Lot 74: Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge (1737-1814), wearing blue coat with white facings edged with gold, white waistcoat, frilled chemise and black stock, his white hair tied with black ribbon

Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge (1737-1814), wearing blue coat with white facings edged with gold, white waistcoat, frilled chemise and black stock, his white hair tied with black ribbon. Watercolour on ivory, gold frame, the reverse glazed to reveal gilt-metal monogram, SDL, on blue glass. Oval, 65mm (2 9/16in) high

Another version of the present lot by Philip Jean realised £15,000 at Sotheby's, London, Early British Drawings, Watercolours and Portrait Miniatures on 9 July 2009, lot 100. A further version by Jean, portraying Lutwidge wearing the two stars of a Vice-Admiral on his right epaulette is held by the Royal Museums of Greenwich (inv.no. MNT0132). The present lot would appear to pre-date the introduction of the new naval uniform in June 1795 (the first with epaulettes). Skeffington Lutwidge was the seventh son of Thomas and Lucy Lutwidge of Holmrook Hall, Whitehaven in Cumbria. His father was a notable figure in the tobacco trade. Having joined the Royal Navy at a young age, Lutwidge served as Captain aboard HMS 'Carcass' on an expedition to the North Pole in 1773. A young Horatio Nelson, then a fifteen year old Midshipman, served under him on this expedition. During this voyage, Nelson famously ran away from the ship and attempted to shoot a polar bear. His gun however failed to fire and he had to be saved by the shot of a fellow seaman. When Lutwidge reprimanded him, Nelson is said to have replied, "Sir, I wished to kill the bear that I might carry the skin to my father". Unimpressed, Lutwidge, sentenced Nelson to 24 hours below deck. Later in his career, Lutwidge was captured unwounded by the Spanish during the Peninsular Wars and spent three years as a prisoner of war. He played active roles at sea during the War of American Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars, during which time he encountered an ever courageous Nelson progressing through the ranks. The day that news of Trafalgar broke in England, Lutwidge was promoted to Admiral of the White. He died an Admiral of the Red on 16 August 1814, aged 78 at his childhood home of Holmrook Hall. He is buried with his wife, Catherine, who predeceased him, at St Paul's in Irton.