The photo is of Mary Russell (September 26, 1865 to ca. March 22, 1937), the lady who would become the Duchess of Bedford (although having married the younger son of a Duke, it was accidental that she became a Duchess after both her father-in-law AND brother-in-law died.) Her husband Lord Herbrand Russell, was ADC to the Viceroy of India, Lord Dufferin, when they met and later married, in India, on January 31, 1888 in Barrackpore. Her own family was stoutly middle-class and her husband's family never gave up their snobbish disdain for her. She was an accomplished athlete.
Here are some excerpts from a website with more pictures of Mary and biographical details:
After returning from India, they lived at first in Scotland and it was here that their only child, Hastings, later the 12th Duke of Bedford, was born on December 21, 1888. Mary's relationship with her son was the only conspicuous failure of her lifetime. Father and son were closer during Hastings' childhood, although they later fell out spectacularly when Hastings appalled his father, imbued with the traditions of the army, by becoming a pacifist.
Mary was given little chance to develop a proper relationship with her son, for the boy's father and grandfather denied her any part in his upbringing.
She turned instead to a series of different activities, each undertaken with such single minded determination that she excelled at all of them. In no time, Mary became the finest woman shot in England, with only a handful of men in front of her. Shooting and fishing were high on her list of favorite recreations, and that she knew how to handle both rod and gun effectively is evident from the fact that her shooting record for a day was 200 pheasants, while on one occasion she landed eighteen salmon weighing 200 pounds. Following that, she was an ornithologist of international renown who loved to spend weeks in remote cottages on Hebridean islands. Between 1909 and 1914 she spent much time on Fair Isle, often in the company of William Eagle Clarke. Her journal, A Bird-Watcher's Diary, was privately published in 1938 after her death.
Mary climbed mountains, sailed to remote and inaccessible places, skated superbly, took spectacular photographs and painted beautifully. She was a highly skilled mechanic and made her own radios. She founded a boys' bird watching club and could train animals to do almost anything, with the exception of her spoiled but adored Pekingese, Che Foo.
.....
In the late Twenties, Mary developed an interest in flying. She was now in her sixties, more than twice the age of most of those flying at the time. Apparently, she found the exhilaration, and perhaps also the danger, intoxicating. The duchess also claimed flying gave her some relief from her constant tinnitus although she eventually became totally deaf.
After many successful flights, her last one did not return.
What is known for sure is that she and her Gipsy Moth disappeared together into the North Sea. Her body was never recovered.
Although they did not find her body, we found her bookplate :
After returning from India, they lived at first in Scotland and it was here that their only child, Hastings, later the 12th Duke of Bedford, was born on December 21, 1888. Mary's relationship with her son was the only conspicuous failure of her lifetime. Father and son were closer during Hastings' childhood, although they later fell out spectacularly when Hastings appalled his father, imbued with the traditions of the army, by becoming a pacifist.
Mary was given little chance to develop a proper relationship with her son, for the boy's father and grandfather denied her any part in his upbringing.
She turned instead to a series of different activities, each undertaken with such single minded determination that she excelled at all of them. In no time, Mary became the finest woman shot in England, with only a handful of men in front of her. Shooting and fishing were high on her list of favorite recreations, and that she knew how to handle both rod and gun effectively is evident from the fact that her shooting record for a day was 200 pheasants, while on one occasion she landed eighteen salmon weighing 200 pounds. Following that, she was an ornithologist of international renown who loved to spend weeks in remote cottages on Hebridean islands. Between 1909 and 1914 she spent much time on Fair Isle, often in the company of William Eagle Clarke. Her journal, A Bird-Watcher's Diary, was privately published in 1938 after her death.
Mary climbed mountains, sailed to remote and inaccessible places, skated superbly, took spectacular photographs and painted beautifully. She was a highly skilled mechanic and made her own radios. She founded a boys' bird watching club and could train animals to do almost anything, with the exception of her spoiled but adored Pekingese, Che Foo.
.....
In the late Twenties, Mary developed an interest in flying. She was now in her sixties, more than twice the age of most of those flying at the time. Apparently, she found the exhilaration, and perhaps also the danger, intoxicating. The duchess also claimed flying gave her some relief from her constant tinnitus although she eventually became totally deaf.
After many successful flights, her last one did not return.
What is known for sure is that she and her Gipsy Moth disappeared together into the North Sea. Her body was never recovered.
Although they did not find her body, we found her bookplate :
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