Sir Oswald Birley

Lady Doreen Knatchbull, as she was when this elegant portrait was painted, was the daughter of the Marquess of Sligo, the wife of the Hon. Michael Knatchbull (later 5th Lord Brabourne), and mother of two young sons, Michael and John. She was one of four children born to Lord Sligo and his wife Agatha Hodgson: her brother Ulrick, and two sisters who would become The Countess Stanhope and Mrs Moyra Campbell. After their marriage the Knatchbulls moved to Mersham le Hatch taking over the running of the estate and modernising the house. This is celebrated in the Country Life article by Avray Tipping published in August 1925. Here for the first time in print the achievements of the family and their patronage of Robert Adam and Chippendale are described in depth and photographed. In typical fashion though the author and photographer rearranged the furniture to meet with their idea of how Adam might have imagined it. Family photographs show it as it was. In the drawing room this fine portrait of the chatelaine presided over the room with its comfortable furniture and vitrines of porcelain. 

In 1933 Lady Brabourne accompanied her husband to India. When he was made Governor of Bengal she set up the Lady Brabourne College in Calcutta which was the first college for Muslim women in the city. This was to counter the discrimination against Muslims that was rife at Bethune College. She like her husband was awarded the Star of India. Following his death she returned to England overseeing the Mersham estate. Latterly she lived in London until her tragic death in Ireland in 1979.