Attributed to Alan Ramsay 1712-1784Portrait of Reverend Patrick Bennet 1705-1783 , minister of Polmont, Stirlingshireoil on canvas , unframed77 x 64 cmProvenanceCheffins Cambridge 10 Sep 2003, Lot 520NotesThe Rev Patrick Bennet 1705-1783Patrick Bennet was born in December 1705, in Muiravonside, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom as the son of Andrew Bennet and Elizabeth aka Bettie Livingston. He married Margaret Henderson on 10 December 1752, in Polmont, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 4 daughters. In 1733, at the age of 28, his occupation is listed as minister of Polmont church in Polmont, Falkirk, Scotland, United Kingdom. He died on 12 April 1783, in Polmont, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, at the age of 77, and was buried in Polmont, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom.Patrick Bennet was involved in purchasing 7 acres of Land in 1730 for the erection of the new church, graveyard and Manse. William Douglass of Edinburgh provided the design for a church. The New Manse was built a few years after 1732, Kinneil House is still lived in. Patrick Bennet, the first minister, lived at his own house of Whyteside and the manse was rented out with part of the rent going to the minister. Mr Patrick Bennett became first minister of Polmont Parish Church, with the consent and signatures of all heads of families in the parish to appoint him on the 1 Sep 1732. On the 2 Jun 1736 Patrick Bennet was ordained as minister of Polmont.There is a walled tomb with a pediment. Inscribed “PATRICK BENNET/ qui obit 12 Aprils 1783/ 78 moan. cet/ ORDAINED FIRST MINISTER OF POLMONT/ 21ST MARCH 1733 “Polmont was originally included within the parish of Falkirk, but was severed under the authority of the Court of Teinds (teind is the Scots word for tithe), and made an independent parish, in 1724. The parish boundary was from the Firth of Forth up to Muiravonside, and it was later renamed Grangemouth Parish as the port of Grangemouth grew. Nothing of the early history of Polmont has been recorded.New Polmont was built along the Great North Road (A9), south of Old Polmont, and was originally called Bennetstown or Bennestone (named after the Laird of Whyteside, Mr Bennet, on whose land it was built. Apart from housing, agricultural workshops and stores, it also had three public houses: The Crown, The Red Lion and The Black Bull, but only The Black Bull remains and dates from before 1745. Map of Polmont 1860. The village slowly expanded after World War II with housing being built on land of former estates of Millfield, Polmont Park, and Polmont House. From the mid-1970s, the population significantly expanded when housing was built on the Gilston Estate, whereupon the village was re-designated as a dormitory town.Allan Ramsay’s studio was in London but he lived regularly in Edinburgh too, Edinburgh was only 23 miles from Polmont.Artist biography ...