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James Latham , Irish, 1696-1747

Title

Portrait of Charles Tottenham in his Boots

Date1731

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

227.5 x 151 cm

Credit LinePresented, 1st Lord Iveagh, 1891

Object numberNGI.411

ProvenanceBy descent to 1st Marquess of Ely, Enniskillen; presented, Edward Guiness, 1st Lord Iveagh, 1891 Exhibition HistoryDublin, 1872

Irish Portraits 1660-1860, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 14 August - 14 October 1969; National Portrait Gallery, London, 30 October 1969 - 4 January 1970; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 28 January - 9 March 1970

Edward Cecil Guinness, First Earl of Iveagh, Farmleigh, Dublin, 5 November - 31 December 2009

Label TextIn 1731, a proposal that an Irish tax surplus be given to the British Treasury caused consternation among many within the Irish Parliament. Though ill, Charles Tottenham, MP for New Ross, rode sixty miles from Co. Wexford to Dublin. On Tottenham’s arrival at the Parliament House, the sergeant-at-arms tried to bar his entry on the grounds that his boots and clothing were splashed with mud. Tottenham, however, strode into the chamber, and his vote tipped the balance. From that point onwards he was known by his peers as 'Tottenham in his boots'.