The Honourable Mr Trefusis
(1834-1904)
[The Honourable Mrs Trefusis and the Honourable Miss Trefusis both appear in Volume 1 of the Silvy daybooks in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery, but there is no record of the Honourable Mr Trefusis's visit to the studio.]
This is almost certainly one of the sons of Charles Trefusis (1791-1866), who in 1832 succeeded his elder brother and became 19th Baron Clinton. In 1831 Charles had married Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Kerr, daughter of William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian. Their marriage produced four sons and seven daughters.
Judging by other portraits, the likeliest match for a fuller identification is Lord Clinton's eldest son, Charles Henry Rolle Trefusis (later Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis). Born on 2 March 1834, he was styled The Honourable Charles Trefusis between 1834 and 1866, when he succeeded his father and became 20th Baron Clinton. From 1857 until his elevation to the House of Lords in 1866 he was the MP (Conservative) for North Devon. He later served as Under-Secretary of State for India from July 1867 to December 1868 in the successive administrations of Lord Derby and Benjamin Disraeli.
He married firstly in 1858 at Fasque, near Fettercairn in Scotland, his first cousin Harriet Williamina Hepburn-Forbes, daughter and heiress of Sir John Stuart Hepburn-Forbes, 8th Baronet of Fettercairn and Pitsligo, Scotland. In 1867, in accordance with his father-in-law's will, he assumed by Royal Licence the additional surnames and arms of Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes.
After the death of his first wife in 1869, he married, secondly, in 1875 Margaret Walrond, daughter of Sir John Walrond, 1st Baronet, of Bradfield House, Uffculme, Devon.
His first marriage produced five children; his second produced a further seven children.
In later life, Lord Clinton owned estates in England of 18,135 acres, of which 14,431 were in Devon, worth £23,246 per annum, and in Scotland 16,655 acres worth £14,230 per annum.
Lord Clinton died, aged 70, of heart failure in Cairo on 29 March 1904, aged 70, where he had gone for the sake of his health. He was buried at Huish Church in Devon, which he had rebuilt in memory of his first wife Harriet. He left an estate valued at £27,361.