Viewing page 11 of 84

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

WHEATLEY, Francis R.A.    1747-1801
[[underlined]]Portraits of the Winstanley Wood Family[[/underlined]]     A 704
A Pair
i. Portraits of Ralph Winstanley Wood, 
Esq., of Pierrepont Place, Frensham, Surrey, and his son, William Warren
28 x 35

Mr. Wood, in scarlet hunting coat, buff breeches and high boots, with a hunting crop and a glove in his gloved right hand, is seated on a bank beneath a tall tree, his hat beside him; he has his arm round his little son, William Warren, who stands at his left side, in a lavender-coloured suit with broad white fichu, holding his hat in his left hand. Woodland scenery in the background.
Ralph Winstanley Wood, son of William Winstanley Wood of Wigan, Lancashire, was born 9th October 1745. He had a romantic life, for, at an early age, he ran away from school and enlisted in the "Saucy Greens". Subsequently he took a commission in the 8th Hussars and embarked for India, meeting on board ship his future wife, Mary Margaretta Pearce. He met and became friends with Warren Hastings who persuaded him to leave the army, when he became a salt agent and made a large fortune. He had four children, the above mentioned William Warren to whom Warren Hastings stood godfather, and three daughters. In 1785, he purchased Pierrepont Place, which, however, was sold when he lost his fortune on his son-in-law's (Mr. Taylor) firm, Bocham, Taylor and Company going bankrupt; the estate, however,