Elizabeth, Lady Lewis - Bibsworth House, Broadway, Worcestershire

Elizabeth (1844-1931), nee Eberstadt, was the daughter of German businessman and politician Ferdinand Eberstadt and the second wife of Sir George Lewis (later a Baronet), a preeminent London solicitor. She was a prominent figure among London's artists and thinkers. Oscar Wilde said of her husband: "George Lewis? Brilliant. Formidable. Concerned in every great case in England. Oh, he knows all about us, and he forgives us all."

He also had a cameo appearance in Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes".

Whistler always addressed her affectionately as 'Mrs George', even after her husband's knighthood in 1893, by which time she signed her letters to him 'Betty'.

Their daughters, Kate and Gertie, were painted by Edward Coley Burne-Jones in the 2880s. Indeed, the paintings of Elizabeth and her husband pictured here are by John Singer Sargent (her husband was his solicitor). Sargant's name does crop up quite a bit when researching this book... Lewis was also a solicitor for Oscar Wilde, Henry James and Whistler, among others.

A collection of Elizabeth's letters is held at the Bodleian Museum in Oxford.Among her correspondents are: Sir James Barrie, Sir Henry Irving, Henry James, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde.

As well as letters there is also a fan given to Elizabeth by Wilde which is described in the catalogue: fan made of feather, including a whole small bird, made by Canadian Indians. In a heart-shaped box, covered with decorated paper. It was acquired by Wilde in Canada and given to Elizabeth in 1882. Further insight into the family and their relatiosnhip with the art world can be found here.

Having read about her correspondents, Lewis' biographer's description their Portland Place home comes as no surprise: this house was to be thronged with painters, sculptors, musicians, actors, writers, lawyers, politicians, indeed, to be invited to Lady Lewis' was to enter a social milieu at once fluid and eclectic.... Here the establishment and Bohemia had to embrace - because Elizabeth wanted them to. (Juxon, John: Lewis & Lewis; The Life and Times of a Victorian Solicitor. William Collins Sons & Co., Glasgow 1983).

That of course describes their Portland Place house, but what of Bibsworth? The listing in the address book is 'Bibsworth House, Broadway'. The pretty village of Broadway in Worcestershire was home to an artist and writers' colony, led by Singer Sargent in the 1880s and included people like Henry James.

The only Bibsworth House I can find is a grade 2 listed building which was built in 1904. Using the postcode, this google street view is the best I can do. And I'm not even sure this is the house. It may be a gatehouse to a larger one along that path. Or, as it was built twenty years after the colony began, it may be another house altogether.