9712

Unfinished

Study portrait

Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin 1917

Head only in three-quarter profile to the left

Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 36.8 cm (20 x 14 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: Study / 1917 / de László 

Private Collection

Oliver Baldwin joined the Irish Guards in June 1917 and this unfinished portrait may have been painted before he departed for service in the First World War. There is no record of the days he attended de László’s studio in the appointment diaries or Sitters’ Book. The artist was interned 21 September so it is possible that it was unfinished at that time. For examples of the artist’s war portraits see: Sir Philip Sassoon [6526], Lieutenant James McEwen [6407] and Arnold Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle [2573].

De László painted a three quarter length portrait of the sitter’s mother, Mrs Stanley Baldwin [2324], in 1936. She had each of her children painted by a different artist and these were hung in the gallery of the family home, Astley Hall, Worcestershire.

Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin was born 1 March 1899, the eldest son of Stanley Baldwin and his wife Lucy Ridsdale (1869-1945). He was educated at Eton and left to join the war effort. After the declaration of peace he was briefly appointed as Vice-Consul in Boulogne in 1919 before becoming an infantry instructor in the newly-independent Armenian army in 1920. After the collapse of the democratic government soon after he was imprisoned by Bolshevik-backed revolutionaries but was freed two months later when democracy was restored. En route back to Britain he was arrested by the Turkish authorities and accused of spying for Soviet Russia. He was held in harsh conditions for five months and threatened with execution. He described the experience in Six Prisons and Two Revolutions, published in 1925.

The sitter’s father Stanley Baldwin was elected conservative Prime Minister in 1923 and his son followed him into politics, being voted in as Labour MP for Dudley 1929-1931 and Paisley 1945-1947. In 1939 he rejoined the army as a major in the Intelligence Corps and served in the Near East and north Africa. He was appointed Governor-General of the Leeward Islands, in the Caribbean, from 1948 to 1950, where he exercised his socialist beliefs and attempted to build a more diverse economy and equitable society. He was referred to as the ‘People’s Man’ by the Islanders.  

Baldwin also pursued a career as a journalist and writer. His publications include: Konyetz (a novel), Six Prisons and Two Revolutions, Socialism and the Bible (translated), Conservatism and Wealth (with R. Chance), The Questing Beast, Unborn Son, The Coming of Aissa, and Oasis. He wrote for the Daily Herald, Daily Mail and Daily Sketch and in 1933 he became a film reviewer for the BBC.

His father was made 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley in 1937 and Baldwin was known as Viscount Corvedale before succeeding him in 1947. He never married, but lived with John Parke Boyle (1893-1969) until his death in 1958. His remains were buried in the Leeward Islands and his epitaph reads: His ashes are interred on a hilltop on the island of Antigua. The stone inscription reads, Here lie the ashes of Oliver Ridsdale Second Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, Born March 1899 Died August 1958. Governor, Commander in Chief in and over the Leeward Islands and Vice Admiral of the same 1948 - 1950. He loved the people of these islands. RIP.

PROVENANCE:

Presented by Lady Baldwin, mother of the sitter, to the present owner

KF 2018