Lot 190: Mabel Lee Hankey (British, 1863-1943) Hon. Patricia Gerard (1909-1972), wearing green dress and jade bead necklace, her gold hair parted and falling before her shoulders

Hon. Patricia Gerard (1909-1972), wearing green dress and jade bead necklace, her gold hair parted and falling before her shoulders.
Signed on the obverse Mabel Hankey, silver-mounted rectangular ebonised wood frame with easel reverse, the silver mount engraved Patricia Clare Gerard/ 1926.
Oval, 89mm (3 1/2in) high

The present lot was painted when the sitter was seventeen years of age. She was the second child of five born to Frederick John Gerard, 3rd Baron Gerard MC, JP, DL (1883-1953) and Mary Frances Emma Gosselin (d.1954).

Patricia became a nun with the Provincial Sisters of the Assumption and took the religious name of Mother Clare Emmanuel. Her younger sister, the Hon. Heloise Katherine Marie Gerard (b.1911) also became a nun. Her elder sister, the Hon. Violet Ethel Mary Gerard MBE (1908-1970), usually went by her middle name of Ethel. She was Organiser of Hertfordshire Women's Voluntary Services. Patricia's youngest sibling, the Hon. Mary Dorothy Fresia Gerard (b.1922) married Major Eric George Davies in 1947. Their brother, Robert, joined the Royal Air Force and is portrayed in the previous lot.