Existing comment:
Margaret "Margot" Asquith 1864–1945
Margot Asquith courted controversy throughout her life by defying the polite norms of behavior imposed on upper-class British women. Her quick wit and acid-sharp tongue delighted some and offended others but left no doubt of her keen intelligence. As a young woman, she was at the center of the Souls, a group of aristocratic intellectuals who aspired to high ideals of the mind and spirit.
Following her marriage in 1894 to Herbert Henry Asquith, a Liberal Member of Parliament, she turned her attention to politics. Thanks in part to her social connections and fierce loyalty, he was elected prime minister in 1908 and led Britain through the early years of the First World War. After his death, she supported herself through writing, drawing on the diary she began in 1904. Her intention was to record "with absolute fidelity and indiscretion the private and political events of the coming years."
Charcoal on paper, c. 1897
Lent by the National Portrait Gallery, London; gift of Edward Holroyd Pearce, Baron Pearce, 1960
This is the National Portrait Gallery sign in the exhibit. |