William Wyndham Portal, later Sir William Wyndham Portal, 2nd Bt (1850-1931) and Mrs William Wyndham Portal, later Lady Portal (d. 1931), née Florence Elizabeth Mary Glyn;

William Wyndham Portal, later Sir William Wyndham Portal, 2nd Bt (1850-1931); Proprietor of Laverstoke Bank Note Paper Mills;(1) Deputy-Chairman of the South Western Railway; President of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Association of Architects and author of several books on churches and buildings in the south of England; member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

Role: Comte et Comtesse de Candale from Un Mariage sous Louis XV.^⁽²⁾

Date: 3 July 1897.

Occasion: The Devonshire House Ball, 2 July 1897.

Location: Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London, W.

Descr: FL standing.

Costume: (William Portal) "...Court dress (period Marie Therese), plum coloured satin, elegantly embroidered in steel." (The Court Journal, 10 July 1897, p 1248b).

Costume Supplier: -

Furniture & Props: Painted backdrop with landscape, after Reynolds;^⁽³⁾ studio Persian rug.

Photographer: The firm of J. Lafayette, 179 New Bond Street, London, W.

Evidence of photographer at work: -

No of poses: 1.

Copyright: V&A Provenance: Pinewood Studios; acquired 1989.

References:

Biog: (Sir W.W. Portal) Burke's Peerage; Who's Who; The Times, 1 October 1931, p 14 ; (Lady Portal) Burke's Peerage; The Times, 4 January 1932, p 15b.

Role: Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, p 238 (National Portrait Gallery Archives).

Occasion: Sophia Murphy, The Duchess of Devonshire's Ball, London, 1984.

Costume: (William Portal) The Court Journal, 10 July 1897, p 1248b; The Gentlewoman, 10 July 1897, p 52c.

Reproduced: Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, p 238, (National Portrait Gallery Archives).

1. "He was head of the old Huguenot family who have for generations manufactured at the Laverstoke mills the paper for Bank of England notes." (The Times, 1 October 1931, p 14)

2. Un mariage sous Louis XV, a comedy by Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), first performed at the Théâtre-Français, 1 June 1841; translated as A Marriage of Convenience, Period, Louis XV and first performed Haymarket Theatre, London, 5 June 1897, with Winifred Emery as Comtesse de Candale and William Terriss as Comte de Candale. (See: T.H. French, A Marriage of Convenience, Period: Louis XV, Lacy's Acting Edition of Plays, Vol 144, London, 1899.)

3. Backdrop after landscape in Sir Joshua Reynolds, Elizabeth Catharine Rivett, Mrs Carnac, (c. 1775), Wallace Collection. (See John Ingamells, The Wallace Collection Catalogue, Vol I, London, 1985.)