Sylvia (née Hawkes), Lady Ashley
1 portrait of Sylvia (née Hawkes), Lady Ashley
© William Hustler and Georgina Hustler / National Portrait Gallery, London
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Sylvia (née Hawkes), Lady Ashley
by Dorothy Wilding
whole-plate film negative, 1932
Given by the photographer's sister, Susan Morton, 1976
Photographs Collection
NPG x29438
Sitterback to top
- Sylvia (née Hawkes), Lady Ashley (1904-1977), Actress and society beauty; former wife of Lord Ashley and of Douglas Fairbanks Sr and of 6th Baron Stanley of Alderley and of Clark Gable, and later wife of Prince Dimitri Djordjadze. Sitter in 10 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Dorothy Wilding (1893-1976), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 2179 portraits, Sitter in 30 portraits.
Events of 1932back to top
Current affairs
Sir Oswald Mosley forms the British Union of Fascists. Mosley's party - nicknamed the Black Shirts after their uniform - was founded along the lines of Mussolini's Fascist Party in Italy and called for the replacement of parliamentary democracy with a system of elected executives. During the war Mosley was interned and the BUF was proscribed.Art and science
John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton 'split the atom'. In fact, Cockcroft and Walton's achievement was to change the nucleus of one element into another by bombarding it with protons, rather than to literally spit an atom apart. Nevertheless 'splitting the atom' has become the popular way of describing this important stage in the development of nuclear technology.International
Saudi Arabia is formed by the unification of the Kingdoms of Hijaz and Nejd under King Abdul Aziz.Iraq is granted independence from the British mandate established by the League of Nations in 1919-20.
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Stephen Green
13 October 2019, 18:09
Her full name was Edith Louisa Sylvia Hawkes. (https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1558/31280_197463-00595?pid=3435495&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1558%26h%3D3435495%26ssrc%3Dpt%26tid%3D57658919%26pid%3D48150241830%26usePUB%3Dtrue&ssrc=pt&treeid=57658919&personid=48150241830&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.131337679.1301252939.1570907583-566051632.1570314742)
Her first marriage to Lord Ashley was considered a society scandalm as Sylvia was a showgirl.
She was the child of publican Arthur Hawkes and Edith Hyde in London. Her aunt Maud Hawkes in buried in Bannockburn in Scotland, where she had married Andrew Mitchell.
Andrew Mitchell was my wife's great uncle.