MARK OF SEBASTIAN AND JAMES CRESPELL, LONDON, 1770

JAMES LENOX DUTTON
James Lenox Dutton was born James Lenox Naper in 1712 . He was the son of Irish landowner James Naper (d.1718) of Loughcrew House, co. Meath and his third wife Anne, the daughter of Sir Ralph Dutton 1^st Bt. (d.1721) of Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire. In February 1742/3, on the death of James Lenox Naper’s maternal uncle Sir John Dutton 2^nd Bt. of Sherborne Park James succeeded to the sizable Dutton estates. His uncle had not been sure which of his two nephews should become his heir. His eldest sister Mary had married Sir Thomas Reade Bt. of Shipton Court, Oxfordshire and they had a son John.

The convention of time suggested the son of the elder sister was the more likely heir, however, according to a tale recounted in the Connoisseur article on the family published in May 1911 (vol. 30, p. 12), shortly before he died Sir John called the two nephews to his bedside and engaged them in conversation on a number of subjects to gauge their character. He asked both men what they were reading. Reade replied he had no idea of the subject of his book beyond the fact it had a blue cover. In contrast Naper was reading a Latin grammar. Supposedly this settled the choice in Sir John’s mind and the Dutton estates passed to James.

James married twice. His first wife, Catherine Ingoldsby, was the daughter of General Henry Ingoldsby. She bore him a son who pre-deceased his father. Following her death he married Jane Bond (d.1776), the daughter of Christopher Bond and Jane Whorwood. The couple had three sons and six daughters, however, one son and two the daughters died young as recorded on James’s memorial by Richard Westmacott the Elder ( 1747-1808 ) in the church of St Mary Magdalene, Sherborne.
James employed the German born society artist Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) to paint the family in a conversation piece recently acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art. The scene depicts James and his wife Jane in mourning clothes seated beside a card table whilst their eldest son, later the 1^st Baron Sherborne, and his wife play cards. He clearly respected the silver he inherited form his uncle by retaining it rather than having it remade, however, he did ensured it was engraved with his and his wife’s arms. He and his wife both died in 1776. He was succeeded by his son James Dutton, 1st Baron Sherborne (1744-1820).