Is this a portrait of the Cad?

Wanstead historian Greg Roberts has played a part in uncovering what might turn out to be the only existing adult portrait of William Long-Wellesley, the cad whose ruinous tastes led to the magnificent Wanstead House being demolished for scrap.

Though William and his wife, Lady Catherine, were the Posh and Becks of their day with huge celebrity and comment in the papers, there aren’t any known portraits of William as an adult.

Then the above picture turned up in an attic in St Ives, Cornwall, where William is known to have spent some time. Greg Roberts was invited by an art dealer there to help compare it to other likenesses and cartoons which still survive.

He has concluded that the portrait is an “extremely important” discovery, and is hoping further tests on it by other experts will be conducted. He also hopes the portrait may one day return to Wanstead

In a fascinating blog post describing his analysis of the picture, Greg writes:

The story of William’s marriage to the richest heiress in Regency Britain, Catherine Tylney-Long, has become internationally famous since the publication of Angel and the Cad by Geraldine Roberts (2015). Long-Wellesley went on to wreck Catherine’s ancestral home at Wanstead House, leading to the fire sale of its priceless art and treasures; even her cherished family portraits were lost. Although William retained some of Catherine’s heirlooms, they had to be auctioned off in 1852 because he never paid the storage fees, and their current whereabouts are unknown.

He concludes:

I am not yet sure what will become of the painting, but it would be wonderful to see it back in Wanstead. Imagine the irony of forcing Wicked William to gaze upon the wreck of his once proud estate from his position on the wall of the Temple at Wanstead Park – This would be a small yet symbolic act of penance for the misery and cruelty he wrought upon Wanstead House and its ancestral owners.