My husband and I have enquiring minds and a wide range of interests. Whether we are on holidays or just out for a day, our rule is that we stop for antique shops, flea-markets, car boot sales and second hand book shops. You never know what you will find.
Ten days ago, while driving back to Dublin from the Hook Peninsula in Co. Wexford we followed a sign for antiques, salvage and bric-à-brac down a side road, onto an even smaller road and finally up a leafy country lane to a farm where a wealth of curiosities were displayed higgledy-piggledy in the downstairs rooms and the yard. That is where I found the drawing above—a very speaking likeness of a Georgian gentleman. Turning it over, I found this inscription written in what looked like chalk on a blackboard.
Ten days ago, while driving back to Dublin from the Hook Peninsula in Co. Wexford we followed a sign for antiques, salvage and bric-à-brac down a side road, onto an even smaller road and finally up a leafy country lane to a farm where a wealth of curiosities were displayed higgledy-piggledy in the downstairs rooms and the yard. That is where I found the drawing above—a very speaking likeness of a Georgian gentleman. Turning it over, I found this inscription written in what looked like chalk on a blackboard.
Back at home, I googled his lordship and here is where it became really interesting. The Earldom of Landaff was indeed created for Francis Matthew in 1797. According to Burke’s Peerage of 1830, Francis was married three times; first on 6 September 1764 to Ellis or Elisha Smythe then to Catherine, second daughter of the first Earl of Massereene. Catherine died without issue in 1796 and Francis's third wife, the unnamed daughter of Jeremiah Coghlan esq did not bear him any sons. He died on the 30th July 1806 and was succeeded by Francis James, his eldest son by Elisha. Francis James died without issue in 1833. His two younger brothers predeceased him, there were no sons from his father’s second and third marriages and the title became extinct although the lands passed to Francis James’s sister Lady Elisha.
So who was 'my' Arnold Nesbit? Did he ever exist? In 1898, one Arnold Harris Mathew arrived on the scene, claiming he was the fourth ‘de jure Earl of Landaff’, as the grandson of Arnold Nesbit who, he said, was the son of Francis and Elisha, born a skimpy five and a half months after their wedding. According to Arnold Harris, Arnold Nesbit's birth was concealed due to these shameful circumstances. He was raised by a maternal uncle of his father and later went to India and died there. Arnold Harris gives the place of death as Chandernagore and the place of burial as Chinsurah.
Doubly intrigued, I carefully removed the blackboard back of the picture to reveal this, clearly the source of the blackboard inscription and the reason for the misspellings in it.
So who was 'my' Arnold Nesbit? Did he ever exist? In 1898, one Arnold Harris Mathew arrived on the scene, claiming he was the fourth ‘de jure Earl of Landaff’, as the grandson of Arnold Nesbit who, he said, was the son of Francis and Elisha, born a skimpy five and a half months after their wedding. According to Arnold Harris, Arnold Nesbit's birth was concealed due to these shameful circumstances. He was raised by a maternal uncle of his father and later went to India and died there. Arnold Harris gives the place of death as Chandernagore and the place of burial as Chinsurah.
Doubly intrigued, I carefully removed the blackboard back of the picture to reveal this, clearly the source of the blackboard inscription and the reason for the misspellings in it.
The next step was to see if there was any further information on the portrait itself. I was afraid I would damage the backing if I tried to open it myself and took the framed picture down to our local framers, appealing for help with some detective work. They kindly obliged, but their efforts led to no new discovery and I am left wondering who the handsome man in the portrait was and why some unknown person identified him as Arnold Nesbit. Any thoughts?
