Portrait of Dorothy Hodges (1752-1800), half-length, in a yellow dress, with pearls and a ribbon in her hair, feigned oval

The sitter was born Dorothy Cartwright in Marnham, Nottinghamshire in 1752. She married Thomas Hallett Hodges in 1775 and in the early years of their marriage lived at Serlby Hall, Nottinghamshire. By 1784 they had moved to Hempstead Place (now Benenden School) in Kent. She died in 1800 and is buried, along with her husband who died the following year, in the family vault at Benenden Parish Church.