Louisa Courtauld Osburne Haughton (1866-1951)
Louise Courtauld Osburne Haughton was born in Cheshire, England, in 1866, but her family immigrated to Baltimore shortly thereafter, in 1871. Haughton’s father ran a successful shipping business until his death in 1909, and his business acumen seems to have rubbed off on his daughters Louise and Maud, who ran a successful dressmaking establishment, Haughton & Haughton, for a number of years in the early twentieth century. Just as significant as her role as a woman business owner is the mark she left on she left on various societies and clubs in Maryland. In addition to serving as a founding member of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore, she served as its president for its final 23 years. She was a member of the National Geographic Society and the Maryland Academy of Sciences. She also co-founded the Lizette Woodworth Reese Memorial Association, which collected a number of materials pertaining to Reese’s life and work that would eventually be donated to the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. A writer of short fiction in leading magazines, and several unpublished plays, Haughton died in 1951.
Sources
Muller, Amelia. “Carriage-Trade Modiste: Magician With Shears.” Baltimore Sun, 29 Feb. 1948.
“Mr. H. O. Haughton Dead.” Baltimore Sun, 27 Feb. 1909: 9. Shepherd, Henry E. Representative Authors of Maryland. The Representative Authors of Maryland, 1911.
Leonard, John William. Woman’s Who’s Who of America. The American Commonwealth Company, 1914.