Boldini portrait. Copyright: National Portrait Gallery, London.
Anne Jordan's biography of Lady Colin Campbell was published on 1 December 2010.

Love Well the Hour: the Life of Lady Colin Campbell (1857-1911) is the first full biography of this fascinating woman whose life reflects the profound social changes that characterized the late Victorian era.

Lady Colin Campbell became the centre of media attention in 1886 when her husband accused her of adultery with a Duke, a general, a doctor and a fire-chief. The subsequent divorce trial was one of the longest in English legal history.

Born Gertrude Elizabeth Blood, she was intelligent, artistic and beautiful.
In October 1880 she met Lord Colin Campbell, MP and youngest son of the 8th Duke of Argyll, and within three days they were engaged. Despite his family's objections they married the following year. Gertrude was launched into an elevated social circle where she enjoyed the company of royalty, eminent politicians and famous names of the day. But all was not well at home. The marriage broke down and ended up in the dreaded divorce courts. Lord Colin Campbell accused his wife of adultery with four co-respondents and scandalised society with such a suggestion.

After the trial the couple went their separate ways. Gertrude slowly created a new life for herself as a journalist. Although shunned by much of society, her beauty, intelligence and wit were welcome in the more liberal circles of artists and writers, where she mixed with the likes of George Bernard Shaw, Henry James and Whistler.

Today, little is known of Gertrude except for the trial, but she was also a successful journalist and a sportswoman. She influenced other people and her age with her actions and opinions, but she was also fun-loving and mischievous.

One hundred years after her death, Lady Colin Campbell's life is finally given a fair hearing in Love Well the Hour.