The Duchess of Bedford, Mary Russell Country Life Magazine Portrait April 19 1930

The Duchess of Bedford, Mary Russell Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, April 19 1930. LXVII No. 1735

The featured frontispiece this week is a striking portrait of Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, widely known as the “Flying Duchess”, standing beside her aircraft at a pivotal moment in aviation history.

• The Subject: Mary du Caurroy Tribe Russell (1865–1937), Duchess of Bedford, an extraordinary pioneer of early aviation.
• The Scene: She is pictured with her Fokker F.VII monoplane, “The Spider”, at Lympne Aerodrome in Kent.
• The Occasion: The photograph was taken on April 10, 1930, just prior to her departure on a record-breaking flight to Cape Town, South Africa.
• The Achievement: Accompanied by pilot Captain Charles Barnard and mechanic Robert Little, she completed the journey in just 10 days, setting a new benchmark in long-distance aviation.
• Remarkable Career: The Duchess only took up flying in her 60s, reportedly to help alleviate tinnitus, yet quickly became one of Britain’s most celebrated aviators.
• Wider Contributions: Beyond aviation, she was also an ornithologist and served as a radiographer during World War I.
• Legacy: Her adventurous life ended tragically in 1937, when she disappeared during a solo flight over the North Sea at the age of 71.

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.