Barbara, Lady Stephen (née Shore Smith, afterwards Shore Nightingale, 6 February 1872 – 1945) was an English educational writer and biographer.
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Family and education
Lady Stephen was born Margaret Thyra Barbara Shore Smith on 6 February 1872 at Park Place, London, England.
She was the fourth child and second daughter of William Shore Smith (1831–1894) and his wife Louisa Eleanor Shore Smith (née Hutchins). Her surname became Shore Nightingale after her father assumed the name Nightingale, of Embley, Hampshire, and Lea Hurst, Derbyshire in 1893.
Lady Stephen was named after her father's first cousin, the educationalist and feminist Barbara Bodichon. She was also the cousin of social reformer and founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale regarded her father as "almost as a brother."
Lady Stephen was educated privately at Heath Brow in Hampstead and Roedean School in Brighton, then studied history at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating in 1894. At Girton, she gained second in the historical tripos and was a member of the Cambridge University Music Society. Her sister Rosalind Nash, who became a journalist and co-operator, was also educated at Girton College.
