DLA013-0010  Transcription 

Barbon

Kirkby Lonsdale

Westmorland

Sept 16th. [1909][1]

Dear Mr Laszlo

I wonder if you recollect my wife and I coming with my sister-in-law, Miss Kay-Shuttleworth, to your studio one day in July & my saying that

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I should be so glad if it turned out possible for me to have my wife’s portrait painted by you[2] –

It may fix the meeting in your mind that we discussed that Mrs Laszlo was a connection of Mrs Fort a cousin of my wife’s.[3] Could you paint the portrait?

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We return to the Embassy in Washington about October 29th but between now and then we shall be here with Lord Shuttleworth[4] till Sept 30th and afterwards at Watford (20 mls from London) with my own people till we sail. It wd be delightful if the portrait could be painted up here in this lovely country, but very likely

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that wd not suit you, tho’ I hope it may.

But both here and at Watford there are, I think, good rooms for light. My wife looks her best up here & while at Watford we shall be packing and paying farewell visits, which will rather interfere with painting – Please let me have a line &

with very kind regards from us both

Believe me

Yrs very truly

B R James (Lt Col:)

Editorial Notes:

Colonel Bernard Ramsden James (1864–1938) served with the East Surrey Regiment in India and the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in Gibraltar and South Africa. He also worked as an army interpreter and was attached to the Intelligence Department at the War Office. In October 1906, he was appointed Military Attaché to British Ambassador James Bryce in Washington, D.C.

See related archive item DLA013-0009, letter from Colonel Bernard Ramsden James to de László, 25 September [possibly 1909].

[1] The Visitors’ Book at Barbon Manor—one of three Kay-Shuttleworth family homes—records that Bernard Ramsden James and his wife Angela stayed there in August 1909. This is corroborated by a report in the Army & Navy Gazette dated 30 October 1909, noting the couple’s return to Washington aboard the White Star liner Baltic following home leave.

[2]  The Honourable Mrs Bernard Ramsden James, née the Honourable Angela Mary Kay-Shuttleworth (1872–1967); The Honourable Rachel Beatrice Kay-Shuttleworth (1886–1967)

[3] Geraldine Frances Henrietta Guinness (1868–1933) married James Alfred Fort (1860–1934) in 1893. The Forts were related to the Kay-Shuttleworth family through their grandfathers, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth and Richard Fort, who were cousins. Geraldine and Mrs Philip de László, née Lucy Madeleine Guinness (1870–1950) [11474] were grand-daughters of Robert Rundell Guinness (1789–1857). Their fathers were half-brothers: Lucy’s father (Henry Guinness) was from his first marriage to Mary Anne Seymour. Geraldine’s father was Reverend Robert Guinness from Robert Rundell Guinness’ second marriage to Mary Anne Moore.

[4] Ughtred James Kay-Shuttleworth, 1st Baron Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe (1844–1939)