Benjamin Roebuck was the son of Dr John Roebuck (1718-1794) and his wife Anne, née Ward. Dr Roebuck, an English inventor and chemist, played an important part in the Industrial Revolution in the production of industrial scale quantities of sulphuric acid and founded the Carron Iron Works in 1759.
His son chose not to follow in his father’s footsteps, but joined the Honourable East India Company, whose record of civil servants in the Madras Presidency from 1741-1858 (ed. Charles C. Prinsep, London, 1885) records Benjamin Roebuck’s career; ‘1776: Writer: 1782: Factor: 1790: Senior Merchant: 1791: Land Customer and Deputy Military Storekeeper: 1792: Civil and Military Paymaster General, A Member of the Committee for Investigating the King’s Army Accounts and Assay Master: 1801: Assay Master: 1802: Assay Master and Military Paymaster General: 1809: Mint Master: Died 13th August 1809 at Vizagapatam.’ He was responsible for building the Mint at Madras and the public docks at Coringa.
Benjamin Roebuck married Catherine Taylor, née Maitland, widow of John Taylor and granddaughter of Captain John De Morgan, in 1790 - the year in which Smart painted this miniature. A watercolour by Smart of Catherine Taylor, signed in full and dated ‘Madras 1794’ was sold Christie’s, London, 20 March 1990, lot 118. The sitter was also painted by Thomas Hickey (1741-1825), see Archer 1979, p. 224.