1870

Mrs Ronald Sloane-Stanley, née Susan Johnstone 1916

Seated half-length to the left, full face to the viewer, wearing a dark coat over a white gown with a frilled collar and cuffs, her hands placed in her lap

Oil on canvas, 90.2 x 66 cm (35 ½ x 26 in.)

Inscribed lower left: László / 1916 XII / London

Laib L8332(789) / C25(36) Mrs Sloan (sic)

NPG Album 1912-16, p. 34a, where labelled: Mrs G. Sloane-Stanley / 1916

Sitters’ Book II, f. 8: Susie Sloane-Stanley. Nov: 29th 1916.

Private Collection

The sitter’s sister recalled visiting the artist’s studio while this portrait was being painted: "I went to Bay House and later to London with Susie, where we stayed at the Hyde Park Hotel and saw many friends and Susie had her portrait painted by Lazlo [sic]. I used sometimes to go to the studio and it was amusing to hear his very frank remarks on things in general and on the people he had painted in particular!"^[1] Though it is not recorded to whom the artist was referring, however, his propensity to gossip would be used in the case against him when he was interned the following year.

Susan ‘Susie’ Johnstone was born in 1874, the youngest daughter of William Johnstone, J.P., of Claddens, Lenzie, Lanark and his wife Mary. On 6 December 1898 she married Ronald Francis Assheton Sloane-Stanley (1867-1948). They had one son, John Ronald (born 1908).

Soon after their marriage she sailed with her husband to India where his regiment the 16th (The Queen's) Lancers was stationed in Umballa. They took a house in Simla for the summer where, among other things, they enjoyed attending the theatre. At the outbreak of the Boer War the regiment were sent to South Africa and Captain Sloane-Stanley was involved in the siege of Ladysmith before being wounded at Glenbridge 25 March 1900. The sitter was living in England but travelled to Cape Town in 1901 to be with her husband during his leave period. In 1904 Sloane-Stanley inherited Bay House near Gosport from his father, Francis Sloane-Stanley, J.P., and this became their home for the rest of her life.

The sitter died of heart failure while recovering from an operation on 1 March 1931.

LITERATURE:

•Ricketts (née Johnstone), Anne Murdoch, 1917 diary, private collection

•Field, Katherine ed., Transcribed by Susan de Laszlo, The Diaries of Lucy de László Volume I: (1890-1913), de Laszlo Archive Trust, 2019, p. 141

KF 2016