Lady Marian Margaret Compton, Viscountess Alford (1817-1888)

Sir Francis Grant PRA (Kilgraston 1803 - Melton Mowbray 1878) or James Rannie Swinton (Kimmergehame 1816 - London 1888) . Oil painting on canvas, Lady Marian Margaret Compton, Viscountess Alford (1817-1888) by Sir Francis Grant PRA (Kilgraston 1803 - Melton Mowbray 1878) or James Rannie Swinton (Kimmergehame 1816 - London 1888). Full-length portrait, of a young woman, standing, turned to the left and gazing down, leaning with her right arm on a stone parapet, her left hand by her side holding a flower, she had dark brown hair, and is wearing a black dress with gauze/lace at the neckline and cuffs. Behind her, to the right are two columns on the parapet and thre is a distant view of the sky and trees on the left..Portrait of Lady Marion Alford nee Compton (1817-1888) Wife of John Hume (Egerton) Viscount Alford (1812-1851) and mother of the 2nd and 3rd Earl's Brownlow. Lady Marianne Margaret Compton was born on 21 June 1817, the eldest daughter of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton and Margaret Douglas-Maclean-Clephane; married John Hume (Egerton), Viscount Alford (1812-1851), son of John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow (1779-1853) and Amelia Sophia Hume, on 10 February 1841 at St. George's Church, St. George Street, Hanover Square, London. She died on 9 February 1888 at age 70 at Ashridge Park, Berkhamsted and was buried at Belton, Lincolnshire. F. Leveson Gower wrote that "she was much esteemed and beloved, not only by her relatives but by everyone who knew her. She was most generous" but "did not discriminate character very well. This and her splendid hospitality entailed upon her embarassments from which she ought to have been free. She was extravagent as well as generous, which is a rare combination... her conversation was brilliant, and she was quick at repartee. I have known cleverer women, but hardly anyone who united in herself so much to make her society prized." Lady Marion was a talented artist. She pioneered the academic study of needlework, helping to found the Royal School of (Art) Needlework in 1872, and writing an influential work on Needlework as Art. An altar frontal by her survives in the church of Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire. Her London home in Kensington Gore became a centre for gatherings of artistic and literary figures. Belton House, Lincolnshire (Accredited Museum)