Mary Cawthorne, Mrs Morley Unwin (1724-1796)

Arthur Devis (Preston 1712 – London 1787) . Oil painting on canvas, Mary Cawthorne, Mrs Morley Unwin (1724-1796) by Arthur Devis (Preston 1712 – London 1787), circa 1750. A woman - the great-great-grandmother of the first Sir John's wife, Henrietta - seated on a circular bench around the trunk of a tree, in a quilted blue and silver satin mantua, with lace necking and cap held by blue bows, holding a blue satin cap on her lap with her right hand, and indicating with her left a church in the distance of a valley landscape, on the far side of a broad river. Mary Unwin was the wife of the Reverend Morley Unwin at Huntingdon. She was a close friend of the poet William Cowper, who stayed with her after her husband's death in 1767. Cowper wrote at least two poems to Mary Unwin. Henriette Mary Unwin married John Heathcoat Amory in 1863 - hence the family connection. This is the only early family portrait at Knightshayes. Knightshayes Court, Devon (Accredited Museum)