Lady Finola Somers nee Meeking Country Life Magazine Portrait April 10 1926

Lady Finola Somers nee Meeking Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, April 10 1926. LIX No. 1527

The featured frontispiece this week is a portrait of Lady Somers, wife of the newly appointed Governor of Victoria. Lady Somers, daughter of the late Captain Bertram Meeking, married the 6th Lord Somers in 1921 and had a young daughter born in 1922.

Lady Finola Somers, born Finola Meeking in 1896, was the daughter of Captain Bertram Meeking of the 10th Hussars.

• Marriage: She married Arthur Herbert Tennyson Cocks, 6th Lord Somers, in 1921.
• Role in Victoria: Her husband served as Governor of Victoria from 1926 to 1931. During their time in Melbourne, Lady Somers was active in supporting women’s organisations and charitable work, including visits to the Tweddle Baby Hospital.
• Family: The couple had one daughter, Elizabeth Somers (Hon. Violet Elizabeth Somers Cocks), born in May 1922.
• Arrival in Australia: She accompanied her parents to Melbourne in 1926 at the age of three and was welcomed by a guard of honour formed by schoolchildren.
• Marriage: On March 12, 1947, Elizabeth married Major Simon Buxton, second son of Captain Bernard Buxton.
• Legacy: The family name lives on through the Lord and Lady Somers Camps, youth leadership programmes in Victoria that continue to operate today.

This is an authentic original page from Country Life magazine, part of the iconic series often affectionately referred to as the “Girls in Pearls” portraits — elegant society images that captured a distinctive era of British publishing and portraiture.

Size: Approximately 13.75 x 9 inches (35 x 23 cm)

Condition: Very good for its age. As with all vintage magazine pages, light signs of handling or minor age-related blemishes may be present. Please review the large photo carefully for full condition details.

This original Country Life Magazine frontispiece portrait forms part of The Old Map Shop’s curated archive of society portraits published between 1897 and 2026.