Portrait of a gentleman said to be William Minet (1703-1767), half-length, seated at a table writing a letter

The sitter was the son of Isaac Minet, a French protestant from Calais, who had fled to Dover with his brother Stephen after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France. In Dover the brothers had started the family shipping business which William Minet inherited on his father's death in 1745 and ran until his own death 22 years later. Through this business the Minets, and their relations the Fectors, became the richest family in Dover and important philanthropists. Ultimately the company became the bank Fector & Co., which issued its own notes, and was sold in 1842 to the National Provincial Bank of England.