Inventory

Ebenezer Maitland Senior (1752–1834) was a prominent London merchant and a Director of the Bank of England between 1798 and 1821. The records of his wealth include his ownership of a share of £3,831 in the Jamaican Plantation known as Amity Hall. In contrast to his father's financial dealings, the boy depicted in this group portrait is his son and heir, Ebenezer Fuller Maitland (1780–1858), who became a prominent evangelical and anti-slave-trade philanthropist. His associations included membership of the anti-slavery activist group known as the Clapham Sect. Ebenezer Fuller later married Bethia Ellis (1781–1865), the only grand-daughter of the prominent banker William Fuller (1705–1800), who inherited his fortune of £500,000. Curiously, Ebenezer adopted the name Fuller as part of the acceptance of this generous bequest.

This signed portrait by Mason Chamberlin, R.A. (1727–1787), one of the founding members of the Royal Academy, shows the family in a decorated interior set within in the tradition of a 'conversation piece'. Chamberlin is known to have painted several figures associated with the anti-slavery movement. This including Henry Venn (1725–1797), a founding member of the Clapham Sect (Queens' College, University of Cambridge). Chamberlin also painted the London grocer Joseph Nash (d. 1782) holding a proto-abolitionist leaflet in a portrait sold in these Rooms in September 2023