Fletcher Read of Logie

[Gordon163]

Hi,

There is a portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland of Fletcher Read of Logie.

I think that he may be the son of Alexander Read and Ann Fletcher (1735 - ); the mother being the sister of Sir Robert Fletcher (1736 - 1776) of Ballinshoe, near Kirriemuir.

Fletcher Read was born in Dundee in 1758 and appears to have married Jane Scott in 1793 at St Mary's Newington, Lambeth, Surrey. He was buried in February 1807, at St George, Hanover Square, Westminster, Middlesex. An Ancestry Family Tree suggests that he died at Shepperton, Middlesex in 1807. There was a Margaret Read baptised at St James', Piccadilly, Middlesex on 29th Sep 1801 - the record on FindMyPast does not give the parents' names, alas. So, this may, or may not, be his daughter.

Does anyone know what might have caused Fletcher Read to have his portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland, beyond his connection with the Fletcher family of Ballinshoe, please?

Thanks,

Gordon   

[GR2]

I see the picture is stored in their print room and was acquired in the early 1950s. The artist is unknown. It may have come as part of a larger acquisition or been acquired as an example of a particular artistic technique, rather than specifically because of who the subject was. If he had been considered an important personage, it is more likely that the picture would have ended up in the National Portrait Gallery.

[Gordon163]

Thanks,

Good point!

I'll bear that in mind.

Gordon

[Forfarian]

He was apprenticed in 1791 in London - surely he was rather old to be entering an apprenticeship at 32 years old?

Captain Alexander Read of Logie was buried in the Howff in Dundee in 1789.

Mrs Fletcher Read, presumably his widow, seems to have been living in Dundee in 1809.

The NRS has at least two relevant documents, and there are a Testament Dative and Inventory. The former should at least clarify when and where he died.

[Gordon163]

Many thanks for this very interesting information.

The London Archives say that people did start apprenticeships at quite varying ages, depending on the trade.

Gordon

[hanes teulu]

Hi,

There is a portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland of Fletcher Read of Logie.

I think that he may be the son of Alexander Read and Ann Fletcher (1735 - ); the mother being the sister of Sir Robert Fletcher (1736 - 1776) of Ballinshoe, near Kirriemuir.

Fletcher Read was born in Dundee in 1758 and appears to have married Jane Scott in 1793 at St Mary's Newington, Lambeth, Surrey. He was buried in February 1807, at St George, Hanover Square, Westminster, Middlesex. An Ancestry Family Tree suggests that he died at Shepperton, Middlesex in 1807. There was a Margaret Read baptised at St James', Piccadilly, Middlesex on 29th Sep 1801 - the record on FindMyPast does not give the parents' names, alas. So, this may, or may not, be his daughter.

Does anyone know what might have caused Fletcher Read to have his portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland, beyond his connection with the Fletcher family of Ballinshoe, please?

Thanks,

Gordon

This has a Shepperton link -

"The Britannic Magazine; or entertaining repository of heroic adventures & memorable exploits.
Supplementary chronicle for 1806-7" - printed London.

[hanes teulu]

Hi,

There is a portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland of Fletcher Read of Logie.

I think that he may be the son of Alexander Read and Ann Fletcher (1735 - ); the mother being the sister of Sir Robert Fletcher (1736 - 1776) of Ballinshoe, near Kirriemuir.

Fletcher Read was born in Dundee in 1758 and appears to have married Jane Scott in 1793 at St Mary's Newington, Lambeth, Surrey. He was buried in February 1807, at St George, Hanover Square, Westminster, Middlesex. An Ancestry Family Tree suggests that he died at Shepperton, Middlesex in 1807. There was a Margaret Read baptised at St James', Piccadilly, Middlesex on 29th Sep 1801 - the record on FindMyPast does not give the parents' names, alas. So, this may, or may not, be his daughter.

Does anyone know what might have caused Fletcher Read to have his portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland, beyond his connection with the Fletcher family of Ballinshoe, please?

Thanks,

Gordon

Perhaps it was for services to the "Noble Art"? Here he is having a flutter -
Mirror of the Times, 8 May 1802

[hanes teulu]

Hi,

There is a portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland of Fletcher Read of Logie.

I think that he may be the son of Alexander Read and Ann Fletcher (1735 - ); the mother being the sister of Sir Robert Fletcher (1736 - 1776) of Ballinshoe, near Kirriemuir.

Fletcher Read was born in Dundee in 1758 and appears to have married Jane Scott in 1793 at St Mary's Newington, Lambeth, Surrey. He was buried in February 1807, at St George, Hanover Square, Westminster, Middlesex. An Ancestry Family Tree suggests that he died at Shepperton, Middlesex in 1807. There was a Margaret Read baptised at St James', Piccadilly, Middlesex on 29th Sep 1801 - the record on FindMyPast does not give the parents' names, alas. So, this may, or may not, be his daughter.

Does anyone know what might have caused Fletcher Read to have his portrait in the National Gallery of Scotland, beyond his connection with the Fletcher family of Ballinshoe, please?

Thanks,

Gordon

If he is "your" Fletcher some useful bio info -

[hanes teulu]

Re. the fight between the Game Chicken (Henry "Hen" Pearce) and Jem Belcher (post #6), on 6 December 1805 Pearce defeated Belcher in a championship decider.

The fight was reported round by round (17 rounds) in the Morning Herald, 9 Dec 1805, and finishes "Amongst the principal losers are Messrs Mellish, Fletcher Read, &c, &c".

I think he cut a bit of a figure around town.