Overall: 46cm (18in) x 34cm (14in)
Full length portrait photograph of Sir Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig of Ypres (1861-1928) by Bassano in Field Marshal’s full dress uniform with baton in his right hand. The image printed with facsimile ‘Haig F.M.’ signature lower right. The lower mount autographed and signed by Dorothy, Dowager Countess Haig ‘In remembrance of my husband, Dorothy Haig 1928’. Contained in period glazed frame applied with a silver an arched plaque inscribed: ‘Presented by Countess Haig to Commander H.M.L. Scott, R.N. to remain in H.M.S. Spey whilst the ship remains in full commission.’ HMS Spey was a P class Sloop, launched in 1916 and broken up in 1937.
In August 1929 a party of sailors from HMS Spey led a march past of veterans on the Ross of Mull after Lady Haig opened a village hall to serve as the headquarters of a newly formed branch of the British Legion. Dorothy Haig was tireless campaigner for veterans and did much to continue the British Legion’s work begun by her husband. She met Douglas Haig in 1904 when he was the youngest major-general in the Army, and was staying as a guest of King Edward VII at Windsor Castle. A whirlwind courtship ensued. Dorothy was the daughter of the 3rd Baron Vivian, British ambassador to Italy, and his wife Louisa Alice Duff. Dorothy was a Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria from 1899 and afterwards to Queen Alexandra. Haig and Dorothy were married in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace in July 1905. During the First World War Countess Haig worked with the Red Cross, and was appointed a Lady of Grace of St John of Jerusalem. Her biography of her husband, ‘The Man I Knew’, was published in 1936.