Thomas Sutton, Founder of the Charterhouse

This portrait shows the founder of ‘Sutton’s Hospital’, the charity occupying the Charterhouse buildings since 1611. Sutton bought the Charterhouse in 1609, with a view to converting the mansion into an almshouse and school. He died two years later. Sutton was a self-made man who amassed an enormous fortune from property, moneylending and other profitable activities, including supplying weapons to the garrison at Berwick upon Tweed and leasing coal mines in County Durham. It was said of Sutton, ‘it seemed that he only had to sit still and let his money multiply’. This portrait belongs to the City of Lincoln. Sutton was born near Lincoln and had many connections there. The painting was presented to Lincoln in 1622, eleven years after Sutton’s death. The artist is not known but it has been suggested that the painting dates from the 1590s, in which case it will have been painted during Sutton’s life time. Thomas Sutton (1532-1611) The painting includes two painted inscriptions and two coats of arms, including those of the City of Lincoln. One of the inscriptions records that the painting was ‘Beautified & Refresh’d’ in 1750. The painting has been kindly loaned to the Charterhouse by the City of Lincoln. The plaster bust is signed by the sculptor: ‘J. Bromfield, sculptor, 12 Paradise Street, 17L Lambeth Palace’. It probably dates from the 1880s. An identical bust sits over the door of Charterhouse School’s settlement house at 40, Tabard Street, Southwark. The settlement was one of several similar initiatives by public schools in the 1880s, encouraging educated men to undertake social work in poor areas of London.

Photograph: Will Pryce