VALUED PAINTING

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 19, 17 October 1930, Page 7

VALUED PAINTING

From Historic London House

INTERESTING DISCOVERY

Most of the New Zealanders who visit London find it to their advantage to become members of the British Empire Club, of No. 12 St. James’s Square; it is a convenient place for meeting friends from the Dominion and nawly-made acquaintances in the Old Country. Among those who took advantage of this excellent institution last year was Mr. Will Appleton, of Wellington, whose interest in the stately rooms led, on his return to New Zealand, to a rather strange discovery. Mr. Appleton was making a social call and was describing the beauty of the frescoes on the walls of the clubrooms to Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Raw, of Salamanca Road, when it was divulged, much to his surprise that No. 12 St. James’s Square, London, was the ancestral London home of the Philip Acton Wood family, of which Mrs. Raw is a great-grandchild. In proof of this Mr. Appleton was shown a wonderfully well-preserved portrait in oils of Mrs. Raw's great-grandmother, Mrs. Frances Wood, painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, R.A., a famous and fashionable portrait painter of his day, whose work at the present time commands big prices. It seems that following upon heavy losses on the Stock Exchange, Mr. Wood, a wealthy man one day and a poor one the next, died from the shock, and hie widow, who was a friend of the Wakefield family, was induced to accompany Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield when he returned to New Zealand in the ship Sir George Pollock in 1851. According to the family tradition this vessel landed her passengers at Sumner, near Christchurch, and their first shelter after reaching the short was the caves in the rocks, which exist to-day. When Mrs. Wood (Mrs. Raw’s grandmother) left London she gave instructions for her belongings to be sent on after her, and a good many of them were, but tn© portrait referred to was not secured for a long time afterward, though it was always in the possession of blood relaAccording to family records, Sir Thomas Lawrence was paid four hundred guineas to paint the portrait, a very large sum for those days, but that is explained by his being the fashionable Court painter of his time. He arrived in London m 1787, was made- an associate of the Academy in 1791, and a full member in 1794. He was knighted in 1815 and became president of the Royal Academy in 1820. An interesting point about the portrait now in Wellington is that Mrs. Raw’s grandmother lived at what is now the British Empire Club until she was fourteen years of age. and could always remember the portrait hanging on the walls of her girlhood home in the West End of London. The history of the club building goes back to 1662, as it was included in the original grant made to the Earl of St. Albnns. It has passed through many hands since then. It was the home of Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was the first commanding officer of the “Blues.” From 1686 to 1733 it was the home of the Earl of Pembroke, who became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. From him it passed to the Rosslyn family, then to the Duke of Marlborough, and then to Mr. Wood, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Raw, of Wellington. That it should now be a place of assembly for people from all parts of the Empire gives the historic building an added interest. A photographic reproduction of the painting appears on this page.