Portrait of John Dunning, Lord Ashburton, 4 June 1809

Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (1723 - 1792)

RA Collection: Art

This engraving reproduces a portrait of Dunning by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was published as an illustration to 'A Brief Biographical Memoir of John Dunning, Lord Ashburton by John Adolphus, Esq. F.S.A'., which featured in Britton's The fine arts of the English School, London 1812.

John Dunning, Lord Ashburton, was a well-known lawyer and politician. He also wrote a notice in defence of the British East India Company in 1762. In parliament, Dunning was known for his speeches which were often critical of the British government, especially concerning its approach to the American colonies. In the high-profile Somerset v Stewart case of 1772, however, he was one of the defence lawyers arguing that enslavement was legally valid in England. James Somerset, an enslaved West African, had been brought to England from America by Charles Stewart, a merchant. Somerset left Stewart’s household in 1771 and refused to return, leading Stewart to have him kidnapped with the intention of selling him on to a plantation owner in Jamaica. Somerset won the case in a landmark ruling that paved the way for the abolition of slavery in Britain.