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Sybil Rachel Betty (née Sassoon), Marchioness of Cholmondeley

© Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby's London

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Sybil Rachel Betty (née Sassoon), Marchioness of Cholmondeley

by Cecil Beaton
vintage contact print from 10 x 8 inch negative, 1920s
9 3/4 in. x 7 5/8 in. (248 mm x 197 mm)
Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 1991
Photographs Collection
NPG x40053

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Photographer, designer and writer. Artist associated with 1112 portraits, Sitter associated with 361 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Taken in the Drawing room of the Sassoons' London House, 25 Park Lane, with Holbein's Portrait of Unknown Lady with a Squirrel and Starling (National Gallery).

Placesback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

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.

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