Portland College displays a small collection of paintings on permanent loan from one of the great ducal mansions in the area of Nottinghamshire known as the Dukeries. The College was founded in 1949 by Winifred, Duchess of Portland who features in three of the paintings. A pair of paintings by Arthur Spooner show Welbeck Abbey converted to a hospital during the First World War. The Duchess organised nursing there and continued her charitable works with injured war veterans and local coal miners for the next 40 years. The College is still proud to serve war veterans as well as a wide range of other people with disabilities. The paintings remind us of the family connections and shared vision that have endured for the last 60 years. Pride of place in the Collection is a splendid portrait of the Duchess by Philip de László, which was the centre piece of a National Portrait Gallery exhibition of his work in 2010.