Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
© reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
by Hugh Cecil (Hugh Cecil Saunders)
bromide print, 1920s
11 1/4in. x 8 5/8in. (280 mm x 219 mm)
Photographs Collection
NPG x8037
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
- Hugh Cecil (Hugh Cecil Saunders) (1892-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 43 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Hugh Cecil set up as a portrait photographer in London in 1912 and his work was often published in society magazines. The photographers Angus McBean and Paul Tanqueray both worked for Cecil early in their careers.
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Photograph of the Month: May 2014 (1 May 2014 - 1 June 2014)
Events of 1920back to top
Current affairs
The Government of Ireland Act (Fourth Home Rule Bill) partitions Ireland into the Irish Free State with a devolved parliament in Dublin and Northern Ireland with a devolved parliament in Belfast.The Communist Party of Great Britain is founded in London, uniting a number of independent socialist and Marxist parties into a single, united party.
Art and science
Queen Alexandra unveils a monument to Edith Cavell in St Martin's Place opposite the National Portrait Gallery. The English nurse was executed in Germany for helping hundreds of allied soldiers to cross the border from occupied Belgium to the neutral Netherlands.George V officially opens the Imperial War Museum at the Crystal Palace.
International
The Kapp Putsch threatens the newly formed Weimar Republic. In defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, the leaders of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt refused to disband and marched on Berlin, occupying it on the 13th March. With the general army refusing to defend the city, the government fled to Stuttgart. The rebellion, however, failed after the workers joined a general strike, disabling their plans.Comments back to top
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