“A Gem Too Precious”This poignant portrait of Christian St Barbe in a décolleté gown was most likely painted as a gift for her future husband Rev. Charles White whom she married in 1802 at the age of seventeen.Born in Southampton in 1784, Christian was the youngest of seven children. Her parents were Alexander St Barbe and Christian Maneby. Alexander ‘inherited’ his father’s position as a hoytaker with responsibility for managing the hiring and transport of merchant ships and small craft (known as ‘hoys’).Christian was just fifteen when her father died; two years later she married Rev. Charles Henry Cooper White MA who was twenty years her senior. Rev. White has been colourfully described as “an old-fashioned parson, farmer, sportsman [and] volunteer soldier” who brewed beer and played cricket. The couple had two daughters: Eleanor born in 1803 and Christiana born in 1804. Two years later, most likely in childbirth, Christian died aged just 21. A memorial plaque dedicated t...