Madeleine Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough

British noblewoman and art dealer

Madeleine Ponsonby,
Countess of Bessborough

CBE

Born|

Madeleine Lola Margaret Grand

8 November 1935
Occupation| art dealer
Years active| 1958-
Known for| founder of New Art Centre and Roche Court Sculpture Park and Gallery
Spouse|

Arthur Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough

(m. 1963; died 2002)​

Children| 2

Madeleine Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, CBE[1] (née Grand; born 8 November 1935) is an English art dealer who married into the aristocratic Ponsonby family. She is the founder of New Art Centre, London and Roche Court Sculpture Park and Gallery, Winterslow, Wiltshire.

## Personal life

[edit]

Madeleine Lola Margaret Grand was born the only child of Maj. Gen. Laurence Douglas Grand, CB, CIE, CBE (1898-1975) and Irene Lola Hilda Mathew (1903-1971). She grew up at Delaford Manor, Iver, Buckinghamshire.[2]

On 17 December 1963, she married Arthur Mountifort Longfield Ponsonby, 11th Earl of Bessborough (1912–2002). She became his third wife. Together they had two children:[2]

* Hon. Matthew Douglas Longfield Ponsonby (born 27 January 1965), married Jamilie Emett Searle
* Hon. Charles Arthur Longfield Ponsonby (born 12 July 1967), married Jennifer Waghorn

## Carreer

[edit]

In 1958, she was the founder of the New Art Centre in Sloane Street, London. In 1994, the gallery was relocated to Roche Court, East Winterslow, Wiltshire, and renamed New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery later Roche Court Sculpture Park and Gallery.[3][4][5] She is a trustee of the Roche Court Educational Trust, a charity that promotes appreciation of sculpture and other arts among young people through visits to the park and by outreach.[6][7]

She was on the Council of the Royal College of Art from 1962 until 1973. She is also a lay canon of Salisbury Cathedral.[3]

## Honours

[edit]

Lady Bessborough was awarded an OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours (“for services to the Visual Arts”). She was awarded a CBE in the 2023 New Year Honours (“for services to Art Education and to Salisbury Cathedral”). On being awarded a CBE she commented: “It is wonderful, but it is not just for me. It is for all of us who work here. This is my life and I have been lucky to do something I love.”[8]

A portrait by photographer Anne-Katrin Purkiss is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.[4]

## External links

[edit]

* Website New Art Centre & Roche Court Sculpture Park
* Website Roche Court Educational Trust

## References

[edit]

1. ^ The Roche Court Educational Trust website also mentions FRCA (Fellow of the Royal College of Art).
2. ^ a b "Bessborough, Earl of (I, 1739)". Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
3. ^ a b "Our Trustees". Roche Court Educational Trust. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
4. ^ a b "Madeleine Lola Margaret Ponsonby (Grand), Countess Bessborough". National Portrait Gallery.
5. ^ "About". New Art Centre. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
6. ^ "Roche Court Educational Trust". Retrieved 5 March 2021.
7. ^ "The Roche Court Educational Trust, registered charity no. 4015383". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
8. ^ "New Years Honours list: Lady Madeleine Bessborough to receive CBE". Salisbury Journal. 30 December 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2024.

*[m.]: married