Sir John Latta, Bt                         1867-1946 John was born on 9 May 1867, the son of William Latta and Margaret Allan, in Old Cumnock, Ayr, Scotland. He married Ada May Short in 1896. Sir John Latta, 1st Bart, of Portman Square, was knighted on 9 February 1920. Sir John was born outside Cumnock at Darmalloch farm, and gained his wealth through his shipping company. At his death. on 5 December 1946, Sir John was Chairman of Lawther, Latta & Co. Shipowners and Merchants. The Title became Extinct with his death, as his son Cecil did not survive him. Ada May Short                             1875- Ada was born on 14 May 1875, the daughter of John Young Short and Mary Ada Smart, at Sunderland. Lady Latta is pictured here on 30 May 1923, at one of the peaks of her rise into society. Her husband had been knighted three years previously for his services to the country during the Boer War and the First World War, and she was making use of the Lord Chamberlain's court regulations to present her recently-engaged daughter. In contrast to the simple lines of her daughter's dress with its restrained design which would have drawn attention to her daughter's innocence and youth, Lady Latta's dress was much more heavily embroidered. Lady Latta also wore an extra row of pearls and a Cartier-style sapphire and diamond kokoshnik tiara. A rather severely-posed portrait of Lady Latta from this session was published in The Tatler ten days later. © Russell Harris, Image courtesy of V & A Museum, London I have identified the following children.

A Girl	Born abt 1896		Hampstead, London	Died in infancy
Sybil May	Born abt 1897		Hampstead, London	Married Maj. Philip Alxander Francis Spence
Ada Mary	Born abt 1899		Hampstead, London	Married Maurice Paul Richard Fontaine, Count Henri Urbain Chevreau d'Antraigues
Cecil	Born abt 1903		Hampstead, London	Remained Single

Ada Mary Latta, the younger daughter of the recently ennobled Sir John Latta, a shipping magnate, was presented at the Court on 30 May 1923 by her mother, Lady Latta. Her stunning dress, made by F.I. and L. Wilson of Hanover Square, consisted of a shimmering robe of suspended silver bugles and silver cabuchons falling in soft cascades over an underdress of jade green and a train of jade-green crepe beaute embroidered in silver. It bears some resemblance to the wedding dress worn one year earlier by Lady Mountbatten. The Byzantine style, including the kokoshnik tiara, had been championed most particularly by Queen Marie of Romania who had insisted upon it at her coronation two years previously. The extant negatives of Miss Latta show off the serene composure of an heiress about to be launched into Society. Her studied poses play on the pretence of being unaware of the camera and the pose seen here was published in three newspapers of the time. One year previously, another portrait of her by Lafayette had been published in The Sketch to accompany the announcement of her engagement to Mr Eustace Robb.     In 1924 Miss Latta married Maurice Paul Richard Fontaine, 7th Marquis de Cramayel. After fours years of widowhood, she married, in 1947, Count Henri Urbain Chevreau d'Antraigues © Russell Harris, Image courtesy of V & A Museum, London