Wanda Holden
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Wanda Holden
by Lafayette
whole-plate film negative, 29 April 1929
Given by Pinewood Studios via Victoria and Albert Museum, 1989
Photographs Collection
NPG x70053
Sitterback to top
- Wanda Soden (née Holden, later Baillie-Hamilton) (circa 1911-1956), Socialite; daughter of Norman Holden; former wife of Charles Baillie-Hamilton, and later wife of Frank Ormond Soden. Sitter in 1 portrait.
Artistback to top
- Lafayette (Lafayette Ltd) (active 1880-1962), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 6908 portraits.
Events of 1929back to top
Current affairs
The first election held under universal suffrage is a victory for Labour. Ramsay Macdonald returned for his second term as Prime Minster, and appointed Margaret Grace Bondfield as the first woman Cabinet Minister.Art and science
Two classic books about the First World War are published: All Quiet on the Western Front, by war veteran, Erich Maria Remarque, tells of the horrors of war and the returning German soldiers' feelings of detachment from civilian life; while Robert Grave's autobiography Goodbye to All That, aimed to describe the author's experiences of the war so that they 'need never be thought about again'.International
The 24th October 1929 becomes known as Black Thursday when the US Stock Exchange Collapses and millions are lost. The event was the start of the Wall Street Crash, which in turn contributed towards the Great Depression: a major international recession that lasted through most of the 1930s.Comments back to top
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Michael Ratcliffe
31 January 2016, 19:52
Wanda was born in 1911, the illegitimate daughter of Emily Marion Munro. Emily married Norman Edward Holden who was the son of Edward Hopkinson Holden, a world famous banker and Liberal Politician. Wanda appears to have had quite a glamorous life. She married Charles Baillie-Hamilton in 1929 but divorced in 1932 as a result of her affair with the actor John Loder. She later married Frank Ormond Soden, a famous fighter ace and moved to Kenya where she died in 1956.
Would it be possible to see an image of the painting?
Donald Arnold
28 November 2020, 12:07
Wanda was born to single New Zealander Emily Marion Munro (always known as Marion) on 21 Oct 1910. Her birth certificate gives her name as Wanda Neilsen Munro. In the 1911 census she is recorded with the name Neils Wanda Neilsen. Considered to be the most beautiful deb of 1928, she had an affair with actor John Loder from 1932 to 1934 meeting whenever he was in England. She had two marriages, Charles Baillie-Hamilton 1929-1932 and Frank Ormond “Mongoose” Soden (1936-1956). The Sodens went to Kenya in 1945, Wanda dying there in 1956.
Frank Ormond “Mongoose” Soden