National Trust Properties – IMS Photography

An Unknown Lady, possibly Anne Armstrong, Mrs William Henry Watson (1802-1828)

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

The lady in this portrait may be Anne Armstrong, Mrs Watson, the older sister of Lord Armstrong (1810–1900), who married William Henry Watson (1796–1860) in 1826. If this identification is correct, the portrait must have been painted around the mid-1820s, since Anne died young in 1828, aged just 26.

Oil painting on canvas, An Unknown Lady, possibly Anne Armstrong, Mrs William Henry Watson (1802-1828), manner of Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), early 19th century. A three-quarter-length portrait of a lady, seated, with her head turned to the left, wearing a dark dress with white lace sleeves and a gold bracelet on each arm. A red curtain hangs behind her, to the right, and a landscape can be seen beyond to the left. The sitter may be Anne Armstrong, Mrs Watson, the older sister of Lord Armstrong (1810-1900), who married William Henry Watson (1796–1860) in 1826.

Provenance: Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Marks and inscriptions: On a gilt tablet, suspended from the frame: ANNE ARMSTRONG / Mrs W. H. Watson / 1802–1828

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Unknown artist
Date: Unknown

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/20s
ISO: 640
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900), in the Inglenook at Cragside

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Lord Armstrong is seated on one of the sturdy oak settles in the grand stone inglenook in the Dining Room at Cragside. Reading the newspaper, with his dogs at his feet, and a fire blazing in the background, Armstrong is shown as a man of Victorian domesticity, rather than the industrial magnate he had by then become. In his otherwise faithful depiction of the inglenook, Emmerson takes a permissible artistic liberty in shunting the inscription above the fireplace onto two lines instead of one, so as to squeeze it into the picture.

Oil painting on canvas, Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900), in the Inglenook at Cragside, by Henry Hetherington Emmerson (Chester-le-Street 1831 – Cullercoats 1895), signed bottom left: H H Emmerson, 1880. A full-length portrait of Lord Armstrong as an elderly man, reading a newspaper seated in the Inglenook fireplace in the Dining Room at Cragside (with the motto put onto two lines so as to squeeze it in), with two dogs at his feet.

Provenance: Presumably commissioned by Lord Armstrong (1810-1900); thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919-1987).

Marks and inscriptions: Bottom left: H. H. Emmerson On a label suspended from the frame: Sir William Armstrong / 1810–1900 / H. H. Emmerson 1880

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831–1895)
Date: 1880

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/4s
ISO: 500
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Sir William George Armstrong , 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900)

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

William George Armstrong (1810-1900) was an extraordinary scientist and technical innovator. As one of the leading industrialists of his generation, he greatly influenced the Victorian wealth of Newcastle upon Tyne. He and his wife created two beautiful homes: the first in Jesmond Dene on the outskirts on Newcastle, and then Cragside.

Oil painting on canvas, Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900), by Mary Lemon Waller (Bideford 1851 – 1931), signed and dated 1898. A head-and-shoulders portrait of Lord Armstrong of Cragside in old age, turned to the left, looking down, wearing a dark jacket, brown waistcoat, and black cravat. Mary Lemon Waller was a portrait and genre painter who studied at the Royal Academy where she exhibited from 1877 to 1904. She was the daughter of the Reverend Hugh Fowler of Bumwood, Gloucestershire and married the genre and animal painter Samuel Edmund Waller (1850 – 1903). She and her husband were recorded living in St John’s Wood, London in 1881. She was also a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, London in 1925 and exhibited sixty works there as well as the Society of Women Artists, London, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, London, Dudley Gallery and New Gallery, London, Grosvenor Gallery, London, the Manchester City Art Gallery and at the Royal Scottish Academy.

Provenance: Presumably commissioned by Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900); recorded at Cragside by E. Rimbault Dibdin, ‘Lord Armstrong’s Collection of Modern Pictures. II’, in The Magazine of Art, April 1891; thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Marks and inscriptions: Bottom left: M L. Waller. / 1898.

