Carte-de-visite portrait Mrs Mary Lawley, the Housekeeper at Claremont, in 1871. She is standing with right arm resting on book upon a cabinet, left arm at her side. Mary Lawley was a widow, whose husband was a farmer in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire and she had four children.

The Carte is of interest, as it is possibly an early Carte by (Francis?) Byrne & Co, who had previously worked for another photographic studio, Hills & Saunders, probably in Eton. The verso is printed 'Bryne & Co/ Late with Hills & Saunders, Photographers to The Queen'.

Claremont is a country house, built by Sir John Vanburgh, near Esher, Surrey and was a royal residence from 1816 to about 1900. Princess Charlotte of Wales, daughter of King George IV died there in childbirth. Her husband Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, later King Leopold I of the Belgians lived in the house until his death in 1866. Later Queen Victoria lent the house to the exiled French King Louis-Philippe and his family after the revolutions of 1848. Afterwards the house was given to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, on his marriage to Prince Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, in 1882. The estate was confiscated in 1922 by the British Goverment and the estate was broken up. The house itself became a school, Claremont Fan Court School and the gardens purchased by National Trust.