Portrait of Sir Samuel Fludyer, 1st Bt. (c. 1704-68), three-quarter-length, in a grey coat and embroidered waistcoat; and Portrait of Lady Caroline Fludyer, née Brudenell (d. 1801), three-quarter-length, in a silver dress and blue shawl

Samuel Fludyer was one of the most successful businessmen of mid-eighteenth century London, combining activities as a cloth merchant, banker and politician to establish his family’s fortune. Following his election as MP for Chippenham in 1754, Fludyer was knighted in 1755 and made a baronet in 1759. He was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1761, and in the procession of that year George III and Queen Charlotte were in attendance, captured in a satirical print by John June (London, British Museum). Fludyer was also later made Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, from 1766 until his death.

Samuel’s second wife, Lady Fludyer was the daughter of James Brudenell (c. 1687-1746), and the niece of George, 3^rd Earl of Cardigan (1685-1732). She married Samuel Fludyer in 1758. Lady Fludyer was clearly an interesting patron; she had the honour of being the sole named dedicatee of any plate in William Ince and John Mayhew’s Universal System of Household Furniture, showing an elevation of a Turkish-inspired dressing room, possibly created for her (H. Roberts and C. Cator, Industry and Ingenuity: The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew, London and Dublin, 2022, pp. 50-51). A portrait of Lady Fludyer by Gainsborough as an older woman, from c. 1772 was sold Sotheby’s, New York, 26 January 2016, lot 732.