Letitia Hall
1863

[The portrait does not appear in any of the twelve volumes of the Silvy daybooks in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery in London. The sitting probably took place between July 1863 and June 1864, the period covered by the missing volume of the daybooks.]

[An inked inscription verso in a period hand identifies the sitter and gives the date. The likiest match I can find for a fuller identification is Laetitia Hall, daughter of shipbuilder Michael Hall and his wife Laetitia Sabine Hall. The couple appear on the 1861 census living at 22 Ladbroke Square in London, one mile west of Silvy's studio, with their five children and five servants. At the time of the census the younger Laeitia was 12 years old and her mother was 35, so when this portrait was taken in 1863 the mother would have been 37 and the daughter 14.]