Portrait of Robert Cunninghame Graham (1735-1797), bust-length

The sitter was the son of Nicol Graham (1694/5-1775) of Gartmore, Perthshire, and Lady Margaret Cunninghame, daughter of William, 12th Earl of Glencairn. In 1752 he settled in Jamaica where he remained until 1770. In 1753 he was appointed Receiver-General for taxes. He married firstly Anne, daughter of Patrick Taylor of Jamaica in 1764. Following Anne’s death, he married secondly, in 1786 or 1787, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Buchanan Hamilton of Spital. Graham was a friend of Charles James Fox and Thomas Sheridan and became MP for Stirlingshire in 1794, a seat he held for two years. In 1796 he assumed the additional surname of Cunninghame when his cousin John Cunninghame, 15th and last Earl of Glencairn, died and Graham succeeded to the Finlaystone estates in Renfrewshire.