Eldest child of William Gair Rathbone VII and Blanche Luling.
m. 1913 Bruce Richmond (1871-1964), son of Douglas Close Richmond. No children.
Elena, like her father and grandfather, was a supporter of District Nursing. In 1917 she was appointed to the council of the Queen's Institute for District Nursing, from 1919-1952 serving as honorary secretary. She was also a pioneer in the registration of midwives, from 1925-1951 acting as the Queen's Institute's representative on the Central Midwives Board, and in 1956 becoming vice-president.
Bruce Richmond was an assistant editor of The Times from 1899, and in 1915 was appointed Editor of the Times Literary Supplement. His work was recognised by the award of honorary degrees of Doctor of Letters at Leeds in 1922 and Oxford, 1930. He also compiled The Pattern of Freedom (1939-1945), an anthology of prose and verse, and served as vice-president of the Royal Literary Fund from 1939.
See RP XXV: Papers of William Gair Rathbone VII, particularly:
