Biog: Barrister, Liberal Chief Whip 1892-1894 and First Lord of the Admiralty 1905-1908.

Role: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,⁽¹⁾ Court of Queen Elizabeth.

Date: 10 July 1897.

Occasion: The Devonshire House Ball, 2 July 1897.

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

Descr: FL standing.

Costume: "...ruby velvet and gold embroidery, slashed with satin." (The Daily Telegraph, 3 July 1897, p 10b)

Costume Supplier: -

Orders, Decorations & Medals: Collar of the Order of the Garter; unidentified neck badge.

Jewellery: Miniature portrait of a lady, suspended from left shoulder.

Furniture & Props: Painted backdrop; Jacobean-style photographer's chair with detachable crest-rail; studio Persian rug.

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

Evidence of photographer at work: Base of clamp visible behind sitter's legs.

No of poses: 2 [see also neg no 1446-320 marked as reject].

Lord Tweedmouth

Lord and Lady Tweedmouth

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References:

Biog: Dictionary of National Biography; Burke's Peerage; The Complete Peerage; Who's Who; The Times, 16 September 1909 p 13c.

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

Role & Costume: (Role only) St. James's Gazette, 3 July 1897, p 9b; The Sketch, 14 July 1897, p 484b; (Costume) The Daily News, 3 July 1897, p 5g; Daily Telegraph, 3 July 1897, p 10b; The Morning Post, 3 July 1897, p 7f & 8a; The Gentlewoman, 10 July 1897, p 52c; Lady's Pictorial, 10 July 1897, p 53c; The Queen, 10 July 1897, p 76b.

Costume Supplier: - 

Orders, Decorations & Medals: -

Reproduced: (Version with Lady Tweedmouth taken on the night of the Ball) Devonshire House Fancy Dress Ball, July 2 1897: A Collection of Portraits in Costume of Some of the Guests, privately printed, 1899, p 257, (National Portrait Gallery Archives).

Additional Information: For illustration of 'Lady Tweedmouth's Costume Dinner Party at Brook House' before the Ball see The Illustrated London News, 10 July 1897, p 47.

1. Robert Dudley (1532?-1589); Favourite of Queen Elizabeth I; cr. K.G. 23 April 1559 (Dictionary of National Biography).