A Lonsdale Portrait of William Southwell
Seeking information on:
• Portrait of William Southwell by James Lonsdale (1777-1839)
Despite extensive enquiries, we have been unable to identify the present whereabouts of this portrait. Update 2 September 2013 A recently discovered copy of a diary of Jane Cook, née Robins, a relative by marriage of the ‘Southwell Brothers Photographers Royal’, held in a private archive in America,1 provides fascinating new insights on a number of members of this branch of the Southwell family. Most interesting of all, an entry in 1904 gives not only a description of William Southwell’s appearance in his portrait but its location in that year – extract below:
Ida Southwell Perrin, née Robins, (1860–1953) was the daughter of Elizabeth Southwell (1825–1908) and Edward Cookworthy Robins (1830–1918), a noted architect of his day. Better remembered today as ‘Mrs Henry Perrin’, Ida is well known in her own right for her exquisite flower paintings as the illustrator of the book British Flowering Plants (1914), Vols I – IV. She was also a talented portrait painter who exhibited at the Royal Academy. Tragically, both her children died in early adulthood in 1919 within a short time of each other and her only direct descendent was a granddaughter, Moyra Perrin (1918–1999). Miss Perrin, a very wealthy lady, died unmarried in London in 1999 and if, as seems likely, she inherited the portrait from her grandmother, it may still have been in her possession at that time. Further investigations are proceeding to explore this line of enquiry, but for the moment at this point the trail runs cold. If anyone is able to assist us with information on the present whereabouts of this lost Lonsdale portrait of William Southwell we would love to hear from you. Please contact me if you can help! |