Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1872 many people noted her for her height, charitable work and devotion to good causes.

She was the daughter of John and Margaret Stone, who had left Ireland for a new life. They paid for her to have a private education and she won many prizes for her essays.

She became a journalist and was described as a leading light contributing to many newspapers in her birth country.

Eugenia met her future husband, Sir George Doughty, Grimsby’s MP, when he was traveling back from a holiday in India in February 1907. She was accompanying the Australian Prime Minster on a visit to London.

It was a whirlwind romance, and they were married in August 1907 in London. She was 35 and he was 54. At the time Sir George owned the Grimsby Telegraph, and his son Wilfred was editor.

She organised many garden parties and regularly entertained the children from St Antony’s Orphanage at their home Waltham Hall. 

She also founded the Grimsby Unionist Women’s League in 1910 and used it to campaign on behalf of her husband.

Sadly, Sir George died in 1914 after having a heart attack at home. Lady Doughty continued to work hard for good causes and drew attention to many issues.

In the First World War she threw herself into fund raising for the several hundred fishermen who were prisoners of war and set up the Periwinkle Day Collection – to fundraise for those interred in the Ruhleben Camp, Germany. It was the first of its kind in the country.

During this time, she also wrote an article on the role women were playing in the war in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, by filling vacant job posts left by the men who had gone to fight.

She focused on the work some were doing for the Great Central Railway and is credited for highlighting this at the time when many men sneered at women doing the work of men.

In August 1917 Waltham Hall was put up for sale. The furniture and silver were auctioned off and Lady Doughty moved south to Surrey.

In 1923 she was involved in a scandal when she was cited in divorce papers between Arthur Tickler (Grimsby’s jam empire fame) and his wife. His wife applied for divorce citing grounds of cruelty and his misconduct with Lady Doughty, after several letters had been found.

Lady Doughty died in 1934 and is buried in Scartho Road Cemetery. Her brother who was Mayor of Grimsby, Cllr T Stone, is also buried alongside her.