Miniature portrait of Mary Ewart, wife of the Reverend John Ewart, Minister of Troqueer (1730 - 1811)

Mary Ewart was born in 1730, the only daughter of Joseph Corrie of Kelton and Carlingwark, near Castle Douglas.  Joseph Corrie was Provost of Dumfries between 1728 and 1730 and again from 1734 until 1736.   Mary and her husband John had seven sons and four daughters, although several did not survive into adulthood.   Joseph, their oldest surviving son, qualified as a doctor and became an envoy to the Court at Berlin.  The next, William, became a prosperous merchant in Liverpool, and godfather to William Gladstone, later Prime Minister.  William’s son, also William, became MP for Dumfries in 1841, and was responsible for the Public Libraries Act of 1850.  The main library in the town still bears his name.  John and Mary’s third son, John, also a doctor, became Inspector General of Hospitals in India, and the fourth son, Peter, became Chief Engineer of H M Dockyards.   This portrait, along with the Reverend John Ewart miniature are attributed to Alexander Reid (1747 = 1823), c.1790.