Gerard Anne Edwards in his cradle, 1733 (oil on canvas)

Gerard Anne Edwards (d.1773); son of Mary Edwards and Lord Anne Hamilton; Gerard Anne Edwards was the son of Lord Anne Hamilton (1709-1748), third son of James 4th Duke of Hamilton and 1st Duke of Brandon, who was named after his godmother, Queen Anne. His mother, Mary Edwards (1704/5-1743), was reputedly the richest heiress in England. When she discovered her husband had used his adoption of her name to appropriate some of her stocks, she repudiated her marriage, and had her son baptised as the child of a single woman. Gerard was later known as ‘Handsome Edwards’, and married Lady Jane Noel, second daughter of Baptist Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough. The same toy is held by Gerard in Hogarth’s group portrait of the Edwards family (now in a private collection), in which the dog also appears.