Portrait of Abigail Holroyd, née Way, later Countess of Sheffield (1746-1793), full-length, in a blue dress, with a dog, in a landscape

The sitter was born at Old Court, Richmond, the elder daughter of Lewis Way by his third wife, Abigail Lockey. In 1767 she married John Baker-Holroyd, later 1st Earl of Sheffield. The Countess’ grace and charm endeared her to her husband’s acquaintances and especially to his close friend, the historian Edward Gibbon. On hearing of her death when living in Lausanne, Gibbon wrote a broken-hearted letter to Sheffield and left immediately for Sheffield Place. She died at their house in Downing Street on Good Friday 1793 from a chill, said to have been caught while administering to the needs of French refugees at Guy’s Hospital.