Martha Bersheba Sober (née Middleton)

Profile & Legacies Summary

???? - 1796

Biography

In the will of Martha Bersheba Sober widow of St James Westminster proved 17/01/1797, she left the estates she had inherited from her husband to his children (her step-children), to the eldest Hope Elletson Sober for life and then to his brothers and then to their sister. She noted that an estate she called Sober Castle was still subject to the mortgage of Lord Harewood and that the produce should be consigned to Messrs. Elliott Adams and Whalley until the remainder of the mortgage was repaid. She explained in a codicil that she had left only a life interest to Hope Elletson Sober because 'his attachment to the Indian is not legal and his children are illegitimate'. In a further codicil she noted that the estate of her husband had cleared his debt to Lord Harewood of £2800 for his tradesmen's debts, and that she was therefore free to dispose of £5000, which she did in a meticulously noted listing. She also left a portrait of her father by Gainsborough to Mrs Eliz. Middleton of Kensington Palace. This portrait is almost certainly that of David Middleton, surgeon to George III, which is in the Cincinnati Museum and of which a later mezzotint by George Sanders is in the National Portrait Gallery. There have been efforts to re-identify the sitter as J.C. Bach.

Sources

PROB 11/1284/166; NPG D38403 http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw199389/David-Middleton [accessed 08/10/2016]; Joan S. Reis, 'A third Gainsborough portrait of Johannes Christian Bach?', Musical Quarterly (1990) 74 (2) pp. 295-302; http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/explore-the-collection?id=16326251 [accessed 09/10/2016].

Further Information

Absentee?

British/Irish

Maiden Name

Middleton

Spouse

John Sober II

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

SD - Association Start Date
SY - Association Start Year
EA - Earliest Known Association
ED - Association End Date
EY - Association End Year
LA - Latest Known Association

1787 [EA] - 1797 [LA] → Owner

Clement Castle (formerly Sober Castle) [ Barbados | St Peter ]

Legacies Summary

Cultural (1)

Paintings

In her will proved in 1797, Martha Bersheba Sober left a portrait of her father by Gainsborough to Mrs Eliz. Middleton of Kensington Palace. This portrait is almost certainly that of David Middleton,...

Details