The sitters in this group portrait were the children of William, 6th Baron Craven (1735-1791), and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Augustus, 4th Earl of Berkeley. They had several children, the eldest of whom were William (1770-1825); Henry Augustus Berkeley (1776-1836), who was a Major-General in the Army and married Marie Clarisse Trebhault in 1829; Maria Margaret, who married William Philip, 2nd Earl of Sefton on 1 January 1782; and Arabella, who married General the Hon. Frederick St. John on 6 April 1793. William, the eldest son, succeeded his father as 7th Baron and 1st Earl of Craven in 1791 and was also created Viscount Uffington in 1801. In 1807 he married the celebrated actress Louisa Brinton; they had several children.

A portrait of Arabella and her nurse, the two figures on the right-hand side of this painting, was with Colnaghi (see The British Face: A View of Portraiture 1625-1850, 19 February-29 March 1986, no. 41); the catalogue states that it was one of several portraits painted by Beach in 1776 as preliminary studies for this present group portrait, which is illustrated.

The children's mother seperated from their father in 1783, and after travelling on the Continent settled in Anspach, where she met and went to live with Christian Frederich Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg, Anspach and Beyreuth, Duke of Prussia and Count of Sayn. After Lord Craven's death in September 1791, she married the Margrave and they moved to London, where she became a leading figure in literary, musical and dramatic circles. She lived at Brandenburg House, Hammersmith, where she had her own theatre and produced pantomimes, musical comedies and plays, frequently written by herself.