Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt. 1646 - 1723

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Description

Sir Godfrey Kneller
A group portrait of Thomas Hesketh (1690-1735), with his wife, Martha and a son in the grounds of Rufford, Lancashire
oil on canvas
127 by 177cm.; 50 by 70in.

signed l.l: G. Kneller and inscribed l.l.: Thomas Hesketh of Rufford Esq. / son and heir of Thomas Hesketh and / Ann Graham Lord of Hesketh / Rufford Holmes Homeswood / Martholme / Great Harwood Howgh -/ Wickbetton E^{tc. One of the / representatives in parliament / for y^{e Borough of Preston in y^e/}}county of Lancaster a.d. 1725 / married Martha only / daughter of James S^{t Amand Esq. / by Elizabeth daughter of / SIR S^{ir William Juxon of little / Compton in y^{e county/ of Gloster Baronett}}}and inscribed l.r. on the dog's collar: Tho: Hesketh

Provenance

By descent at Rufford Hall where it was photographed in the Dining Room, circa 1910 (see illustration to lot 701)

Literature

Rufford, circa 1910, p.13, hanging in the Dining Room;
EN 1917, p.1, item 4;
Richard Dean, Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire 1999, p.44, detail illustrated

Catalogue Note

The sitter was the eldest son of Thomas Hesketh (1677-1721) and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Graham 1st Bt. of Norton Conyers. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford and between 1722 and 1727 was M.P. for Preston. Described as 'very much a Tory' he was a member of the local Jacobite club. On 10th July 1722 he married Martha, daughter of James St. Amand, a descendant of Bishop Juxon and apothecary of St Paul's, Covent Garden. They had four sons.

Thomas was brought up at Ribbleton Hall, near Preston, but in January 1724 he leased Rufford from Elizabeth, widow of his uncle Robert Hesketh. As well as Rufford the lease included the dilapidated Holmeswood Hall, an early sixteenth century house, which Thomas Hesketh took down and re-erected at Rufford in place of the old east wing. The substantial work on Rufford involved considerable expenditure and when Thomas died aged only 36 he left substantial debts. His son Thomas, born in 1727, inherited the estate and was created a baronet in 1761.