Caroline Ashurst Stansfeld ( STANSS-feeld; 28 January 1816 – 29 March 1885) was a member of an important family of radical activists in mid-nineteenth-century England who supported causes ranging from women's suffrage to Italian unification. In 1844, she married James Stansfeld (1820–1898), the future MP for Halifax and preeminent political advocate for the movement to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts. She maintained a close friendship with Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini, who wrote to her frequently and 1,500 of his letters to the family have been published in E.F. Richards’ collection: Letters to an English Family.
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Personal life
In London, on 28 January 1816, Caroline Ashurst was born to Elizabeth Brown and William Ashurst. Her siblings were William Henry Ashurst, Eliza Ann Ashurst (Bardonneau), Emilie Ashurst (Venturi) and Matilda Ashurst (Biggs). She grew up in the Ashurst home in Muswell Hill.
The daughters were brought up in Muswell Hill, London, in a community of 19th-century reformers and free thinkers who advocated for more equality in society including anti-slavery. Her father gave his daughters freedom "considered shocking" for those times.
Caroline and James Stansfeld (1820–1898) were married in Finsbury at the South Place Chapel, on 27 July 1844, by William Johnson Fox. Although trained as a lawyer, Stansfeld worked as a brewer, owning the Swan Brewery. In 1859 Stansfeld entered Parliament, when he advocated for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.