This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Belfast, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to the City of Belfast, Northern Ireland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.BelfastWikipedia:WikiProject BelfastTemplate:WikiProject BelfastBelfast-related articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ireland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Ireland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.IrelandWikipedia:WikiProject IrelandTemplate:WikiProject IrelandIreland articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Christianity, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Christianity on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ChristianityWikipedia:WikiProject ChristianityTemplate:WikiProject ChristianityChristianity articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Sexology and sexuality, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of human sexuality on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Sexology and sexualityWikipedia:WikiProject Sexology and sexualityTemplate:WikiProject Sexology and sexualitySexology and sexuality articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women's History, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Women's history and related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Women's HistoryWikipedia:WikiProject Women's HistoryTemplate:WikiProject Women's HistoryWomen's History articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Northern Ireland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Northern Ireland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Northern IrelandWikipedia:WikiProject Northern IrelandTemplate:WikiProject Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland-related articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Nepal, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Nepal-related topics. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page and add your name to the member's list.NepalWikipedia:WikiProject NepalTemplate:WikiProject NepalNepal articles
Speedy deletion is only for topics that do not have any attempt to establish notability. This person was famous and featured in many books, so clearly does not meet speedy deletion criteria. On top of that, the person who added the tag i a new editor account created today with an extremely bizarre editing history consisting of a few minor typo edits but primarily jumping in out of the blue to AFD arguments and then going around and tagging pretty much every article I created with ridiculous tags that clearly have no justification, purely out of spite. Not only should this article not be deleted, the person who tagged it should be blocked as it is a harassment-only account, probably a sockpuppet of someone involved in the [[Tim Cotterill page that I listed for deletion. DreamGuy (talk) 18:30, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have nominated this article for deletion because it gives no indication of nobility, and has no references. Further, it has been asserted way back in November 2006 (on this page) that the facts contained in the article are inacurate ("Laura Bell was from Belfast!!! She was NOT English.") with no attempted to correct or reference the disputed fact. The creator claim of bad faith is ludicrous. I did not tag all of his articles, only those that were deserving. DreamGuy, who is protecting his articles, removed tags placed without addressing the legitimate concerns. If not Speedy Delete, then should go to AfD. Wordssuch (talk) 19:05, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Notability and references are both already present in the article. Speedy delete was properly declined, and an admin has warned you that your actions could get you banned. Enough said there, I think. DreamGuy (talk) 19:19, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
2008 book about her: Laura Bell Courtesan and Lay Preacher by Anthony S. Drennan [5] (not consulted)
Likenesses
The Wallace Collection has a miniature that may be of Thistlethwayte (the ODNB says "Laura Bell?") [6]
Portraits are also known by Richard Buckner[7] (image also appeared on the cover of Drennan's 2008 book [8]); and by A.B. Clayton, according to the ODNB. (? = Alfred Bowyer Clayton (Q48694657), artist of engravings of the Liverpool and Manchester railway ???)
Another picture from the blog at [9] is not in fact Laura, but Elizabeth Catherine Thistlethwayte (nee Packenham) (cf [10][11]), who married Thomas Thistlethwayte (familysearch / the peerage), a half-brother of Laura's husband from his father's previous marriage.
Vicinity of Woodbine Cottage, Thistlethwayte's last house, as presented on various maps between 1750 and 2000. (cf also Layers of London). I like the idea that it was apparently "still large enough to support her pet deer" [12][13]
I was initially a bit suspicious about whether this was indeed by Thistlethwayte, given that the ODNB seemed somewhat circumspect about such abilities, saying only that she may have had "some hand" in the modelling of one of the lions in Trafalgar Square. But no, it seems this scultpure was indeed something she had set her hand to. West (2006) [14] cites Gladstone writing of Mrs Gladstone not being very happy when informed in January 1875 by him of his "sitting for Mrs. Thistlethwayte, ‘at great inconvenience’ to himself, for a bust in clay"; nor his further explanation of "the latter's talent for sculpture, the admiration of the piece by others and the creator's plan to present the bust to Catherine and to donate the money from casts to her charitable homes." It is not clear that Mrs. G. was mollified to learn that "that clay was destroyed and she made the present bust without my sitting at all".
A supposed depiction of Laura as a nun
Tagishsimon and I were intrigued by Horace Wyndham's digression at some length about a painting of her in the likeness of a nun (p.36), "which an enterprising manufacturer of boot polish adapted for advertising purposes" (p.35); from there the story also made its way into J.F. Burn's 1978 talk on Laura for the Lisburn Historical Society [15]; and the title of a 2004 piece for History Ireland magazine [16] ("'The Nun's' story"). Could more be found out about it ?
The "advertising" nun would seem to be a reference to the "Nun Nicer" image and slogan used to promote Cherry Blossom soap from 1884 by John Gosnell & Co (see eg examples at [17]). Although this firm and this product in fact is no relation to the famous Cherry Blossom boot polish made by Charles and Dan Manson in Chiswick from 1903 (history at eg [18]), the names may have been similar enough for Wyndham writing in 1929 to have confused them.
Wyndham is a bit cagey about who the artist was, that supposedly painted Laura, and whose work the advertising image was presumably based on. Burns (1979) says it is a famous portrait, he thinks by Millais. One famous picture by Millais involving a nun would be "The Vale of Rest", 1858/1862, (see commons image). But according to this piece, [19] (last para) the nun's head in that work was in fact repainted in 1862 after a "Miss Lane". And in any case, is it particularly close to the "Cherry Blossom" image?
.svg){kind=small}
