Olivia Wyndham

Olivia Madeline Grace Mary Wyndham[1] (30 November 1897 – 1967[2]) was a British society photographer and a member of the 1920s socialite group known as the bright young things.

Marjorie Firminger and Olivia Wyndham's party at Glebe Place

The daughter of Colonel Guy Percy Wyndham, C.B., M.V.O. (a member of the Souls, the group congregated at his parents' house, Clouds, in Wiltshire[3]) and his wife Edwina Virginia Joanna, daughter of Rev. Frederick Fitzpatrick,[4] Olivia Wyndham was the great-great granddaughter of the 3rd Earl of Egremont[5] and great-granddaughter of the 1st Baron Leconfield, sister of millionaire (Guy) Richard "Dick" (Charles) Wyndham, and a distant relative of Oscar Wilde.[6] Having founded a studio with him ("M Studio" in Fitzroy Square) Wyndham held an exhibition with the American Curtis Moffat in June 1927.[7] Regular subjects for Moffat and Wyndham were the Sitwells, Tallulah Bankhead and Cecil Beaton.[3] Wyndham was stated to have been an inspiration to photographer Barbara Ker-Seymer, who took over Wyndham's studio when the latter went to America.[8]

Having married the American Howland Spencer in 1930 (they divorced in 1931),[9] she lived in a ménage à trois with Edna Lewis Thomas, a successful African-American actress, and her husband, Lloyd Thomas.[6] In the 1930s, Wyndham was painted by the artist Joseph Delaney.[10]

Her niece was the writer Joan Wyndham, and her half-brother was the journalist, editor and writer Francis Wyndham, literary executor to Jean Rhys.

References
  1. Burke's Peerage, 2003, pg. 1290
  2. "Olivia Wyndham". npg.org.uk.
  3. "Olivia Wyndham in England". Cocktails With Elvira.
  4. "Conqueror 31". william1.co.uk.
  5. "Queers in the Mirror: A Brief History of Old-Fashioned Gay Marriage in New York, Part II". The Huffington Post.
  6. Wintz, Cary D.; Finkelman, Paul, eds. (2004). Encyclopaedia of the Harlem Renaissance. 2 (K–Y). New York: Routledge. p. 1176. ISBN 9780203319307.
  7. Andrews, Maggie; McNamara, Sallie (2014). Women and the Media: Feminism and Femininity in Britain, 1900 to the Present. New York: Routledge. p. 56. ISBN 9780415660365.
  8. Williams, Val (18 September 2011). "Obituary: Barbara Ker-Seymer". The Independent.
  9. "- Person Page 8274". thepeerage.com.
  10. Moffatt, Frederick J. The Life, Art and Times of Joseph Delaney, 1904–1991. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press. p. 121. ISBN 9781572336766.
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