Miss Edith Major Country Life Magazine Portrait November 27 1926

Miss Edith Major Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, November 27 1926. LX No. 1558

The featured frontispiece this week consists of a portrait of Miss Edith Major, Principal of Girton College, Cambridge, from a painting by Sir William Orpen, K.B.E., R.A., exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at the Royal Academy of Arts.

• Artist: Sir William Orpen (1878–1931), one of the leading portraitists of the Edwardian era.
• Subject: Miss Edith Major (1867–1951), a significant figure in the advancement of women’s higher education.
• Exhibition: Displayed at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1926.
• Publication: The image was published in Country Life as part of its coverage of notable society portraits.
• Collection: The portrait is now held in the Girton College collection at the University of Cambridge, depicting Miss Major in academic robes.
• Career: She served as Headmistress of Putney High School (1900–1910) and King Edward VI High School for Girls (1910–1925), before becoming Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge (1925–1931).
• Public Service: She also served as President of the National Council of Women of Great Britain.

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.