Anna Maria Stanhope, Duchess of Bedford

Anna Maria Stanhope (3 September 1783 – 3 July 1857), the Duchess of Bedford of Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, was the originator of the afternoon tea ritual in 19th century England. Anna Maria was the daughter of Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington, and June Fleming. She became the wife of Francis Russell, 7th Duke of Bedford.

During the 18th century, dinner was served at a gradually later and later time until by the early 1800s, the normal time was between 7:00 and 8:30 pm and an extra meal called luncheon had been created to fill the midday gap. But since this new meal was very light, the long afternoon with no refreshment at all left people feeling rather hungry. So eventually Anna Maria began asking her maid to bring all the tea making equipment to her private boudoir (the Blue Drawing Room at Woburn Abbey) at 5 o'clock so that the Duchess could enjoy a cup of tea with a slice or two of bread and butter. She found this afternoon tea such a perfect refreshment that she soon started inviting her friends to join her in her room for this new social event.

Eventually, the growing middle class imitated the rich and found that tea was a very economical way of entertaining several friends without having to spend too much money, and afternoon tea quickly became the norm.