Mary Elizabeth Sumner, 1896–1909

Mary Heywood, the daughter of Thomas Heywood (1797–1966), a banker, and his wife Mary Elizabeth Barton (d.1870), was born in Swinton near Manchester in 1828, the youngest of three children. She married the Revd George Sumner (1826–1909) in 1848 in Colwall church in Herefordshire. He was the youngest son of Charles Richard Sumner and Jennie de Maunoir. George's father was the Bishop of Winchester (1827–69), and his uncle, John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1848–62). The Sumner family was related to the great Wilberforce family. Mary and George had three children: Margaret Effie (1849), Louisa (1850) and George Heywood (1853). George was Rector of Old Alresford, Hampshire (1849–85), Archdeacon of Winchester (1885–1900) and Bishop of Guildford (1888–1906). It was at Old Alresford in 1876 that Mary started what was to be the first branch of the Mothers’ Union. As a result of her speech at the women's meeting of the Portsmouth Church Congress in 1885 the Mothers’ Union became a Winchester diocesan organisation with Mary as president in 1887. Between then and the establishment of the Mothers’ Union as a national organisation with a constitution in 1896 Mary's vision of a Christian women's organisation dedicated to marriage and family life was taken up across the country. Mary served as Central President until 1909. She remained Winchester Diocesan President until 1916. Her remarkable achievement of creating a mass movement of Anglican women in 40 years was celebrated in the building of Mary Sumner House, the headquarters of the Mothers’ Union, opened in 1925. She died on 9 August 1921 and is buried next to Winchester Cathedral with her husband.

Alice, Countess of Chichester, 1910–16

The Hon. Alice Carr Glyn, daughter of George Carr Glyn (1797–1873), a banker, first Baron Wolverton (cr. 1869), and Mariane (d.1892), daughter of Pascoe Grenfell, was born in 1843. One of her brothers, Edward, was Bishop of Peterborough (1897–1916). In 1870 she married the Revd Francis Godolphin Pelham, fifth Earl of Chichester. They had four sons and one daughter. In the course of his ministry Francis was Chaplain to the Archbishop of York (1882–90), Rector of Lambeth (1884–94), Chaplain to the Bishop of Winchester (1890–96), Rector of Buckhurst Hill (1894–1900) and Vicar of Great Yarmouth (1900–05). Alice worked hard among the poor in Lambeth and elsewhere, taking a leading part in many church societies and causes.