Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert

Rachel Workman MacRobert, Lady MacRobert (23 March 1884 – 1 September 1954), commonly known as Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert, was a geologist, cattle breeder and an active feminist. Born in Massachusetts to an influential family, she was educated in England and Scotland. She was elected to Fellowship of the Geological Society of London, one of the first three women admitted. Her scientific studies included petrology and mineralogy in Sweden and her first academic paper was published in 1911. She married Sir Alexander MacRobert, a wealthy self-made Scottish millionaire, and had three sons with him. He was endowed with a knighthood in 1910 and a baronetcy in 1922 but died later that year. Lady Rachel's sons all pre-deceased her – the eldest in a flying accident in 1938, and the other two died in action during the Second World War serving with the Royal Air Force. On the death of her husband she became a director of the British India Corporation, the conglomerate he had founded.

To commemorate her sons, Rachel paid for a Short Stirling bomber named 'MacRobert's Reply', and four Hawker Hurricanes. In 1943 she created the MacRobert Trust, a charity that continues to support the RAF among other institutions.

Born on 23 March 1894, in Worcester, Massachusetts, Rachel was the eldest child of Fanny Bullock Workman and her husband William Hunter Workman; the couple also had a son, Siegfried, born in 1889. Fanny and William were well educated and from prominent, wealthy New England families. Fanny received a large inheritance when her father, Alexander, died in 1882 and the family fortune was further boosted by a significant bequest from William's father in 1885. The family moved to Dresden when Rachel was five-years-old in 1889 claiming it would be beneficial to William's "debilitating" health issues. Following the move, he made a prompt return to good health and the couple escalated their interests in travelling and exploring the world. Rachel and her brother were left in Dresden to be cared for by nurses during their parents' frequent trips away. Siegfried died on 26 June 1893 after contracting pneumonia. Fanny's preference for travelling over the responsibilities of motherhood intensified a few months after the funeral and Rachel was despatched to England to be educated at The Cheltenham Ladies' College.

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