Rosemary Baird

Rosemary Baird FSA was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge and, as a postgraduate, at St Anne’s College, Oxford and the Ecole du Louvre in Paris. She worked as a lecturer in art and architectural history and as a research consultant in the Dept of British Paintings at Sotheby’s before becoming the Curator of the Goodwood Collection (1996-2009). In this role she was also the historical adviser and organiser for the restoration of Goodwood House. She is now the Curator Emeritus and continues to write articles.

Mistress of the House: Great Ladies and Grand Houses 1670-1830 tells the stories of remarkable women who built, decorated and organised some of England and Scotland’s greatest houses in the long eighteenth century. It looks at their upbringing, education and accomplishments, at how they met their husbands, at their obligations once they were married, and at their taste. It gives an insight into their everyday lives and the patterns of their year in London and the country. The book was in the Top Ten of the London Evening Standard and of Living History in the autumn of 2003.

Latest book: GOODWOOD: ART AND ARCHITECTURE, SPORT AND FAMILY

Rosemary Baird - Goodwood Goodwood: Art and Architecture, Sport and Family, provides a completely newly researched history of Goodwood House and its art collection, and of the family of the Dukes of Richmond, Lennox, Gordon and Aubigny. It tells of their royal origins as descendants of King Charles II, and of their ancestry in Scotland and France, focusing in particular on the art collecting and building of the 2nd and 3rd Dukes in the long eighteenth century. It also looks at the history of the many different sports on the estate, for which it is now so famous.

Bibliography:

GOODWOOD: ART AND ARCHITECTURE, SPORT AND FAMILY (Frances Lincoln, 2007); MISTRESS OF THE HOUSE: GREAT LADIES AND GRAND HOUSES 1670-1830 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003).