BLACKWOOD, MISS Neg. No: 2068A Neg. Size: 12"x10" Neg. Date: 12-03-1898 Sitter: Jemima Adeline Beatrice Blackwood, later Countess of Darnley, later Lady Jemima Laveson, (d 1964); m. (1899) Edward Henry Stuart Blight, 7th Earl of Darnley (1851-1900); m. (1902) Admiral Sir Arthur Cavenagh Levenson, R.H. (1868-1929). Jemima Adeline Beatrice Blackwood (d. 1964) was presented at the second Drawing Room of the Season on 11 March 1898 by the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava. She wears a gown of ivory satin, with a corsage and petticoat veiled with white embroidered mousseline de soie, with lace and bouquets of snowdrops. Her train is of ivory duchesse satin with a border of snowdrops. A year after the date of this portrait, Miss Blackwood married the 7th Earl of Darnley, who was thirty years her senior and she became chatelaine of Cobham Hall, the family’s Tudor-era mansion. Her husband was reported to “spend money like water” and was known for being eccentric and holding extreme and violent views on subjects such as vaccination. They had one child, Elizabeth, who succeeded to her father’s secondary title and as Baroness Clifton was at the age of two the youngest peeress at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. In 1902, two years after the Earl’s untimely death, the now Countess of Darnley married Admiral Sir Arthur Cavenagh Leveson, and ended her days as Lady Jemima Leveson. Date: 12 March 1898. Occasion: The Court, 11 March 1898: presented by the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava. Location: The Lafayette studio, 179 New Bond Street, London, W. Descr: FL standing. Costume: Court dress: "(Gown of) ivory satin; corsage and petticoat veiled with white embroidered mousseline de soie, with lace and bouquets of snowdrops; train of ivory duchesse, with a border of snowdrops" (see: The Gentlewoman, 19 March 1898, pp 366c & 368a). Costume Designer: - Costume Supplier: - Jewellery: - Furniture & Props: Painted backdrop; painted column; studio Persian rug. Photographer: Lafayette Ltd., 179 New Bond Street, London, W. Evidence of photographer at work: Hand clamp visible. No of poses: 2. Copyright: V&A All images on this site are copyright V&A. For further information on using or requesting copies of any images please contact the V&A Picture Library: vaimages@vam.ac.uk including the URL of the relevant page Provenance: Pinewood Studios; acquired 1989. References: Biog: Burkes' Peerage; The Times, 2 May 1964, p 10d. Occasion: The Times, 12 March 1898, p 10a. Costume: The Gentlewoman, 19 March 1898, pp 366c & 368a. Costume Designer: - Costume Supplier: - Jewellery: - Reproduced: The Ladies' Field, 26 March 1898, p 52; (version) Lady's Pictorial, 19 March 1898, p 380.