Lot 1611 , James McArdell after Sir Joshua Reynolds, mezzotint, 'Portrait of John Earl of Rothes, Lord Leslie and Bambreigh..', 1763, sheet overall 50.5 x 36cm

James McArdell after Sir Joshua Reynolds, mezzotint, 'Portrait of John Earl of Rothes, Lord Leslie and Bambreigh..', 1763, sheet overall 50.5 x 36cm
£100-150
General John Leslie, 10th Earl of Rothes KT (1698 – 10 December 1767) was a senior British Army officer who became Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Irish Army between 1758 and 1767.
The earls of Rothes were a major landowning family in central Fife who had risen to prominence in the Restoration period and traditionally held the hereditary sheriffdom of the county. The 10th Earl had a successful military career, seeing his first service alongside his father fighting for the Hanoverians during the Jacobite Rising of 1715. He succeeded his father in 1722, assuming his post as governor of Stirling Castle and the following year was elected as a Representative Peer for the first time.
In 1732, Rothes was appointed commander of the 25th Regiment of Foot and was promoted to Brigadier-General in 1739, Major-General in 1743, and Lieutenant-General in 1747. He fought at Dettingen and lead the first cavalry charge at Rocoux in October 1745 as colonel of the 2nd Troup of Horse Grenadier Guards. From 1751, the remainder of Rothes’ military career was chiefly in Ireland where he was made governor of Duncannon Fort in 1754, an Irish Privy Councillor in 1756, and Commander of the Forces in 1758.
The earl was re-elected as a Representative Peer in 1727, 1747, 1754 and 1761, and appointed a Knight of the Thistle in March 1753. He rebuilt the family seat at Leslie House, Fife, after substantial damage by fire, and died there in 1767.

Sold for £320