Duchess of Bedford Country Life Magazine Portrait August 24 1929

The Duchess of Bedford, Mary du Caurroy Tribe Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, August 24 1929. LXVI No. 1701

The featured frontispiece this week is a portrait of The Duchess of Bedford, whose remarkable achievements in aviation brought her international recognition.

• Identity: Mary du Caurroy Tribe (1865–1937), who became the Duchess of Bedford upon her marriage to Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford.
• Family Background: She was the daughter of the Venerable Walter Harry Tribe, formerly Archdeacon of Lahore, and spent part of her early life in India.
• Marriage: She married Lord Herbrand Russell in 1888; the couple had one son, Hastings Russell, later the 12th Duke of Bedford.
• Aviation Pioneer: Known as the “Flying Duchess”, she achieved several record-breaking flights, including her notable eight-day journey to and from India in 1929.
• Further Achievements: She also completed record-setting flights to and from Cape Town in 1930, contributing significantly to the advancement of long-distance aviation.
• Other Interests: Beyond aviation, she was an ornithologist, a member of the British Ornithologists’ Union, and studied jujutsu in the early 1900s.
• Legacy: She died in 1937 when her aircraft disappeared over the North Sea during a solo flight, cementing her legacy as one of the early pioneers of aviation.

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.