Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873-1938) was the celebrated hostess of the Bloomsbury set, mistress, muse and model (for Hermione Roddice of Women in Love), confidante to the artistic and literary, and the half-sister of the 6th Duke of Portland, by his father's second wife, Lady Bolsover. 

In 1893, at the age of twenty, grieving her mother's death, Ottoline began holding Bible classes in her sitting room at Welbeck Abbey for the estate's farmhands and footmen.  Whether the men were forced to attend or went out of boredom or curiosity is not known, but the classes were a success.  Of the experience, Lady Ottoline later said, "It was difficult to concentrate at times with twenty young men in the room, all chosen as footmen because of their good looks." [Ottoline: The LIfe of Lady Ottoline Morrell by Sandra Jobson Darroch, New York, 1975, p. 23]

She followed up with a woodworking class, the Duke being prevailed upon to supply a teacher.  "Many years later Ottoline would sometimes come across one of her former students working perhaps as an attendant at the National Gallery or in a department store.  They would step forward and introduce themselves: 'I was one of your young men.'" [Ibid]

In 1904, married to Philip Morrell, Lady Ottoline's letters reveal a passionate friendship with John Adam Cramb, academic and novelist.  By the end of that year, the affair had cooled.  Lady Ottoline's marriage to Philip would prove to be a very open one.

Speaking of extraordinary women, my dear friend S writes to tell me she was on her way to attend an important event at Kensington Palace recently when, on the New York to London flight she noticed her fellow passenger was "Orlando herself -- (the wonderful actress Tilda who played her that is) swathed in a symphony of cream and white and tawny beige." 

S. also suggests I do "1904 The Lecture Tour" -- inspired by the lecture series offered by the Summerleaze Gallery in Wiltshire.  Alas, even if there were sufficient interest in such a project, how would I ever find the time to get away from all my duties and obligations here? 

I must confess, however, that I could be prevailed upon to give Bible classes to handsome footmen.