- HOWARD
DE WALDEN, LADY
- Neg. No:
GP (L) 1736A
- Neg. Size:
15"x12"
- Neg. Date:
17-05-1898
Sitter:
Lady Howard de Walden, later Lady Ludlow, née Blanche Holden (1856-1911); daughter of William Holden of Palace House, Co. Lancaster; m (1876) Frederick George Ellis, 7th Baron Howard de Walden (1830-1899), separated 1893; m (1903) Henry Lopes, 2nd Baron Ludlow (1865-1922).
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Lady Howard de Walden, née Blanche Holden (1856-1911), married in 1876 “a somewhat eccentric nobleman thirty years her senior”, Frederick George Ellis, 7th Baron Howard de Walden. She was termed “one of the most beautiful women in Society” and compared with the great Professional Beauties of the time, Lillie Langtry and Lady Randolph Churchill.
According to their son, Baron Howard de Walden was “a queer distorted man: hard-drinking, savage, bitter and foul-mouthed” and in 1893 Lady Howard de Walden sued for separation. The trial caused a sensation in society as shocking evidence emerged of the Baron’s brutish abuse of his young wife.
Summoned to the third Drawing Room of the 1898 Season, Lady Howard de Walden is seen here in a gown of rich yellow and white brocade. Her train edged with chiffon ruching is highly decorated with fine lace attached to form garlands of bows. She also wears a tiara with pearls and diamonds forming flowers, a diamond necklace and diamond earrings. Her bouquet is of yellow and white flowers to match her gown.
Widowhood was obviously a positive development for Lady Howard de Walden and a London gossip newspaper in 1903 termed her “a very good-looking woman, with a graceful figure, [with] some magnificent jewels… one of our prettiest and most popular society widows.”
In 1903 Blanche happily remarried Henry Lopes, 2nd Baron Ludlow, and it was as Lady Ludlow that she died on the French Riviera in 1911.
Date:
17 May 1898.
Occasion:
The Drawing Room, 10 May 1898: presented Mrs. H. Cavan-Irving.
Location:
The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond Street, London, W.
Descr:
FL standing.
Costume:
Court dress.
Costume
Designer: -
Costume
Supplier: -
Jewellery:
-
Furniture
& Props: Painted backdrop; studio Jacobean-revival mock staircase;
studio Persian rug.
Photographer:
Lafayette Ltd., 179 New Bond Street, London, W.
Evidence
of photographer at work: -
No
of poses: 1.
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:
Burke's Peerage.
Occasion:
The Times, 11 May 1898, p 13d.
Costume:
-
Costume
Designer: -
Costume
Supplier: -
Jewellery:
-
Reproduced:
-
Additional
Information: -
Acknowledgements:
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