Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
1 portrait of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
© Cecil Beaton Archive / Condé Nast
Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
by Cecil Beaton
bromide print on white card mount, 1949
9 3/8 in. x 7 1/2 in. (237 mm x 191 mm)
Given by Cecil Beaton, 1968
Photographs Collection
NPG x14014
Sitterback to top
- Nancy Witcher Astor (née Langhorne), Viscountess Astor (1879-1964), Conservative politician; MP for Plymouth Sutton; former wife of R.G. Shaw, and later wife of 2nd Viscount Astor; daughter of Chiswell Dabney Langhorne. Sitter in 39 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Photographer, designer and writer. Artist or producer associated with 1114 portraits, Sitter associated with 360 portraits.
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Photograph of the Month: May 2014 (1 May 2014 - 1 June 2014)
Events of 1949back to top
Current affairs
Following the Republic of Ireland Act in 1948, the Irish Free State becomes the Republic of Ireland and leaves the Commonwealth. The functions previously given to the King were handed to the President of Ireland.The Second Parliament Act diminishes the power of the House of Lords, reducing their authority to delay bills from two years to one.
Art and science
George Orwell publishes his dystopian novel, 1984. The book imagines a future where totalitarian governments rule; their power based on continual war abroad, and overwhelming propaganda and surveillance at home. With 'Big Brother' keeping a constant check on the citizens' actions and thoughts, the individual loses the faculties of free will and independent thought.International
The People's Republic of China is created after the Communist Party wins the Civil War. China became a communist country under Mao Zedong.Cold War tensions increase as Germany is split into the democratic Federal Republic of Germany in the west (a union of the post-war British, French and American sectors), and the communist German Democratic Republic, in the east.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Related pages
- Votes for women
- Rebel women
- The World's Most Photographed
- The Royal Ballet at 75
- Britain 1960-1990
- Cecil Beaton Drawings
- Centenaries and Centenarians
- Handlist of names in the Reference Collection
- Photographic holdings - print and negative collections
- Learn more
- Mick Jagger: Young in the 60s
- In Close Up: Laurence Olivier
- Marilyn Monroe: a British love affair
- Women Poets and Photography, 1860–1970
- Photography: a living art - then and now
- Cecil Beaton’s Bright Young Things
- Britain and the formation of the UAE
- Love Stories
- Icons and Identities: Shakespeare to Winehouse
- Love stories: art, passion and tragedy
- Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury: inventing life
- Bill Brandt: Portraits 1982
- Beatles to Bowie: the 60s exposed
- Picturing friendship