Aberdeens often attended their servants’ evening socials and meetings, and in London society it was rumoured that they had even dined together. They also funded a local school and hospital—healthcare was a cause that Lady Aberdeen supported throughout her life. Lady Aberdeen's influence also extended beyond her country estate. She established the Onwards and Upward Association, which provided servant girls with postal courses on topics ranging from geography to literature to domestic science. This program spread from Aberdeenshire to include thousands of servants. Lady Aberdeen founded the Aberdeen Ladies' Union, an institution to help young women in Scotland. In 1883 she became the first president of the Ladies’ Union of Aberdeen, an organization that focused on the well-being of young women living in cities. An Emigration Committee chose suitable women and sponsored them to move to the colonies, especially Canada. Lady Aberdeen was also the head of the Women's Liberal Federation, which advocated for women's suffrage. Her commitment to housing improvement and fascination with the work of Octavia Hill is recorded by her daughter Baroness Pentland who wrote in a 1952 biography of her mother: 'In February 1939 she presided at the showing (for the first time outside London) of a centenary exhibition illustrating the life of Hill's work which had been brought north and explained by Miss Anne Lupton'. Time in Canada In 1893, Lord Aberdeen was appointed the Governor General of Canada, a post he would occupy until 1898. The Aberdeens were no strangers to the country, as they had visited several times before; during their cross-Canada tour of 1890 they had even purchased a homestead in British Columbia. On that same visit they crossed the prairies, and Lady Aberdeen was struck by the difficult and isolated lifestyle of pioneers. She subsequently founded the Aberdeen Association for Distribution of Good Literature to Settlers in the West, which sent settlers packages of books and magazines. Lady Aberdeen was dedicated to her role as Governor General's wife (Viceregal consort of Canada). She hosted many popular social events, such as winter festivals and costume balls, and was more politically involved than her predecessors. She travelled extensively, attending events and collecting information for her husband. She regularly offered him advice, and in fact newspapers commented (sometimes critically) that it appeared she held the power in their relationship. In 1893, the year she arrived in Canada, Lady Aberdeen was named the first president