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Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading (also Baroness Swanborough)

11 of 11 portraits by Sir James Gunn

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading (also Baroness Swanborough)

by Sir James Gunn
oil on canvas, 1961-1962
44 1/8 in. x 36 in. (1120 mm x 914 mm)
Given by Women's Royal Voluntary Service, 2008
Primary Collection
NPG 6833

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Sir James Gunn (1893-1964), Painter. Artist or producer of 11 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • 100 Pioneering Women, p. 116 Read entry

    Stella Isaacs (also Baroness Swanborough, 1894-1971), philanthropist and founder-chair of Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS; later Royal Voluntary Service), was born in Constantinople, where her father worked for the British Foreign Service. Having trained as a secretary in 1914, she later joined the Viceroy’s secretariat in Delhi, India, before marrying Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, in 1931. Increasingly drawn to voluntary social work, it was her involvement with the Personal Service League, formed for those in need and unemployed, that led the home secretary Sir Samuel Hoare to invite her to form the WVS in 1938. Although its original purpose had been air-raid precautions, by 1942, the WVS had mobilised more than a million women to help with the evacuations, care of refugees and bomb victims, and armed-forces welfare provision. She served as vice-chair of the Imperial Relations Trust (1936-68), a governor of the BBC (1947-52) and chair of the Commonwealth Immigrants Advisory Council (1962). She was appointed DBE in 1941, GBE in 1944 and created Baroness Swanborough in 1958 – the first woman to receive a life peerage.

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Events of 1961back to top

Current affairs

Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published internationally, inspiring the founding of the human rights organisation, Amnesty International.
The philosopher and peace activist Bertrand Russell is imprisoned for inciting civil disobedience during a sit down demonstration at the Ministry of Defence and Hyde Park.
The farthing coin - used in Britain for the last 7 centuries - ceases to be legal tender.

Art and science

Rudolf Nureyev defects from the USSR fearing that the KGB would arrest him for being gay and for fraternising with foreigners. After seeking asylum in Paris he set up home in London at the Royal Ballet and began his famous partnership with Margot Fonteyn.
The satirical magazine, Private Eye is first published.

International

The East German government erects the Berlin Wall, ceasing free movement between East and West Berlin. The barrier prevented citizens of Soviet controlled East Germany from crossing the border into West Germany to work, or to defect.
Yuri Gagarin, the soviet cosmonaut, becomes the first man in space orbiting the earth on the 12th April.

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