SPENCER, COUNTESS
Neg. No: GP (L) 1552
Neg. Size: 15"x12"
Neg. Date: 17-09-1897

Sitter: Charlotte (Francis Frederica) Countess Spencer, née Seymour (1835-1903).

Biog: 4th daughter of Frederick Charles William Seymour; m (1858) 5th Earl Spencer, Viceroy of Ireland.

"...Although from a Conservative background, she supported Spencer in his career and expressed herself trenchantly on political matters. Her private diaries contain memoranda on, for example, aspects of Fenianism and the Eastern question. There were no children of the marriage."

Peter Gordon, ‘Spencer, John Poyntz, fifth Earl Spencer (1835-1910)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

Role: Countess of Lennox, Elizabethan Procession.¹

Date: 17 September 1897.

Occasion: The Devonshire House Ball, 2 July 1897.

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond Street, London, W.

Descr: FL standing.

Costume: "...robe of black cisele velvet, the front plaited, studded with metal gold buttons, sleeves of gold tissue". (The Gentlewoman, 10 July 1897, p 56a)

Costume Supplier: Alias, 36 Soho Square, London W. (Fan by J. Duvelleroy, 167 Regent Street, London, W.)

Jewellery: -

Furniture & Props: Painted backdrop.

Evidence of photographer at work: -

No of poses: 1.

Copyright: V&A

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References:

Biog: Burke's Peerage; The Complete Peerage; The Times, 2 November 1903, p 9f; Georgina Battiscombe, The Spencers of Althorp, London, 1984.

Role: (Countess of Lennox) The Daily Telegraph, 3 July 1897, p 10b; The Morning Post, 3 July 1897, p 7e; Lady's Pictorial, 10 July 1897, p 70b; The Sketch, 14 July 1897, p 484b; Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, p 253, (National Portrait Gallery Archives); (Lady of James I period) The Daily News, 3 July 1897, p 5g.

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

Costume: The Daily Telegraph, 3 July 1897, p 10b; The Echo, 3 July 1897, p 2g; The Standard, 3 July 1897, p 4c; The Gentlewoman, 10 July 1897, p 49 (line drawing) & p 56c; Lady's Pictorial, 10 July 1897, p 49 (line drawing) & p 70b.

Costume Supplier: The Echo, 3 July 1897, p 2g. (Fan) The Queen, 10 July 1897, p 76c.

Jewellery: -

Reproduced: Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, p 253, (National Portrait Gallery Archives).