John Smith after John Richardson

David Boyle, Earl of Glasgow
Viscount of Kelburn, Lord Boyle of Stewartoun, Cambray, Fenwick, Largs & Dalrye, One of ye Lords of Her Majesties most honourable Privy Council of ye Kingdom of Scotland, One of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesties Treasury & Exchequer, Lord Treasurer Deputy of ye said Kingdom, Her Majesties Commissioner to ye General Assembly of ye Church of Scotland & since ye Union of Great Britain, Lord Register of Scotland &C

15 x 20 inches

A mezzotint portrait by John Smith after the painting by Richardson; published in London in 1711.

David Boyle, Earl of Glasgow, was a Scottish peer and politician who was instrumental in Queen Anne's Act of Union of 1707. Scotland had lost a great deal of money in the ill-fated Darien scheme whereby Scotland had hoped to establish a colony in South America during the 1690s. Many families faced financial ruin as a result of this failed project and, after the Act of Union, it was Boyle who received substantial amounts of money released from the government in London by way of compensation, a payment that was to be known as The Equivalent.