History - Family Portraits

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Lady Bennet, attributed to Hieronimos Custodis (c 1585-1593), 40 x 29½ inches (101 x 75 cm)

Lady Bennet, born Mary the daughter of Robert Taylor of London, Mercer, was the mother-in-law of Elizabeth Ingram (c1605-1636), the daughter of Sir Arthur Ingram the elder (who re-built Temple Newsam from 1622). Elizabeth married the sitter's son Sir Simon Bennet c 1620. The sitter's husband, Sir Thomas Bennet (?1541-1627) was a well-to-do citizen of London and a Buckinghamshire landowner. Portraits of him and also of Lady Bennet survive at Hatfield, since their granddaughter Frances married the 4th Earl of Salisbury in 1683.

This fine Elizabethan portrait has formed part of the historic Temple Newsam collection for some 240 years. It was first recorded in the house in 1688 and can be identified in all the subsequent inventories and in old photographs until 1922 when it was removed by Lord Halifax at the time Temple Newsam was sold to Leeds City Council.

Temple Newsam 2003.0017

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