Louisa Nott Bower

Born Louisa Adelaide Yorke, Louisa Nott-Bower she was the youngest of 12 children of Captain Charles Yorke, the great grandson of the first Earl of Hardwicke. In 1886 she married Edmund Ernest Nott Bower and used the name Mrs. E. E. Nott Bower, and after her husband added the name Nott to his surname by Royal Licence in 1913 she became Louisa Adelaide Nott-Bower. Her husband was the commissioner of the Inland Revenue and in 1915 received a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List.

The ancestral home of the Yorke family had been hosting major archery contests for many years dating to the early part of the 19th century which explains Louisa’s interest in the sport. Both she and Edmund regularly competed in local tournaments, notably in the south-west of England. Louisa was selected for the 1908 London Olympics and took part in the women’s double national round. All 25 competitors were British with Louisa being classified joint 11th. She was a member of the Royal Richmond club whilst her husband was a member of the Surrey Bowmen.

Louisa was a prominent member, along with such notable women as Girl Guides founder Agnes Baden Powell, aristocrat Frances Balfour and Augusta Spencer Churchill, of the National Women Citizens Association which was founded in 1917.