of farming on her father's farms and through farm visits since, being a woman, she was unable to attend agricultural college. There were some lectures provided by Essex County Council that she was able to attend. Courtauld was a supporter of women's suffrage. In the 1911 census she spoiled her return by writing at the bottom of the form ‘As a householder and ratepayer I deeply resent being denied the privilege of a citizen in the exercise of the parliamentary franchise’. She lived at Knights Farm with her partner, Mary Gladstone for over 50 years. She participated in country sports and sailing in her own yacht, the Petrona. She died, of cancer, at home on 5 June 1935.
Career
When Courtauld was 21 her father bought her the 243 acre Knights Farm in Colne Engaine, Essex where she lived for the rest of her life. It was a mixed farm with a range of grain and fodder crops as well as dairy, beef, sheep, pigs and poultry. There was also a fruit orchard and its produce, especially apples, won prizes in agricultural competitions. By the 1900s she was well-known and featured in the agricultural press. She had women trainees on the farm and as well as running her own farm with its workforce of 15, also managed additional family estate land and other farms totalling 2,000 acres.
Public activity
Courtauld was very active in public life both locally and nationally. She was deeply involved with the from its inception in 1899 and a member of its founding council. She was its chair in 1907. Her financial support was a major factor that allowed the organisation to buy land near Lingfield, Surrey in 1920 to be let to women smallholders as an experiment in women's farming co-operation that lasted until the early 1930s. She also gave the organisation the freehold of Courtauld House in central London as its headquarters. Among her many local activities were:
