Susan Lushington

Susan Lushington (27 April 1870 – 16 February 1953) was a British musician and promoter of music. The Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society described her as "a woman of quite exceptional gifts, which she employed mainly in the cause of music," and as one whose "triumph was to make music alive, to show that it was not a thing apart, for the specialist only, but for the enjoyment of "as many as will"." She was made an MBE for her work with amateur musicians. Early life Susan Lushington born on 27 April 1870, the youngest daughter of Vernon and Jane Lushington (née Mowatt). Vernon Lushington was a distinguished lawyer and former member of the Cambridge Apostles. All three of Vernon and Jane's daughters were talented musicians, and received tutoring from Hubert Parry. The Lushington sisters performed not only in an intimate family setting and before small groups like the Positivists, but in public with, for example, the South Hampstead Orchestra. After the death of their mother, the three girls were taken under the wing of Julia Stephen. Susan's sister, Kitty, was used by Virginia Woolf (Stephen's daughter) as the model for Mrs Dalloway. Musical activity Lushington was a founding member of the Folk Song Society in 1898, which later became the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Her obituary in the group's journal noted that she had remained a supporter up to her death.