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Jemima Yorke was born in 1722 in Copenhagen, where her father, John Campbell, 3rd Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, served as envoy to the Danish court. In 1725, she moved with her mother, Amabel, to Wrest Park, living with her maternal grandparents. After her mother’s early death in 1727, she remained there and became the chosen heir of her grandfather, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent. Upon his death in 1740, she inherited Wrest Park, on the condition that she marry Philip Yorke, son of the 1st Earl of Hardwicke and heir to the Wimpole estate. Despite being arranged, their marriage was highly successful. At Wrest, Jemima, Philip, and their friends formed the literary group ‘Wrestiana,’ whose works inspired many of the features in the gardens at Wrest Park.

English Heritage, Wrest Park

Silsoe

Title

Jemima Yorke (née Campbell, 1722–1797), 2nd Marchioness Grey and Countess of Hardwicke

Date

1741

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 91 x W 71 cm

Accession number

96504097

Acquisition method

acquired with the support of the Art Fund

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

Jemima Yorke was born in 1722 in Copenhagen, where her father, John Campbell, 3rd Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, served as envoy to the Danish court. In 1725, she moved with her mother, Amabel, to Wrest Park, living with her maternal grandparents. After her mother’s early death in 1727, she remained there and became the chosen heir of her grandfather, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent. Upon his death in 1740, she inherited Wrest Park, on the condition that she marry Philip Yorke, son of the 1st Earl of Hardwicke and heir to the Wimpole estate. Despite being arranged, their marriage was highly successful. At Wrest, Jemima, Philip, and their friends formed the literary group ‘Wrestiana,’ whose works inspired many of the features in the gardens at Wrest Park. While she left estate management to Philip and his father, Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, Jemima took a keen interest in the gardens she had loved since childhood. The couple commissioned several portraits from Scottish artist Allan Ramsay to mark their marriage, including this one, possibly a pendant to Philip’s portrait. A leading Georgian-era portraitist, Ramsay favoured a naturalistic and elegant style over the grand, idealised manner of peers like Joshua Reynolds. His restrained approach, aligned with Enlightenment ideals, may have resonated with Jemima’s intellectual sensibilities.

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