In 2007 I bought at auction a pair of old portraits of Mr & Mrs John Cuthbert, painted around 1700.  I would be very interested if anyone on the internet can provide any information or a guess as to who these people were.  My interest is in my ancestor Arthur Cuthbert (1734?-1788) who was a very wealthy man but I have no knowledge of who his parents or grandparents were.  Could Mr & Mrs John Cuthbert be the grandparents of Arthur?

I have done a bit of searching on the internet and have found a few other Cuthberts of interest.

There was a John Cuthbert of Castle Hill in Scotland.  He was born around 1668 and married Jane Hay ( Daughter of Rev. Wm. Hay, Bishop of Murray).  Their children were:
1. George Cuthbert d. 1748, married Mary McIntosh.
2. Lachlan Cuthbert, described as a general officer in the King of France's service d. 1770, in France.
3. Alexander Cuthbert (Also known as Abbe Colbert) d. 1782, leaving no issue.
4. Dr. James Cuthbert, married Mary Hazzard.
Could this family possibly be related to the people in the above portraits?

On a seperate note; in 1743 Witton Castle was sold to a William Cuthbert (died 1747), a barrister and Recorder of Newcastle.  William's will is at the National Record Office at Kew and is very detailed.  His first wife was Jane, daughter of John Stephenson.  William and Jane had a daughter Margaret.  Jane then presumably died and William married Dorothy and then had two sons and a daughter, Philidelphia, William and John.  William also mentions his brother Rev Richard Cuthbert of Kendall, Westmoreland (who's wife was Margaret).  His other brother George Cuthbert, Physician of Portsmouth.  His sister Margaret who married James Nelson of London.

John Cuthbert (died 1782) of Witton Castle, near Durham.  Son of William Cuthbert.  Member of the Royal Society Club and of the Society of Arts. Fellow of the Royal Society (1765).  A governor of the Inner Temple and of Magdalen Hospital, a London institution for the relief of penitent prostitutes. The castle was sold after John had died presumably in 1782.  Witton Castle is located near Bishop Auckland, which is halfway between Darlington and Durham

There is a brief reference in a record at Kew to a John Cuthbert Serjeant-at-Law, early 1700s.  Possibly this is a reference to John Cuthbert of Witton Castle.

There is a will of a John Cuthbert, Gentleman of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, died 16 May 1729.  He made his wife Anne Cuthbert his executor and left her his money.  He also left his son Sowter (John) and daughter Anne Cuthbert the sums of £500 each and 5 guineas to his brother Thomas Fairfax.  He first refers to his son as Sowter and then as John?  John signed his will in Feb 1728.

There is a memorial to a John Cuthbert inside St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle upon Tyne, 5 April 1724.

Were any of the above John Cuthberts related to Arthur Cuthbert (1734?-1788)?  Are there any more John Cuthberts?  Perhaps Arthur Cuthbert's parents were Scottish and hence there are no records of them at Kew.

One thing to note is that in the above portrait John Cuthbert is pointing to a place on a map of Europe so presumably he had some link or association possibly with Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Scandinavia, Prussia?  It would appear that he also had a sister or a daughter who was later Mrs Hopkins.

If you have any information to add to the above please contact me on jj@jjhc.info
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