The Family of Sir William Young

William Young and his wife Elizabeth are seated in the centre. Around them are their nine children. Also present is an enslaved Black servant whose name is sometimes given as John Brook. This boy was probably taken to England by Young, who owned sugar plantations in the West Indies. About 15,000 people of African origin were in Britain by the late 18th century. They mostly lived in enslaved domestic service until the 1838 abolition of slavery.

Young was appointed Governor of the island of Dominica in 1770. This family portrait was probably painted to celebrate this event and the marriage that year of the eldest daughter, Sarah. She stands between her parents in the centre of the painting. Conversation pieces, portraits of two or more family members in a domestic setting, were a speciality of Zoffany’s. They were particularly popular in the 18th-century.