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Mary Lemon Waller (1851-1931)
Date: 1898

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/21s
ISO: 800
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Margaret Ramshaw, Lady Armstrong (1807-1893)

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Margaret Ramshaw of Bishop Auckland was the wife of William George, 1st Lord Armstrong (1810–1900). She played an important role in the design of the gardens at Jesmond Dene, the couple’s house in Newcastle, and later at Cragside. This portrait was painted by John Callcott Horsley, who was the brother-in-law of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was probably through Horsley that Lord and Lady Armstrong were introduced to the architect Richard Norman Shaw, who had remodelled Horsley’s house at Cranbrook and was to work at Cragside.

Oil painting on canvas (oval), Margaret Ramshaw, Lady Armstrong (1807-1893), by John Callcott Horsley, RA (London 1817 – Cranbrook 1903), monogrammed and dated, bottom right 1868. A half-length portrait of Lady Armstrong, turned to the right in near profile, wearing a black-and-white dress with black shawl, and a gold, enamelled locket around her neck.

Provenance: Painted for Sir William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900), in 1868; thence by descent; transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919-1987).

Marks and inscriptions: Lower right background: monogrammed ICH (the letters overlaid on top of one another) 1868

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: John Callcott Horsley RA (1817–1903)
Date: 1868

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/19s
ISO: 800
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

John William Watson (1827-1909)

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, John William Watson (1827-1909), British (English) School, 19th century. A head-and-shoulders portrait of a man, his body facing the viewer, his head turned to the left, wearing a dark suit, with a red curtain behind him. John William Watson of Adderstone Hall, Belford, was the son of Anne Armstrong (sister of 1st Lord Armstrong) and William Henry Watson, and the nephew of the 1st Lord Armstrong. He married Margaret Godman of Bognor in 1859, and their son, William Watson-Armstrong (1863–1941), later became the 1st Lord Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside of the second creation.

Provenance: Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Unknown artist
Date: 1800 – 1899

An Italian Girl with Doves

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

This picture was purchased by William George Armstrong, 1st Lord Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) for 40 guineas in 1869. Many of the paintings he acquired were sold at auction in 1910, making this a rare survival from Armstrong’s collection at Cragside.

Oil painting on canvas, An Italian Girl with Doves, by Raffaello Sorbi (Florence 1844 – Florence 1931), signed and dated 1866. A painting of a young woman, wearing medieval costume with roses in her hair, caressing two doves on a parapet, draped with a gold cloth.

Provenance: Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Marks and inscriptions: On a feigned inscription on the stone, bottom left: Raf. Sorbi / 1866

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Raffaello Sorbi (1844–1931)
Date: 1866

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/26s
ISO: 800
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

The Elswick Works

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Stretching out along the banks of the River Tyne are Lord Armstrong’s factories at Elswick. It was in this industrial suburb of Newcastle that Armstrong’s firm commenced production in 1847. This picture dates from the 1880s, when activity there was approaching its peak. Armstrong began to step back from his duties at Elswick and chose to live at Cragside permanently.

Watercolour on paper, The Elswick Works, by Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (North Shields 1852 – St Helens, Isle of Wight 1937), signed and dated 1886. The River Tyne with the Elswick works in the background.

Provenance: Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Watercolour on paper
Artist: Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937)
Date: 1866

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 640
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Sir William George Armstrong , 1st Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810-1900)

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Engraving after the original in Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland

Object description
Type: Engraving
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Ink on paper
Artist: after Hermann Schmiechen (1855–c.1925)
Date: Unknown

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/17s
ISO: 1,000
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

Jane Potter

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, Jane Potter, British (English) School, 19th century. A half-length portrait of a woman, facing the viewer, her left hand held to her cheek, wearing a white lace bonnet, jewelled pendant, green dress, and lace fichu.

Provenance: Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Unknown artist
Date: 1800 – 1899

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/37s
ISO: 640
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.

The Rt Hon. John Wilson Croker (1780-1857)

Ian Malpass-Scott — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Oil painting on canvas, The Rt Hon. John Wilson Croker (1780-1857), after Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), 19th century. A half-length portrait, facing the viewer, wearing black. After the portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1823, engraved Samuel Cousins, published London, June 1829 (NPG D34239, D18676, D34240).

Provenance: Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 – 1987).

Text from the National Trust website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: after Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830)
Date: 1823 – 1899

Image Details
Date: 21 April 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Telephoto Camera 52mm ƒ/2.4
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: ƒ/2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/32s
ISO: 640
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.