Marie-Louise Globensky, Lady Lacoste (2 February 184911 December 1919), was a French-speaking Canadian philanthropist and diarist from the province of Quebec. She served as patroness for schools, orphans' homes, and several hospitals, including Sainte Justine (founded by her daughter Justine Lacoste-Beaubien), Hôpital Notre-Dame, and the Youville Foundling Hospital. Globensky was president of many benevolent societies, such as Château Ramezay and the Asile de la Providence. Appointed by her daughter Marie Lacoste Gérin-Lajoie, she served as vice-president of the and supported women's suffrage, as long as social order was maintained. She also joined the , served on its board, and helped develop programs designed to help working women. A prolific diarist, her journals have contributed to the knowledge of how 19th-century middle-class women dealt with the social structures of their times.
Early life
Marie-Louise Sophie-Elmina Globensky, as she was christened on 3 February 1849 at Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, was born on 2 February 1849 to Marguerite Angélique (née Limoges) and Sir Léon Globensky. Of Polish heritage, her father was a prominent merchant who later became a customs officer. Her grandfather, August Franz Globensky was a Polish-German physician who had been hired by the British Army as a mercenary to suppress colonial rebels during the American Revolutionary War. As a child, together with her friend Eliza Chauveau, daughter of Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, she enjoyed embroidering, studying, snowshoeing, playing games, and praying. Her juvenile diary indicates that like other children she participated in music lessons and social engagements and documents her regular attendance at church.
On 8 May 1866, at Notre-Dame Basilica, Globensky married Alexandre Lacoste, whom she had met at an engagement three months earlier. At the time of their marriage, Alexandre had graduated from Laval University and was practicing law. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1880 and later served as speaker of the Senate, Chief Justice of Quebec, and as professor of law at his alma mater. In 1889, he was knighted and his wife was then officially known as Lady Lacoste. In 1892, he was raised to Knight Bachelor. The couple had 13 children: Marie (1867–1945), Louis Joseph (1869–1909), Marie Josephine Angelique Henriette (1870–1871), Blanche (1872–1957), Paul (1875–1945), Justine (1877–1967), Jeanne (1879–1962), Yvonne (1881–1947), Alexandre (1883–1940), Joseph Eugene Arthur (1885–1888), Thaïs (1886–1963), Berthe (1889–1966), and Henri Rene (1891–1892).
Lacoste lost four of her children in their infancy and wrote of her grief in her private journals. These periods of mourning were motivating factors for her daughters' dedication to improving the lives of women and children. Her diaries have given historians a rare look into how emotions impacted the lives of women in her social class. Both Alexandre and Lady Lacoste were from conservative and ultramontanist backgrounds, but both admired and supported the British Crown. They raised their children in a hybrid environment, respecting British customs, while maintaining strong ties to their French language and culture. As was typical for women at the time, her life was divided between family responsibility, social obligations, charitable works, and obligations to the church. While she raised her children with strict Victorian morals, refusing to allow them to ride bicycles and requiring them to attend church, Lacoste indulged their theatrical interest, encouraging them to participate in dramatic productions.
Charitable works
Lacoste was involved in benevolent events, often serving as patroness for balls used to raise funds for charitable works. She spent her days caring for the poor, the infirm, and for orphans, providing them with food, clothing and shelter. In an effort to combat the hostility of the clergy to the radical ideas of women's suffrage, Marie Lacoste Gérin-Lajoie, appointed her mother, who was well known for her philanthropy, to serve as vice-president of the when it was formed in 1893. Lady Lacoste supported women's suffrage, as long as it did not upset the social order, but unlike her daughter Gérin-Lajoie, Lacoste was not a radical, in fighting for women's rights. She supported several schools and served on the board of the Ladies Antiquarian Society in various capacities, including as president in 1907.