6328

The Honourable Mrs Michael Willoughby and her son Michael 1927

Seated almost full-length in a gilt upholstered armchair, her son standing to her left, her arm round his shoulders, she wearing a full white gown with a blue sash, her son a yellow jacket with a white frilled collar and white breeches, a column and curtain behind to the right

Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 100.4 cm (51 x 39 ½ in.)

Inscribed top left: de László / 1927   

Sitters Book II, opp. f. 51: Angela Middleton. Dec: 8th 1926.

Private Collection

Mrs Willoughby used to drive her son from Windsor to de László’s studio in Swiss Cottage every day during the week while this portrait was being painted. He recalled the tedium of the long sittings for this portrait and the discomfort of standing for hours with one foot on a tobacco tin in order to sustain the pose for the artist.  He was five years old when painted and recalled that he was very unhappy that de László insisted he wore a frilly shirt, yellow jacket and breeches from the artist’s studio collection. The clothes were Regency in style, similar to those featured in portraits such as Master Lambton by Sir Thomas Lawrence, an artist de László greatly admired. The Honourable Hugh Astor was painted in the same costume in 1925 [2606]. The artist also chose the dress that Lady Middleton wears in this portrait.^[1] Michael remembered the artist in a favourable light but also that he exerted considerable discipline on such a small boy, who found it hard to stand still for the lengthy sittings. The picture was insured for £500 when it was lent to the French Gallery in 1927.^[2] 

Angela Florence Alfreda Hall was born on 9 April 1899, the eldest daughter of Charles Oswin Hall (1864-1948), of Settrington House, Malton, North Yorkshire and his wife Georgina Garforth (1865-1935). On 28 April 1920, she married the Honourable Michael Guy Percival Willoughby (1887-1970), later 11th Baron Middleton. At the time, he was serving in the Indian Army on the staff of Lord Lytton, Governor General of Bengal, and she joined him there after the birth of her first son, Michael (born 1921). There were three other children of the marriage: Hermione (born 1924), Jean (born 1928) and Christopher (born 1932). The couple returned to England permanently in 1924 after the death of the 10th Baron Middleton and they lived at Settrington House, which was part of the Middleton Estates.

A keen gardener and amateur botanist, Lady Middleton produced fine watercolour sketches of wild plants collected at home and abroad. She served on the local District Council and was particularly concerned with the welfare of those living on the Settrington Estate and later the estate of Birdsall House, where they moved after the sale of Settrington in 1936. During the Second World War she was heavily involved in the work of the British Red Cross in the East Riding of Yorkshire. With her husband away serving as commanding officer of the 5th and 30th Battalions of the East Yorkshire Regiment, she managed the 12,000 acre estate and accommodated children evacuated from the bombing raids on Hull. Various regiments were also quartered in Birdsall House and encamped in the grounds. At that time she started experiencing the ill-health from which she suffered for the rest of her life.

Following the death of her husband in 1970, she moved to Foston, where, five years later, she suffered a stroke from which she never entirely recovered. Her final years were plagued by paralysis, but she is remembered by her family for her gaiety and for her fine qualities as the mainstay of an exceedingly happy home. She died on 11 January 1978 at a nursing home near Newbury.

Digby Michael Godfrey John Willoughby was born 1 May 1921 at Settrington Hall. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was just 18 when he joined the Coldstream Guards to serve in the Second World War. He received the Military Cross, the Croix de Guerre and was mentioned in dispatches before demobilisation in 1946. On 14 October 1947 he married Janet, the only daughter of General Sir James Handyside Marshall-Cornwall and there were three sons of the marriage. Willoughby read land management at Trinity College, Cambridge after his marriage and graduated in 1950. In 1970 he succeeded his father as 12th Baron Middleton. He died, aged 90, 27 May 2011.

EXHIBITED:

•The French Gallery, London, A Series of Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., June 1927, no. 21

LITERATURE:

•“The László Portrait Exhibition: A Quartet of Beautiful Women,” The Sketch, 15 June 1927, p. 535, ill.

•DLA107-0020, de László to Harry Wallis, 15 July 1927

KF 2017