This is Lt Col Isaac TOBY RM , ancestor of my late husband .My father-in-law
used to refer to this portrait as simply "The Ancestor" . I've done all the detective work!

Isaac had an active career at sea but finally was Barrack Master at Devonport in the 1850s.

I'm pretty sure that Isaac had no children .His sister Martha Haydon TOBY married Richard OLIVER in the 1830s . They were gggrandparents of my husband John Rainsford Walrond OLIVER.

One of Richard and Martha's children was Isaac Toby OLIVER, who to my knowledge , didn't marry.

The 2012 Olympics should be conducted in English
SIR – The previous mayor’s agreement that French should take precedence over English at the London 2012 Olympics is ludicrous (report, December 9).
As the Olympics spokesman for the London Assembly Conservative Group, I think it is nonsensical that the host nation’s language, the most widely spoken in the world, should be relegated to second place, below French, in announcements and on billboards.
Sadly, Londoners have come to expect that they will be getting more than they bargained for with the Olympics: spiralling costs, miles of road to be cordoned off for official limos and now every announcement first en français.
Andrew Boff London SE1
SIR – The demands of the International Olympic Committee – that French take precedence over English, and that the Queen attend a special IOC ceremony – sound like an early April Fool’s joke.
The Olympics began in Greece. True, it was a Frenchman who revived the Games in 1896, but that does not entitle the committee to inflict French on us. These “Olympic Orders” must be ignored!
Bob WydellOswestry, Shropshire

Hampton Snow Feb 2009 [ in anticipation of what might happen in winter '10-'11 !!! ]

Autumn colour in my garden[2] .A prize for anyone who spots the mistletoe
!!

Autumn colour in my garden Nov 2010 [1]

Willie Lott's House,Flatford, May '08 [Painted by Constable]

John F Oliver + sister Lily c 1910