The Four Eldest Children of Sir Richard Croft, 6th Bt, c.1803 (oil on canvas)

The Four Eldest Children of Sir Richard Croft, 6th Bt by John James Halls (Colchester 1776 - Hampstead 1853) Four figures of children, from left to right: Archer (1801 - 1865), Frances (1800 - 1877), Thomas ( 1798- 1835) and at the back with book, Herbert (1793 -1803) resting on a bank. The eldest boy, Herbert Croft, (10 February 1793 ¿ 25 August 1803), who wears a dark jacket with a book, died at Eton on 25 August 1803. The portrait is possibly painted posthumously. It is believed that his face was copied from another picture and an unknown person posed for his body; the second son Thomas Elmsley Croft later 7th Bt (1798-1835) in the red coat blowing soap bubbles from clay pipeand holding a delicate china cup, lost a leg at Waterloo; the young girl is Frances Elizabeth Croft (1800-1877) later married Baron Louis-Adolphe-Marie de Chanteau in Lille in 1822; the baby is Archer Denman Croft (1801-1865) later 8th Bt, stretching towards the bubble.