KENNETH MACLEAY RSA (1802-1878) 'Sir Charles William Ross 'J...

Hammer

£240

KENNETH MACLEAY RSA (1802-1878) 'Sir Charles William Ross 'Jackdaw', 20th Laird of Balnagown'

1853, the sitter depicted full-length seated in a Highland landscape, his dog beside him, signed and dated lower right, watercolour, 76cm x 54cm

Note: Sir Charles William Frederick Augustus Lockhart-Ross, 8th Baronet (1812-1883) was the head of Clan Ross and the Laird of Balnagown Castle, Easter Ross, Scotland. He succeeded to the Baronetcy at age 2, following the untimely death of his father Sir Charles Lockhart-Ross (c.1763-1814). He was educated at Eton and Christ Church College Oxford. He married twice, firstly Elizabeth Baillie in 1841 and then Rebecca Sophia Barnes in 1865 with whom he had one son, the inventor and commercial entrepreneur Sir Charles Henry Augustus Frederick Lockhart Ross, 9th Baronet (1872 - 1942), the creator of the innovative and often controversial straight-pull actioned Ross rifle. The 9th Baronet, who at one point was said to be Britain's largest landowner with an estimated 366,000 acres, once attempted to evade the Inland Revenue who attempted to seize Balnagown, by declaring it to be an overseas territory of The United States of America. From the death of the 9th Baronet in 1942, until 1972, the castle was unoccupied and became dilapidated. In 1972, it was purchased by Mohamed Al-Fayed, who began restoration of the house and grounds.