Portrait of James Edmonstone Buchanan, Ensign of the 39th Regiment of Foot

NOTES:

[1] The label accompanying the miniature states, “Your Uncle,” implying the miniature was given to Buchanan’s niece or nephew. His brothers, Alexander and Thomas, were his only siblings to have children.

[2] Alexander had one son, Alexander (II), and a daughter, “Miss Edmondstoune.” Thomas had four children: John (he succeeded the Powis estate in 1857 when his cousin, Miss Edmondstoune, died), Ralph Abercromby (d. unmarried 1855), James John Abercromby (d. young), and Alexander (d. without issue 1855). See Sir Bernard Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Harrison and Sons, 1882), 216. John Buchanan of Powis, therefore, was the only child of Thomas to have children. Alexander II had a daughter named Catherine Elizabeth Grace Buchanan. She married John Baillie Buchanan-Baillie-Hamilton, or John Baillie Baille-Hamilton, and they had eight children. A Major W.S. Baillie-Hamilton sold miniatures at Sotheby’s on November 30, 1953 and the catalogue is located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. There are no lots related to this miniature and the connection between these two Baillie-Hamilton families remains unclear.

[3] “The principal owners of The Grange, 1664–present [. . .] Lewis Charles Wallach, born 1871, purchased property 1934, died 1964;” Christopher Currie in “Archaeological Recording at The Grange, Northington, Hampshire” (Hampshire, CKC Archaeology, 2001), 36. “Wallach, Eileen [. . .] The Grange, Northington, Alresford, Hampshire, Wife of Lewis Charles Wallach. 12 September, 1944 [Died],” quoted from “Notices Under the Trustee Act, 1925 S. 27,” The London Gazette, no. 38614 (May 17, 1949): 2457. “The house was owned by Lewis Wallach, who used it to display his collection of antiques and paintings;” Jane Geddes, “The Grange, Northington,” Architectural History 26 (1983): 35.

[4] “A Young Officer, full face, in red uniform with green facings, cloud and sky background, oval, 3in., fitted case.” The annotated catalogue for this sale is located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Miller Nichols Library. The annotations are most likely by Mr. or Mrs. Starr. The other miniature included in lot 58 is also in the collection, see F58-60/116. “£20” is written in pencil and underlined in pen to the left of the lot. Leggatt bought the miniature for £20. The sitter, James Edmonstone Buchanan, has a family member whose portrait miniature is also located in this sale. Catherine Abercromby (Buchanan’s sister-in-law) had a cousin named John James Edmonstone, who was painted by John Barry, see lot 66. It is possible L.C. Wallach acquired these two miniatures together. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.