Circle of Thomas Hudson

By descent in the family of the sitter to Comm. Robert Orme Orme-Webb, R.N.;
With Ehrich Galleries, New York, by 1930;
Their sale, New York, American Art Association/Anderson Galleries, Inc., April 18-19, 1934, lot 144 (as John Singleton Copley), for $2,600 to
Clarence Dillon;
Thence by descent to his daughter, Dorothy Dillon Eweson. 

Buffalo, N.Y., Albright Art Gallery, 1928;
Pittsburgh, Pa., Carnegie Institute, Exhibition of Paintings by Old Masters, April 10-30, 1930 (as John Singleton Copley);
St. Louis, Mo., City Art Museum, Exhibition of National Portraiture, November 1930, no. 7 (as John Singleton Copley);
Norfolk, Va., Norfolk Museum, 1933.

Orme was an Ensign in the 34th Foot when he transferred to the Coldstream Guards in 1745.  He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1751.  He served as aide-de-camp under General Braddock in America in 1755 and held the temporary rank of Captain.  He was wounded when Braddock was killed by the French in the attack on Fort Duquesne (near Pittsburgh) and returned to England.  He resigned from the army in 1756 and married Audrey, only daughter of Charles, 3rd Viscount Townshend.  He died on June 17, 1790.

A full-length portrait of Captain Robert Orme by Sir Joshua Reynolds, signed and dated 1756, is in the National Gallery, London.