Pencil portrait of Rev. William Leir (1768-1863).

David Bewes explains:

The pencil portrait came from my Budleigh Salterton great aunts Dorothy and Olive (nee Bazeley). It bears a label on the back:

H Green's Looking Glass manufactory & Artists Repository,
14 St Mary's Street, Weymouth

(where Sophia Dawe (nee Leir) retired to in her widowhood). On some taping round the entirety at the back is a rubber stamp mark:

R F Collihole, Gilder & Picture Framer,
9 Hartope Road, Weymouth

Written in ink (in an ancient hand, and rather faint) on the frame at the back is "Marianne Leir, Ditcheat Rectory, 1848". Written in biro (Aunt Dorothy's hand - when elderly) is " Leir, Ditcheat Rectory 1848". From this I have supposed that the portrait may have once belonged to Marianne Leir. Alternatively the frame once possessed a portrait of Marianne which was removed and this one was placed in the frame. Aunt Dorothy must have copied the details from the ink legend, but omitted "Marianne", as the sitter is clearly male!

I conclude that the portrait is almost certainly a Leir. The dress, I would judge, is certainly that of a clergyman in about the fourth quarter of the 18th century. Our ancestral line is that of the incumbents at Ditcheat Rectory, and I believe it is probably Rev. William Leir of Ditcheat 1768 - 1863, but dated in 18th century. What do you think?