‘The Charmingest Man’

Wearing a full-bottomed wig and blue robe, this distinguished-looking gentleman is identified by an inscription on the reverse as Andrew Stone Esq. painted ‘when with the king in 1755’.

Andrew Stone (1703-1773) was the eldest son of a London goldsmith and eminent banker. He was well-educated and at the outset of a long career became private secretary to the Duke of Newcastle who described him as ‘the charmingest man’. He then held various influential posts within government including Keeper of the State Paper Office, Secretary of Barbados and Registrar of Chancery in Jamaica. Closer to home he was a tutor and later secretary to Prince George, afterwards King George III, before being appointed treasurer to Queen Charlotte. He was a Member of Parliament from 1741 to 1761.

In his personal life, Stone married Hannah Mauvillan in 1743 and with her had one son. Stone died at his home in Privy Garden, Whitehall in 1773 and is buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey along with his wife and son who was just twelve when he died.

The portrait is set in a narrow gold frame that is glazed on the reverse to show an inscription that has been partially over-written at some point and so is tricky to read – ‘when with / the King in 1755 / Andrew Stone Esq / in a Cab?? / from Rosbreux? / to Mrs Stone? / Privy Garden’.