Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford Green (née Stopford; 30 May 1847 – 28 May 1929) was an Irish historian, nationalist and author. A supporter of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment of the Irish Free State, Stopford become a member of the first Seanad Éireann in 1922.
Early life and education
Green was born Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford on 31 May 1847 in Kells, County Meath to The Rev Edward Adderley Stopford, the Archdeacon of Meath and expert in canon law, and Anne Catherine Stopford (née Duke). One of nine siblings, Stopford was the paternal granddaughter of Edward Stopford, the Bishop of Meath, and the cousin of Stopford Brooke, a clergyman, royal chaplain and writer.
Apart from one year at spent at a school, Stopford was educated alongside her three sisters at home by a governess. Stopford developed an eye condition at the age of sixteen, which led to a severe visual impairment. No longer able to read, Stopford had an operation in 1871 which greatly improved her sight. Whilst Stopford was recovering the family moved to Dublin. Alongside a female companion, Stopford began attending physic lectures at the Royal College of Science for Ireland.
From 1874 to 1877, Alice Stopford lived in London where she met the historian John Richard Green. They were married in Chester on 14 June 1877. He died suddenly in 1883 and left his widow a substantial income and a network of important contacts who helped her launch her own career as an historian and author. One of those contacts, John Morley, commissioned her first solely written historical work, Henry the Second, published in 1888.
