Major R Sloane-Stanley by George Hillyard Swinstead, 1916

This three-quarter length oil on canvas portrait shows Major Sloane-Stanley in a landscape by the sea. He is smoking a cigar  and wearing a Royal Yacht Squadron cap. Signed lower left ‘G Hillyard Swinstead 1916’ the reverse inscribed in pencil ‘Major R Sloane-Stanley, Hants Yeomanry 1916’ . English.

Capt. thence Lt Col Ronald F A Sloane-Stanley of the Hampshire Regiment (1867 – 1948) served as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. As a close friend of Edward VII, he reputedly procured two billiard tables from Osborne House (East Cowes, Isle of Wight) for Lee- on-the-Solent Yacht Club, of which he was the founding Commodore in 1907. He was also a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron from 1907 until his death, owning seven yachts during that period. He served on the Yachting Committee between 1935 and 1946.

Despite Sloane-Stanley’s long history of involvement with yachting, there is one yacht with which his family is associated that overshadows all of his other great achievements in the sport. The Formosa, built for his father Francis Sloane-Stanley in 1877, was acclaimed as a masterpiece of maritime design before she was even launched. In a rhapsodic article published on the 22^nd of February 1879, The Field newspaper describes her as “the most beautiful cutter yacht ever built”.

Her measurements were:

In addition to her fine attributes as a racing vessel, the article also mentions the luxurious way that she was decorated inside, personally supervised and designed by Mrs Sloane-Stanley-our sitter’s mother.

The Formosa, pictured above, became so famous that shortly after this article was written Francis Sloane-Stanley sold her to his friend the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). There are several images of the Formosa in the Royal Collection, all dating from 1880. The Prince raced her on multiple occasions and her victories included the Queen’s Cup on the 3^rd of August 1880. By 1881, however, the Prince had sold her to a “Mr Bischoffsheim” as reported in the as reported in the Portsmouth Evening News on the 23^rd of July of that year.

Although Ronald Sloane-Stanley would have been 12 at the time the Formosa was raced by his father it is highly likely that seeing this beautiful cutter, and the success that it brought to his family, would have inspired Ronald’s own yachting career.

Additionally, as the same article in The Field makes clear, the Sloane-Stanley family were related in some way to Thomas Assheton-Smith, a founder member of the Yacht Club (later the Royal Yacht Squadron). The family is therefore a highly renowned one in yachting circles and we were lucky enough to be able to offer a silver gilt trophy won by Assheton Smith at the Regatta in 1828 in one of our previous catalogues. This portrait is a very exciting piece of yachting memorabilia as well as a superb work of art in its own right.

The Artist

George Hillyard Swinstead (1860-1926) was born in Chelsea, London, son of Charles Swinstead (1816-1890), headmaster of North London School of Art, and his second wife Jane née Hillyard (1826-1891). He studied under his father and at the Royal Academy Schools. He was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1893 and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour in 1907, excelling in both landscapes and portraits. Although based in London he was a frequent visitor to Suffolk, exhibiting several paintings of Walberswick and its environs.

What is intriguing to note is that in December of 1916 Mrs Ronald Sloane-Stanley, née Susan Johnstone, the wife of our sitter, also sat for a portrait by the famous society portraitist Philip Alexius de László. Given that portraitist’s reputation-it was said at the time that he had painted more members of high society than any other painter past or present-and the price of commissioning a painting from him, it is very clear that Mr Sloane-Stanley’s choice of an artist for his own portrait was not restricted in any way by financial concerns. It is very likely that the two portraits, being ordered in the same year, were designed as pendants to each other in some way.