The young girl in this portrait is likely to be Aileen Beatrice Woodroffe (1890-1985), who would have been aged 12 at the time it was painted. She lived with her parents and elder sister, Vera, in a large house in Kensington. During the First World War both sisters served as Army Volunteer Aid Detachments (VADs) in hospitals near the front line in France.
In later life she moved to Abbey House, Witchampton, Dorset. After Aileen’s death, the contents, including this painting, were sold in a major house sale by Sotheby’s on 19 May 1986. The Woodroffe sisters also bequeathed an impressive collection of art to eight British museums including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and their letters, written as VADs during the First World War, are with the Imperial War Museum, London.
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