Kathleen Simon, Viscountess Simon

Kathleen Rochard Simon, Viscountess Simon DBE (formerly Manning, née Harvey; 1863/1864 – 27 March 1955), was a British slavery abolitionist. She was inspired to research slavery after living in Tennessee with her first husband, and she joined the abolitionist movement when she returned to London after his death. With her second husband, Sir John Simon, she campaigned against all forms of servitude. Traveling and speaking throughout her life, she was renowned for her commitment to ending slavery and racial discrimination, and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Kathleen Rochard Harvey came from Kyle, County Wexford, Ireland. She was the elder daughter of Frances (née Pollock) and Francis Harvey. Francis and Frances taught their daughters to appreciate liberty and despise slavery. In addition to receiving private education, she attended several Dublin schools. She was trained as a nurse and married the Irish physician Thomas Manning MD on 21 February 1885. The couple moved to the United States and settled in Tennessee.

After her first husband's death, Kathleen Manning moved to London and started working as a midwife in the East End. Finding that she could not earn enough by midwifery alone, she took up the post of governess to the children of the widowed Sir John Simon. When her son, serving in the First World War as member of the Irish Guards, became a prisoner of war, she asked Simon for help. The two soon got engaged; it has been suggested that the proposal came after Sir John was turned down by Margaret Greville. She married him on 18 December 1917 in France, becoming known as Lady Simon, and remained there with the Red Cross.

While living in Tennessee with her first husband, Kathleen Manning witnessed discrimination against a young African American girl named Amanda. Upon moving to London, she joined the Anti-Slavery Society. Lady Simon stood up for the Irish nationalist cause during the Black and Tans period, pressuring her second husband to join her, but also denounced Sinn Féin. She was not well-liked by high society. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said of Sir John: "How can he come to marry that wife I don't know. She doesn't seem the part of a grand-dame."

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