Samuel Bentham

Inscriptionback to top

An early-nineteenth-century ink label removed from the verso inscribed: Samuel Bentham with above and below added in ink,¹ apparently reinforcing older pencil inscriptions: Sir [before Samuel Bentham] [Lady?] Hookers/Brother of Jeremy Bentham/Father of G. Bentham FRS/Pres. Linn. Soc./by Eldridge [sic].

¹ This hand recurs on the label of Jeremy Bentham NPG 3068.

This portraitback to top

A slightly larger, and possibly slightly later, miniature by Edridge is in the Victoria and Albert Musuem.

Referenceback to top

Binyon 1898-1907
L. Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists in the British Museum, 4 vols., 1898-1907.

Physical descriptionback to top

Blue eyes, grey powdered hair, wearing a white neckcloth, and blue coat over a scarlet waistcoat with a pale blue lining; warm ochre background.

Provenanceback to top

According to the inscription: the sitter’s son, George Bentham,¹ whose collections passed to Sir Joseph and Lady Hooker; they sold much Bentham material to the British Museum,² including NPG 3069 in 1897; transferred to the NPG in 1939.

¹ George Bentham (1800-84), botanist, president of the Linnaean Society 1861-74; in 1854 he presented his family collections and books to Kew, where he worked with both Sir Walter and Sir Joseph Hooker.
² Including much Bentham correspondence (Corr. of Jeremy Bentham, III, 1971, pp XVII-XVIII) and see also the painting of 1784 and, for Jeremy Bentham, NPG 3068 and the bronze of c.1825.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for Samuel Bentham