Footnotes

• The sitters' father, Michael Henry Perceval (1779-1829) was the illegitimate son of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, KC (1762–1812), the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. Michael Henry's birth was never legitimised despite his parents' subsequent marriage and he was packed off to a good job in the Colonies in 1810, firstly in Quebec as Inspector of Customs. He married Anne Mary Flower, daughter of Sir Charles Flower, Lord Mayor of London that same year. During the war of 1812, Michael Henry served as Staff Officer and provincial Aide de Camp to Sir George Prévost (1767–1816). He continued to rise through the ranks of the Civil Service, attaining the post of Commissioner for the Port of Quebec by 1826. He and Anne Mary had ten children and lived in Quebec between 1811 and 1828. The Percevals were then scheduled to spend a year in Florence but Michael died during the voyage and Anne decided to return with the children to England. Their sons grew up to serve in the armed forces and most of their daughters married into the aristocracy.
  
  Michael Henry Junior, depicted in the present lot joined the Royal Navy, attaining the rank of Captain. He married Maria Vanneck (d.1903), daughter of the Hon. Gerard Vanneck (1786-1829) and Charlotte Lovelace (d.1875) in 1849.
  
  In 1843, the Percevals' fourth daughter, Mary Jane, married Sir James Matheson (1798-1878), one of the co-founders of the Jardine-Matheson company founded in July 1832. After the East India Company lost its monopoly on trade with China, Jardine-Matheson sent the first private shipments of tea to England in 1834. In January 1839 William Jardine retired, leaving Sir James in charge of the company with his nephew Alexander and Henry Wright as partners. Matheson retired from the Far East in 1842. He purchased the Isle of Lewis for over half a million pounds two years later and built Lewis Castle. He settled on the island with Mary Jane in 1851 and was made a Baronet that same year. Matheson went on to serve as MP for Ashburton between 1843 and 1852 and for Ross and Cromarty between 1852 and 1868. The Mathesons didn't have any children so when James died, the baronetcy became extinct and Mary Jane remained on the Estate, caring for her mother.