Portrait of John Luxmoore

A lithograph of John Luxmoore, (1766-1830), drawn by C. W. Walton and published by Morris & Co., 392 Strand, London.

This black and white lithograph drawing depicts a white middle-aged male. The portrait is bust length, with the sitter turned and facing towards the right. There is a plain background with some simple shading above the shoulders. He wears a plain dark overcoat and waistcoat, with a white shirt and small bow tie at the neck. He has short, dark, wavy hair and greying facial hair in a mutton-chop style. Small text directly below the image to the left reads: ‘DRAWN BY C. W. WALTON’ and to the right: ‘MORRIS & CO., 392 STRAND, LONDON’. Beneath this, in the centre, is a copy of the Luxmoore crest, a shield split into two parts with an upwards facing chevron patterned with three birds. To the right of this crest, handwritten text in italic script reads: ‘Yours faithfully John Luxmoore’, with his surname underlined.

Given how vast the Luxmoore family tree is, with the name stretching back to 1296* —with many, many offspring named John— it is unfortunately unclear precisely which John Luxmoore this portrait depicts. There is one John Luxmoore (1726-1788) who was MP for Okehampton – a plaque at Okehampton Town Hall notes how it was once his private house— and another John Luxmoore (1766-1830) of which there seems to be the most information available, given he was a well-known Bishop. However, as the artist Charles William Walton, (1846-1929), was born and working much later than these dates, it is more probable that the John Luxmoore portrayed here is actually Reverend John Henry Montague Luxmoore, born c.1799 and died 1860. Walton’s work focused on contemporary figures of the time, with his portraits consistently depicting the sitter’s family crest below the image along with their signature, as we see in this example. Timing wise it would not have been possible for an earlier John Luxmoore to both sit for and sign the portrait, and would go against Walton’s body of work to draw an historical figure (see the collection held by the National Portrait Gallery.)

The Clergy database states that he was educated at St John’s Cambridge, and was ordained as deacon in 1822 at St. Asaph’s in Wales (following his predecessor who was Bishop there), with promotions stretching to 1826. A copy of Luxmoore’s will is held at the Devon Heritage Centre, further supporting his ancestral connections to the South West and the likelihood that this portrait may indeed be John Henry Montague Luxmoore.

*Charles Frederick Coryndon Luxmoore concludes the name Luxmoore derived from a piece of moorland called Lukesmore in the Parish of Lydford, with “more” meaning dwelling by a moor or mareish ground. The family have connections to Bratton Clovelly, Broadwoodwidger, and Thrusselton.

Related Collections

Portraits