Lady Burney and Son Country Life Magazine Portrait December 6 1930

Lady Burney and Son, Cecil Dennistoun Burney, Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, December 6 1930. LXVII No. 1768

The featured frontispiece this week is a portrait of Lady Burney with her young son, capturing a moment of family life within one of Britain’s notable early 20th-century households.

• The Mother: Lady Burney (Gladys Burney, née High), daughter of George Henry High of Chicago. She married Sir Dennistoun Burney on March 15, 1921.
• The Father: Sir Dennistoun Burney (1888–1968), a distinguished engineer, inventor, and politician, known for:
  • The design and construction of the R100 airship.
  • The invention of the paravane, used to counter naval mines.
  • The innovative Burney car, an early streamlined automobile.
• The Child: Cecil Dennistoun Burney (born 1923), who later succeeded his father as the 3rd Baronet in 1968.
• Historical Context: At the time of publication, Sir Dennistoun Burney was a prominent public figure, having recently served as Member of Parliament for Uxbridge (1922–1929) and playing a leading role in Britain’s aviation and engineering advancements.
• Social Significance: Their inclusion as a Country Life frontispiece reflects their standing within British society during a period when innovation, aristocracy, and public life were closely intertwined.

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.