John ('Fish') Craufurd

1 portrait by Joseph Grozer

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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John ('Fish') Craufurd

by Joseph Grozer, after Sir Joshua Reynolds
mezzotint, (1789)
Reference Collection
NPG D1570

Sitterback to top

  • John ('Fish') Craufurd (circa 1742-1814), Politician; MP for Old Sarum, Renfrewshire and Glasgow Burghs. Sitter in 1 portrait.

Artistsback to top

  • Joseph Grozer (circa 1755-1798), Mezzotint engraver. Artist or producer associated with 29 portraits.
  • Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 1425 portraits, Sitter associated with 40 portraits.

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1789back to top

Current affairs

George III recovers from the previous year's illness. The 'Regency Crisis' and attendant political wrangling between the Tory Prime Minister William Pitt and the pro-Whig Prince of Wales end. Dismissed as a 'bilious attack', George's sickness was in fact the first sign of the mental health problems which led to the Prince of Wales's appointment as Regent in 1811.

Art and science

John Boydell's ambitious new Shakespeare Gallery opens in Pall Mall, displaying works by Britain's leading artists and attempting to combine urban entertainment with the promotion of British history painting.
Philosopher Jeremy Bentham publishes An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, outlining his 'greatest happiness principle'.

International

George Washington is elected first President of the United States.
The French Revolution begins. The storming of the Bastille on the 14 July marks the overthrow of the absolute monarchy in France. The uprising followed the establishment of a governing National Assembly of the people's representatives.

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Mr.E.P.Daly

10 July 2018, 17:57

John Craufurd as well as an MP was later in life a Gentleman, and his personal steward was John Louis Daviniere who was the husband of Dido Elizabeth Belle. Daviniere started working for Craufurd in 1806 as the aging gentleman needed support in his bureaucratic duties. Dido had been deceased 2 years previously and John had their 2 sons to raise whilst being a steward. Craufurd recommended one of them, Charles for the Madras Army, which he joined in 1811. Craufurd died in 1814 but not before leaving
a bequest, 2 in fact, for his valet, John Louis Daviniere - who was in fact his steward and the term was used generically. Dido was raised at Caen Wood House and was the daughter of Sir John Lindsay KB. Reynolds painted Lord Mansfield as he did John Craufurd and I'm thinking the Reynolds painting as being around 1784-5.