Portrait of: Nathaniel Spens
By: John Beugo
After: Sir Henry Raeburn
Style: Stipple engraving
Dimensions: 43. 5 x 67 cm
Nathaniel Spens (1728 - 1815) was a Scottish physician and archer born in Fife. He studied medicine at the University of St Andrews before moving to Edinburgh to practise. He joined the incorporation of Surgeons in 1751, andin 1794 he became the president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He was a member of the Royal Company of Archers and the portrait of this print by Raeburn famously hangs in Archers Halls.
According to Frank Adam and Thomas Innes the Royal Company of Archers was the first military body in the service of the British Crown to adopt tartan in their uniform.
