Marcia Arbuthnot and her four children: she, seated, facing right in lavender blue dress with brown belt, almond green cashmere shawl, curly short black hair, her youngest daughter Caroline on her lap, her eldest son Charles, in blue tunic, clasping her hand, her two other children Henry and Marcia in white tunics; column and drapery background

Marcia Mary Ann, daughter of William Clapcott Lisle and granddaughter of the Marquis of Cholmondeley, was the first wife of the diplomat and politician Charles Arbuthnot (1767-1850). After important diplomatic positions in Sweden and Portugal, Arbuthnot was appointed ambassador extraordinary at Constantinople in 1804. The successful forcing of the Dardanelles by the English fleet was mainly due to Arbuthnot's authority. After his return to England in 1807, he became so friendly with the Duke of Wellington that he lived and finally died at Apsley House. The eldest son of Charles and Marcia Arbuthnot, Charles George James, depicted on this miniature clasping his mother's hand, later became General Arbuthnot.