Harriet Grote

Harriet Grote (1792–1878) was an English biographer. She was married to George Grote and was acquainted with many of the English philosophical radicals of the earlier 19th century, a significant political hostess and facilitator of the period. A longterm friend described her as "absolutely unconventional". Background Her father, Thomas Lewin (1753–1837) spent some years in the Madras civil service. He returned to Europe, travelling from Pondicherry in a ship with Madame Grand. Lewin remained with her for a time in Paris in the 1780s. Settling in England, Lewin in 1784 married Mary Hale (died 1843). She was the daughter of General John Hale and Mary Chaloner, daughter of William Chaloner of Gisborough. Mrs Hale was a noted society beauty, the model in Mrs Hale as Euphrosyne, a mythological painting—Euphrosyne being one of the Three Graces—from 1764 by Joshua Reynolds. John Hale, on the other hand, was a radical involved in the Yorkshire Association of the 1780s, something of which Harriet was conscious (letter of her husband to John Walker Ord). Harriet Lewin, the second daughter, was born at The Ridgeway, near Southampton, on 1 July 1792. The Lewins had a large family, lived in style, and kept a London house as well as one in the country.