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New York circa 1909. "Lady Richardson." The British dancer and writer Constance Stewart-Richardson (1883–1932), author of "Dancing, Beauty and Games." 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.
Lady Constance was not a Baroness. Her husband, Sir Edward Austin Stewart-Richardson was the 15th Baronet of Pencaitland. A Baronet is sort of an hereditary knighthood; the recipient is not a member of the peerage and does not sit in the House of Lords. The Baronet of Pencaitland is in fact part of a very strange institution, the Baronetage of Nova Scotia, created by James I (VI of Scotland under whose autority this was created) in 1625 to settle what is now the province of Nova Scotia. Each of the 100 men who became Baronets under this scheme had to supply 6 settlers for Nova Scotia.
Lady Constance's husband, Sir Edward Stewart-Richardson was born in 1872. He died of his wounds while serving as a Captain in the Black Watch in November 1914 at age 42. His wife outlived him by 18 years.
In 1909, life expectancy, for a white woman in the U.S., was on average, about 47 years. Lady Richardson died at age 49, slightly above the median.
She is perhaps the most beautiful woman I've seen on Shorpy. Amazing. And so sad that she died so young.
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