(Rosalind) Florence Caverhill, Mrs Geoffrey Mander (1886 - 1956)
Elinor M. Barnard (1872 - 1942)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
circa 1912
Materials
Watercolour on paper
Measurements
357 x 235 mm
Order this imageCollection
Wightwick Manor, West Midlands
NT 1287172
Summary
Watercolour on paper, (Rosalind) Florence Caverhill, Mrs Geoffrey Mander (1886 - 1956), attributed to Elinor M. Barnard (London 1872 - 1942), circa 1912. A full-length portrait of Florence Mander standing beside the fireplace in the Great Parlour inglenook at Wightwick, the fireplace size exaggerated to contrast with her slender elegant figure.
Full description
(Rosalind) Florence Caverhill, a Canadian, married Geoffrey Mander in Montreal in 1906, moved to his home of Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton and made it a family home, having three children, Mavis, Mervyn and Elizabeth. Florence shared with her husband an interest in photography. A large photographic archive at Wightwick includes photos she took of her family, friends and the staff who worked at the manor. She was also active locally in speaking out for women’s right to vote. In the 1912-1913 annual report of the Wolverhampton branch of the NUWSS Florence Mander is listed as a new member and the year after her husband, Geoffrey also joined. Florence as a member of the Wolverhampton Women’s Suffrage Society, hosted a drawing room meeting at Wightwick on either 1/2nd December 1913, where Alicia Bewicke, Mrs Archibald Little, spoke on ‘Women of the East and West’. Alicia had lived in China and spoke about the differing and similar conditions of women in both Chinese and British society. Alicia published a journal examining gender inequality in China and included the words of Chinese women who spoke out against foot binding. Her work presents a colonial attitude of British superiority in equality for women. Alicia also argued for women’s suffrage in England. Florence also hosted political functions for the Liberal Party at Wightwick and became president of the Wolverhampton Women’s Liberal Association. (Hannah Squire, 2018)
Provenance
Collection Sir Geoffrey Mander and Florence Mander [1914 inventory: probably "Watercolour portrait (full-length) of Mrs. Mander 10 x 14 in." - Great Parlour]; their daughter Elizabeth Mander, by whom lent in 1999; then loaned from Theresa Macintyre, her daughter. Gifted to the National Trust in 2019.
Marks and inscriptions
Unsigned
Makers and roles
Elinor M. Barnard (1872 - 1942)