A group photograph of King Edward VII, with the Marquess and Marchioness of Londonderry and other nobility at Wynyard Park, 22nd October 1903.
Included in the photograph are N.W. Apperley, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the ninth Earl of Shaftsbury and Lady Constance Sibell Ashley-Cooper the Countess of Shaftsbury, Spencer Compton Cavendish, the eighth Duke of Devonshire and Lady Louise Frederica Augusta Cavendish, Charles Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, the twentieth Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milne, the first Marquess of Crewe and Lady Margaret Etrenne Hannah Primrose Crewe-Milne the Countess of Crewe, Captain The Honourable S. Fortesque, Sir Hedworth-Williamson, The Honourable Mr G Keppel, Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith, the ninth Earl Of Kintore, The Honourable Lady Murray and Captain Frederick E.G. Ponsonby.
Picture Stockton Archive 
Illuminating piece of research by Bob Wilson. Interesting that George Keppel’s wife Alice had become King Edward VIIth’s ‘mistress,’ whilst he was still Prince of Wales in 1895, for it was her grand-daughter Camilla Parker Bowles who in turn became Charles, Prince of Wales ‘mistress’, during his marriage to Diana Spencer. This was a very commonplace and accepted situation in aristocratic circles, going back centuries, whereby ‘wives’ became courtesans to maintain their family, or their husband’s, status at Court. Turning to what is believed to be a ‘modern fashion’ amongst young women, i.e. that of tattoos, it should be noted that Edith, The 7th Marchioness of Londonderry (pictured above) had a snake-tattoo applied to her left leg the very year this photograph was taken!
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This is certainly a grand gathering of the British nobility in County Durham, those shown are:
KING EDWARD VII (1841 – 1910) who married the Danish Princess Alexandra, at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 10 March 1863. King Edward V11 is HM Queen Elizabeth 2 grandfather.
Captain N W Apperley, 22 Old Elvet, Durham, born 29 July 1846 Bungarribee, Australia. N W Apperley was ‘a veteran among private secretaries and of a handsome and distinguished presence. He was born in Australia. When he was seven years old, the family returned to Wales, upon the death of his father he was engaged with the Marquis of Londonderry, becoming his private secretary in 1879.
Marquess of Londonderry. Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry, KG, MVO, PC, PC (Ire) (1878 – 1949), styled Lord Stewart until 1884 and Viscount Castlereagh between 1884 and 1915, was an Anglo-Irish peer known for his WW1 Army, and later political career. He is best remembered for his tenure as Secretary of State for Air in the 1930s and for his links with the Appeasement policy towards Nazi Germany, for which he attracted the nickname of “the Londonderry Herr”. The Vane –Tempest family were prominent Coal Mine owners in County Durham.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, KP, PC, GCVO, CBE, (31 August 1869 – 25 March 1961) the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury married Lady Constance Sibell Grosvenor (22 August 1875 – 8 July 1957), the daughter of Victor Alexander Grosvenor, styled Earl Grosvenor.
Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire KG, GCVO, PC, PC (Ire) (23 July 1833 – 24 March 1908), styled Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1834 and 1858 and Marquess of Hartington between 1858 and 1891, was a British statesman. He has the distinction of having served as leader of three political parties. He also declined to become Prime Minister on three occasions.
Charles Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, the twentieth Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, Talbot, who was born at Eaton Place, London, was the only son and heir of the Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury. He was educated at Eton College[1] and inherited the title while young (aged sixteen years). He proceeded to ruin his prospects by eloping on 21 or 22 April 1880[2] with an older married woman, Ellen Miller-Mundy, wife of a very rich commoner Alfred Edward Miller-Mundy.
Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe KG, PC (12 January 1858 – 20 June 1945), known as The Lord Houghton, was a British statesman and writer. Crewe was the son of Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton by his wife the Hon. Annabella, daughter of John Crewe, 2nd Baron Crewe, and was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Captain The Honourable Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl Fortescue KCB (16 April 1854 – 29 October 1932) was an English Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1881 until 1892 and later in the House of Lords having inherited his father’s peerages. He was a famous sportsman in the hunting-field. He was known by his courtesy title of Viscount Ebrington until his father’s death in 1905, when he inherited the earldom.
Sir Hedworth-Williamson 9TH Baronet, the family seat was Whitburn Hall, near Sunderland. The ninth Baronet was High Sheriff of Durham in 1904
The Honourable George Keppel, claim to fame is he was married to Alice Frederica Keppel, a British society hostess and a long-time mistress of King Edward VII. Her charm and outstanding beauty and discretion impressed London society and soon brought her to the attention of the future king Edward VII, whose mistress she remained till his death, lightening the dark moods of his later years.
Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore PC, GCMG (12 August 1852 – 3 March 1930), was a British politician and colonial governor. Born at Lixmount House, near Edinburgh, Keith-Falconer was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Frederick Edward Grey Ponsonby, 1st Baron Sysonby GCB GCVO PC (16 September 1867 – 20 October 1935), was a British soldier and courtier. Ponsonby was the second son of General Sir Henry Ponsonby and his wife the Hon. Mary Elizabeth (née Bulteel). Ponsonby was a Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in the Grenadier Guards and served in the Second Boer War and in the First World War. (For reasons of space I have refrained from giving an honourable mentions to the wives shown, many of whom are the daughters of Lords)
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Reference Charles Henry Chetwynd Talbot: When I left School I started work as a messenger boy at the South Durham Steel and Iron Company (in 1961). On many occasions, I had to hold the office door open for Mr Chetwynd Talbot whose family were the owners of the works which where then bought by British Steel (malleable works Stockton).
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