Thomas Hesketh, MP (1698-1735), his wife Martha St Amand, Mrs Thomas Hesketh (d.1782) and a...

studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646/9 - London 1723). Oil painting on canvas, Thomas Hesketh, MP (1698-1735), his wife Martha St Amand, Mrs Thomas Hesketh (d.1782) and a Son, from the studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646/9 - London 1723), signed lower left: G. Kneller and inscribed lower left: 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 Etc. One of the / representatives in parliament / for ye Borough of Preston in ye/ county of Lancaster a.d. 1725 / married Martha only / daughter of James St Amand Esq. / by Elizabeth daughter of / SIR Sir William Juxon of little / Compton in ye county/ of Gloster Baronett and inscribed lower right on the dog's collar: Tho: Hesketh. 1723. 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 MP 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 descendent of Bishop Juxon, an apothecary of St Paul's, Covent Garden. They had at least four sons, only two of which survived infancy. 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, proabably not the one depicted here as born four years after the date iof the painting, inherited the estate and was created a baronet in 1761. Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire (Accredited Museum)