The Honourable Mrs Duncombe and
The Honourable Hubert Duncombe
(1833-1915 and 1862-1918)
28 March 1863
Volume10, page 138, sitting number 12,920.
Born on 15 February 1833 and baptised three days later at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Mabel Violet Graham was the second daughter of the statesman Sir James Graham, 2nd Bt. Her mother Fanny Callander was considered a great beauty.
On 7 August 1851 at St George’s Hanover Square she married William Ernest Duncombe, who from 1859 to 1867 represented the North Riding of Yorkshire in the Conservative interest. In 1867 he succeeded his father and became 2nd Baron Feversham and the following year he was created the 1st Earl of Feversham.
The couple appear on the 1861 census living at Leases Hall, Aiskew, North Yorkshire. Also present on the night of the census were their first two sons, William (aged 8) and James (aged 7). The household included a governess, a housekeeper, a butler, two footmen and nine other servants, with two grooms living in outlying buildings.
In all their marriage produced seven children. Of these, three predeceased their parents.
When the census was taken in 1911 the Earl and Countess were at their London residence in Eaton Square. Also present were fourteen servants, including three sick nurses to look after the elderly couple.
Lord Feversham died, aged 85, on 13 January 1915 at Duncombe Park, Helmsley, leaving an estate valued at £47,585.
The Dowager Countess of Feversham died, aged 82, on 28 August 1915 at 87 Eaton Square, London. She was buried beside her husband in the churchyard of All Saints, Helmsley.
Given the date of the sitting, the child seen in this portrait must be the Honourable Hubert Ernest Valentine Duncombe, who was born on 14 February 1862. He was the Member of Parliament for West Cumberland from 1895 to 1900. He fought in the Boer War, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (the DSO) and gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He died on 21 October 1918.
[There is another Silvy portrait of the Honourable Mrs Duncombe, taken two years earlier, on page 99 of this section.]