Lady Elizabeth Betty Montagu Country Life Magazine Portrait November 16 1929

Lady Elizabeth Betty Montagu Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, November 16 1929. LXVI No. 1713

The featured frontispiece this week is a portrait of Lady Elizabeth “Betty” Montagu, the younger daughter of the Earl and Countess of Sandwich.

• Identity: Lady Elizabeth Betty Montagu (1917–2006), the youngest daughter of George Montagu, 9th Earl of Sandwich, and his wife Alberta Sturges.
• Family Background: She was raised at the family seat, Hinchingbrooke House, and was the sister of Victor Montagu, 10th Earl of Sandwich.
• Early Life & Education: Educated at North Foreland Lodge and later in Munich, reflecting her cosmopolitan upbringing.
• War Service: During the Second World War, she trained as a nurse at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, eventually managing the casualties department.
• Literary Career: In the 1950s, she became a respected novelist and poet. Her notable works include Waiting for Camilla (1953), The Small Corner (1955), and This Side of the Truth (1957), the latter praised by Graham Greene.
• Art & Interests: A passionate art collector, she acquired works by artists such as Graham Sutherland and Sidney Nolan.
• Later Life: Known for her independent spirit, she never married and spent much of her later life between London and the South of France.

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.