A FINE MID-19TH CENTURY GENRE PORTRAIT, comparable in style to the oil paintings of William Bromley III (fl. 1835-1882) whose portraits of George Parr and Alfred Mynn hang in the Long Room at Lord's. Captain Lautour was born in London in 1814 and was educated at Harrow. His name first appeared in army listings for the Grenadier Guards in 1834, and his first recorded match for the Gentlemen of Hertfordshire was at Lord's on 28 and 29 June, 1837. By 1843 he had left the army, and according to Lord Harris he played regularly for the Gentlemen of England between 1844 and 1850 (Harris, G.R.C., 4th Baron, The History of Kent County Cricket, Canterbury: Eyre & Spottiswode, 1907, p.186). Lautour is also recorded in Lillywhite's volumes Cricket Scores and Biographies -- "In bowling and batting he [Lautour] was left-handed, and could cut well to the off. He was chosen for the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord's in 1844, and participated in some of the great matches in that and in the following years" (Cricket Scores and Biographies of Celebrated Cricketers, London: Lillywhite, 1746-1854, Vols I-IV, p.412). Lautour continued to play for the Gentlemen of Kent, and was in the team that beat the Gentlemen of Surrey by five wickets at the Oval on 5-6 July, 1849. He is also thought to have played with William Clarke's XI, participating in their 22 matches at Newark, Manchester and Leicester. He later settled at Weymouth, Devonshire, establishing the cricket club there and organising matches with the England Eleven on several occasions. He moved to Udale House, Rosshire, in 1860 and died on 11 November 1899.