5014

Three Generations of the Elwes Family  1920

Henry John Elwes seated three-quarter length under a large tree, holding three orchids in his left hand. His son, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Cecil Elwes seated beside him on the right wearing a greatcoat over his service dress. His grandson, John standing on the left, a tree and a darkened sky behind

Oil on canvas, 208.3 x 170.2 cm (82 x 67 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1920 XI / LONDON

Laib L10033 (140) / C8 (4) Elwes Group

NPG 1917-21 Album, p. 128

Sitters’ Book II, f. 13: H J Elwes Feb 6. 1920  / H. C. Elwes. Feb 6th 1920

Sitters’ Book II, f. 14: John Elwes April 20th 1920

Private Collection

The three Elwes signatures in de László’s Sitters’ Book indicate that this portrait was executed over a period of some ten months from February to November 1920, when it was signed by the artist. We know from a letter written by Henry John Elwes, arranging an appointment in April 1920, that it was primarily painted in the artist’s London studio in Fitzjohn’s Avenue and is inscribed “LONDON.” De László visited Colesbourne Park, the Elwes’ home in Gloucestershire to complete the preparatory oil [5020] and a study of the Yew Walk [111157]. Some early sittings for the finished portrait may also have been completed at that time. The artist painted a study portrait of Henry Cecil Elwes’s wife, Muriel in 1920 [111158].

As this was clearly an important commission, and groups of three sitters are relatively rare in his oeuvre, de László painted a preparatory sketch for the present portrait, which remained in his studio until his death, and is now in a private collection [5020]. In that sketch, Henry Cecil Elwes stands behind and to the right.

Henry John Elwes was born on 16 May 1846, the eldest son of John Henry Elwes and Mary Bromley, of Stoke, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at Eton and abroad and served with the Scots Guards for five years, from 1865 until 1870. A botanist and an entomologist, he travelled in Turkey, Asia Minor, Tibet, India, Russia, Chile, in North America and Mexico (three times), Formosa, China, Japan, Nepal and Sikkim. While travelling in Turkey in 1874, he discovered the giant snowdrop to which he gave his name Galanthus Elwesii. In this portrait he holds three Slipper Orchids, botanically known as Paphiopedilum. The front two are Paphiopedilum Maudiae and the third flower slightly hidden with a dark stem is Paphiopedilum spicerianum, which originated in North East India, Burma & South West China.^[1]

In 1897 he was the first person to receive the Victoria Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society, later becoming its Vice-President. He was also President of both the Royal English Arboricultural Society and the Royal Entomological Society. A scientific member of the Indian Embassy to Tibet in 1885, he later officially represented Great Britain at the Botanical and Horticulture Congress at Petrograd and Amsterdam. He published several authoritative books and papers in his field, including Trees of Great Britain and Ireland (1906-1913), and Monograph of the Genus Lilium (1880). In 1871 he married Margaret, the second daughter of William Charles Lowndes of Brightwell, Oxon, at Elmore. Together they had a son, Henry Cecil and a daughter, Susan Margaret. Henry John Elwes died on 26 November 1922.

His son Henry Cecil Elwes was born on 25 August 1874. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1897. On 10 July 1901, he married Muriel Hargreaves of Leckhampton, the daughter of John Hargreaves and Edith Platt. They had a son, John Hargreaves. Henry Cecil Elwes served in the Boer War, where he was seriously wounded at Modder River and invalided home. A Commander of the escort to the coffin of Queen Victoria, he received the colours of the 3rd Battalion of the Scots Guards from Edward VII [7705] in 1901. He was later awarded the MVO and was transferred to the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry in 1904. He subsequently served in Egypt and Gallipoli as a Commander. He returned to the Scots Guards from 1916 until 1919, when he was seconded to command the 9th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles in France. He was awarded the D.S.O. in 1918. Henry Cecil Elwes died on 31 January 1950.

His son John Hargreaves Elwes was born on 11 January 1906. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he joined the Scots Guards in 1926, and seconded to the Transjordan Frontier Forces from 1930 until 1935. On 6 December 1934, he married Isabel Beckwith in the Guards Chapel, London. She was the daughter of Major William Beckwith D.S.O. of Millichope Park, Shropshire and his wife Lady Muriel Gordon Lennox. John Hargreaves Elwes attained the rank of Major, serving in Norway in the Second World War (where he won the Military Cross in 1940), in the Middle East and in North Africa, as Second-in-Command of the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards. He was killed in action on 21 March 1943 at Mareth, in North Africa.

We are grateful to the present owner for their assistance with the biographical notes.

PROVENANCE:        

By descent in the family

LITERATURE:        

DLA044-0100, letter from Henry John Elwes to de László, 21 April 1920

CC 2008

KF 2020