Mabel Batten

Mabel Veronica Hatch Batten (1856–1916) was a well-known amateur singer of lieder.

Mabel Batten as a young woman

Early life

She was born Mabel Hatch in a well-connected family.[1]

She studied in Dresden and Bruges, harmony and composition.[2]

Career
Mrs. George Batten Singing by John Singer Sargent

She was a leading "patroness of music and the arts, mezzo-soprano and composer" of drawing rooms songs.[1] One of her best composition was the setting of "The Queen's Last Ride" by the poem of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. She was an accomplished singer, pianist and guitar player.[3]

Personal life
Mabel Batten at the time of her relationship with Radclyffe Hall

In 1874 she married George Batten, secretary to the Viceroy of India.[1] They had one daughter, the painter and film maker Lady Cara Harris.[2] Cara Harris's daughter was Honey Harris, friends with Dolly Wilde, and Honey Harris's daughter is Cara Lancaster.[4]

In the 1880s she had a relationship with Wilfred Scawen Blunt.[2]

She was friends with composer Adela Maddison who, in 1893, dedicated her "Deux Melodies" to her.[2][5] She was also friends with composer Ethel Smyth.[3]

From 1906 she was friends with Toupie Lowther and her brother Claude Lowther. In 1913 Batten and Hall visited the Lowthers at Claude's Herstmonceux Castle.[3]

On August 22, 1907, at Bad Homburg, a spa in Germany, Mabel Batten met Radclyffe Hall. Batten was 51 years old and Hall was 27. When Batten was a widow, she went to live with Hall in Cadogan Square.[1] Batten, nicknamed Ladye, gave the name John to Hall, which Hall used for the rest of her life.[6]

In 1915 Hall met Batten's cousin Una Troubridge (1887–1963). When Batten died the following year, Troubridge took care of a defeated Hall and in 1917 they went to live together.[7]

Batten is buried at Highgate Cemetery in London, and Hall chose to be buried at the entrance of the crypt.[2]

Legacy

Mabel Batten's portraits were taken by John Singer Sargent and Edward John Poynter.[2]

References
  1. Hamer, Emily (2016). Britannia's Glory: A History of Twentieth Century Lesbians. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 9781474292801. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  2. "Batten, Mabel Veronica". Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  3. Brown, Val (2017). Toupie Lowther: Her life. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 57. ISBN 9781788035231. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  4. "The unimportance of being earnest". Independent. 2000. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  5. Seddon, Laura (2016). British Women Composers and Instrumental Chamber Music in the Early Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 28. ISBN 9781317171348. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  6. Cline, Sally (1999). Radclyffe Hall: A Woman Called John. Overlook Press. p. 58–67.
  7. "Radclyffe Hall". A purnell. Archived from the original on 2006-05-09.
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