Lot 157: Bessie Florence 'Floss' Scarlett née Gibson (1851-1934), standing before a sandy beach and wearing fawn dress over white chemise and brown ribbon tie, a pink rose at her corsage, her light brown hair upswept beneath a brown shearling hat set

Bessie Florence 'Floss' Scarlett née Gibson (1851-1934), standing before a sandy beach and wearing fawn dress over white chemise and brown ribbon tie, a pink rose at her corsage, her light brown hair upswept beneath a brown shearling hat set with a diamond brooch, a cane in her left hand. Watercolour on ivory, gilt-mounted on rectangular velvet frame with easel stand to the reverse. Arched rectangle, 105mm (4 1/8in) high

The sitter's only daughter, the Hon. Ruth Hester Frances Scarlett (1882-1943) and thence by descent

Upon the death of her mother, Elizabeth, Bessie 'Floss' Gibson was adopted by her paternal aunt, Jane Gibson and her husband, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, 3rd Bt. (1819-1889) who hadn't any children of their own. Shelley was the only surviving child of the Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley and his novelist second wife, Mary Shelley née Wollstonecraft Godwin (1797-1851). Floss was raised predominantly at Boscombe Manor on the Dorset coast and the present lot is likely to have been painted close to this location. On 16 February 1871, Floss married Lieutenant Colonel Leopold James Yorke Campbell Scarlett (1847-1888) of the Scots Guards. The couple had six sons and one daughter. Floss encountered considerable heartbreak during her adult life, outliving her husband and four of their children. Their youngest, Leopold was lost at sea aboard an Australian submarine in 1914, aged twenty-five. Floss was four months pregnant with him when her husband died. Sir Percy Shelley died the following year. Floss lived in many homes during her lifetime and visited Boscombe Manor frequently until it was sold in 1911. Her final years were spent in slight isolation at Penenden House at Boxley near Maidstone. Her daughter, Ruth and sons, Hugh, 7th Baron Abinger (1878-1943) and Percy (1885-1957) survived her.