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"Wilson Speer - apart from bur at TD 24 Apr 1796, I have no more about him except that I believe he was not just an infant and from the Bank of England note, it seems he is a son of a William Speer who died c 1805-1806 whereas William Speer husband of Mary died in 1844.  He is possibly then some sort of cousin.
Bank of England will extract;  Wilson Speer of Park Prospect Westminster, Esquire, died possessed of £200 of these annuities and dying intestate Letters of Administration dated at Doctors Commons the 29th of Apr 1796 were granted to **William Speer, Esq, the natural and lawful father of the said deceased who may dispose of this stock.  Registered 10 May 1796. ( ** refers to a note in the margin - William Speer is dead as appears by Letter of Admon of the goods unadministered of the said Wilson Speer granted at Doctors Commons 19 December 1805 to William Speer Esq the son and administrator.  Registered 2 January 1806)"

Excellent - this must mean Wilson Speer is the brother of William Speer (1764) and son of William's father William Speer (c. 1717 - late Nov 1805, buried 2 Dec 1805 at TD) who also rose to Chief Clerk in the Treasury and married Katherine Wilson.  I have the following summary in my notes:

"William Speer was born on 24 October 1764 and baptised on 6 December at St. Margaret's, Westminster,  the third child of William Sr and Katherine.  Their probable first, Elizabeth Speer born 1758, named after Katherine's sister,  died in 1827 (buried St Martin in the Fields).  The second, their first son named William after his father, was born 18 January 1760, baptised 5 February 1761 and died later that year, being buried on 6 Aug 1761 in St Margaret's.  Honor Katherine Speer, named Honor after Katherine's deceased mother, was born 18 October 1762 and buried 5 June 1763, St Margaret's.  William jr. - the second attempt at an heir named after his father - survived and thrived.  A further son, Francis Townley Speer, was born on 25 August 1771 and buried on 17 October that year."

However, I have not been able to find the birth particulars of Wilson Speer as son of William & Katherine.

According to the rates Valuation List 1880, a Capt Lambert occupied Blandford (not Brandford) Cottage Weston Green owned by Michael Abrahams.  He is probably i/d with Robert Lambert Capt 43rd Light Infantry, 2nd son of Sir John Lambert GCB (1772-1847) 

CAPT Robert LAMBERT (b.25 Oct 1818) married Alice Elizabeth SMITH 30 Jan 1868, and died 4 Aug 1917)
Children:
MAJ Robert LAMBERT (b.17 Sep 1873 d.19 Dec 1955)
married Henrietta Isabella LOWTHER (m.21 May 1898 d.31 Jan 1950)
Alice Mary LAMBERT (d.10 Jun 1939) married Henry Rodolph DE SALIS JP (m.9 May 1893 d.25 Feb 1936 suicide Leamington)
Bessie LAMBERT (b.9 Jun 1875)


Major Robert Lambert born on 17 September 1873 married Henrietta Isabella Lowther, daughter of George William Lowther and Mary Frances Alice Bingham, on 21 May 1898.  He died on 19 December 1955 at age 82.   He was Justice of the Peace (Shropshire), Captain 8th Hus, ret as Honour Maj, served Boer War.   Companion, Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) 1900.

Child of Major Robert Lambert and Henrietta Isabella Lowther
    Alice Winsome Lambert was by her own statement 'the last of the Lambert family' whose papers, deposited in August 1984 by Mrs D Robertson of Llangollen, Clwyd (executor of Miss Lambert), via Shropshire Record Office, are now in the Surrey History Centre, Woking.  I went through them a couple of years ago. There are no photographs of that Capt Robert in the collection. 

Alice Winsome Lambert might have been 'the last' of that line of Lamberts (I have not traced her aunts), stemming from General Sir John Lambert, but the branch of the family stemming from Admiral George Robert lambert, Gen. Sir John's youngest brother, survives as the earlier posts in this thread testify.

Blandford cottage still stands under that name.

I would be most interested to know your part of the Lambert family history.

I've just seen these replies, Isabelle - my notifications don't appear to have been working.

Thanks for the additional info.  Yes, he was in the Irish brigades as a colonel but I did not know of the de la Garotterie connection (intriguing name!).

This is wonderful context for the paintings. I've sent a link to hi-res photos... hope they are helpful and glad that we can add Robert and Catherine's images back into the story of the Lamberts.

I purchased the paintings in 2006 in Baltimore, Maryland from a neighbor/art collector. He was selling some of his collection and we loved the matched set of paintings and the story of the Lamberts (as was relayed to us at the time). According to our neighbor, he bought them in England from a broker who got them at an estate sale.

Excellent.  I haven't received the links yet.  In case of error, I will re-send by pm my email address.

PS it might help in your researches on the artist to know that Capt. Robert Alexander Lambert died 21 December 1805 - the Gentleman's magazine has it right, other sources including the peerage and the Oxford DNB entries on his sons have it wrong.

I see from the national Portrait Gallery: " In 1804, Jackson moved to London. He began studying at the Royal Academy schools and by 1807 had established himself as a portrait painter"

The possible date of the paintings therefore, if we have the subjects and the artist right, would be 1804-1805.   Capt. L (as his wife calls him in her diaries) would have been 72-73 and Catherine 52-53, which seems to fit with the aspect of the subjects in your paintings.

For what it may be worth, I have swiftly searched Catherine's diaries for any mention of Jackson's early patrons Phipps, Beaumont and Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, on the off-chance there might have been an even earlier acquaintance with the young Jackson, but no trace of any of them (though a couple of years later Catherine was a friend in Brighton of Lady Julia Howard, wife of Earl of Suffolk)

There is no mention of Jackson in the diaries.  There is a diary for 1804, but there is no diary for 1805 (I suspect because of the trauma of Capt L's sudden death Catherine or a descendant may have destroyed it; there is no diary for the year in which her son Capt Henry Lambert RN was killed, either).  So - I'm speculating that the portrait of Capt L. was done in 1805, the year he died.