Lot 76: Circle of Reginald Easton (British, 1807-1893) The Misses Alice (1834-1853) and Minney (1836-1882) Squarey of Salisbury: the former, wearing mauve dress and sash, white under-dress, jet necklace, her arm around her younger sister; the latter, wearing

The Misses Alice (1834-1853) and Minney (1836-1882) Squarey of Salisbury: the former, wearing mauve dress and sash, white under-dress, jet necklace, her arm around her younger sister; the latter, wearing white dress with lace trim and cuffs, holding a posy of flowers in her pinafore with her left arm, her right hand outstretched and holding a purple iris.
Gilt-mounted in rectangular gilt-metal frame with rocaille and scroll leaf border.
Oval, 126mm (4 15/16in) high

Alice and Minnie were the eldest of the six children of Charles Squarey of Salisbury (1809-1846), a pharmacist and Jane Eliza Elwall (1813-1865), the daughter of a wine and brandy merchant. This portrait was painted around the time of their father's untimely death as the jet necklace worn and iris held by the sitters indicate. In 1853, tragedy struck again when Alice died. They lost their mother, Jane to typhoid, caught while nursing their brother, Charles, who was a doctor. Charles survived but later died from the disease at the age of thirty-five.

Minnie had two surviving sisters, Gertrude and Helen and a brother, Robert. Minnie married Henry Leeson, a doctor. She later married Captain Roche following Leeson's death and they had two sons, Richard (b.1880) and Morris (b.1881). Minnie died in childbirth the following year. Captain Roche died three years later and their two boys were adopted by their Aunt Helen. Richard became a Private in the army. He survived the Boer war but died in Ypres during World War I.