Helen Diana Bridgeman

Lady Helen Diana Bridgeman (22 June 1907 – 7 May 1967) was an English socialite and fashion leader[1] included in The Book of Beauty by Cecil Beaton.[2]

(Helen) Diana (née Bridgeman), Lady Abdy, possibly by Lady Evelyn Hilda Stuart Moyne (née Erskine), 1934

Biography

Lady Helen Diana Bridgeman was born on 22 June 1907,[3][4] the daughter of Orlando Bridgeman, 5th Earl of Bradford, and the Hon. Margaret Cecilia Bruce.[1][3]

In 1922 she was the youngest bridesmaid at the wedding of Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, daughter of George V.[5]

On 10 February 1930 she married Sir Robert Henry Edward Abdy, 5th Baronet, son of Sir Henry Beadon Abdy, 4th Bt. and Anna Adele Coronna.[3] They had one son, Sir Valentine Robert Duff Abdy, 6th Baronet (1937–2012)[6] and divorced in 1962.[1][3] Sir Robert Abdy was an art authority who owned antique shops in London and Paris.[5] Lady Diana Bridgeman was also an artist;[5] in 1920 publisher Erskine MacDonald published The Poems & Paintings of the Lady Diana Bridgeman.[7] Her portrait posing as a painter by Harold Speed is at the Leamington Spa Gallery and Museum.[8]

In 1933 she was included, together with her sister, in The Book of Beauty by Cecil Beaton: "Lady Abdy is a more exotic edition of her (Rosamond Pinchot n.d.r.); leonine large and pale, sullen with flowing ash air and richly curving lips. Her movements are panther like, and in many other ways she resembles Greta Garbo."[2]

She died on 7 May 1967.[3]

References
  1. "(Helen) Diana (Bridgeman), Lady Abdy". National Portrait Gallery, London.
  2. Beaton, Cecil (1933). The Book Of Beauty. Retrieved 19 January 2018. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999
  4. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003
  5. "Marries Art Authority - 11 feb 1930". The Montreal Gazette. 1930. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  6. Adam and Charles Black Ltd. Who's Who 1975: An Annual Autobiographical Dictionary. London, U.K.: Adam and Charles Black, 1975
  7. The Poems & Paintings of the Lady Diana Bridgeman. Erskine MacDonald. 1920.
  8. "Speed Diana". Women in the Act of Painting. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
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