Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy

Lady Isobel Stanley was the second-youngest of ten children born to Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby and Constance Villiers. Two of her siblings died before Isobel was born: Geoffrey, Arthur's twin, died on 16 March 1871 and her elder sister, Katherine Mary, died young in October of the same year. Isobel Stanley grew up in an active environment with her seven brothers.

In 1897, she married General Sir (John) Francis Gathorne-Hardy, a younger son of John Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook and Cicely Ridgway. She retained her title upon marriage as the daughter of an earl and took on the family name of her husband, being styled Lady Gathorne-Hardy. They had one child, a daughter named Elizabeth Constance Mary Gathorne-Hardy (1904–1953).

Lady Gathorne-Hardy served in the Royal Household as a Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Mary during 1914 to 1920. In 1945, King George VI appointed her Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for her service to the royal family.[2]

Isobel Stanley wearing an ankle-length white dress at Rideau Hall on the Rideau Hall rink, Ottawa, circa 1890. Earliest known photograph of women playing ice hockey rather than bandy.

Stanley shared her father's and brothers' love of the game of ice hockey and was instrumental in convincing her father to create the Stanley Cup.[3] Stanley played hockey while she was in Canada, playing on the outdoor rink at Rideau Hall. After the opening of the Rideau Skating Rink, she organized one of the first games of women's hockey on record in 1890.

1904 photo of Rideau Rink in Ottawa