Portrait of Sir Thomas Dallison, 1st Bt. of Laughton (1591-1645), three-quarter length, in a red doublet and breeches

The sitter was the second son of Sir Roger Dallison (c.1562-1620) of Laughton, Lincolnshire, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Marmeduke Tyrwhitt. Thomas's father, who served as lieutenant of the Ordnance Office, got into considerable financial difficulties and was eventually arrested for embezzling £13,000 from the Crown before being committed to Fleet Prison, where he died intestate in 1620. Thomas, who was created a baronet by special grant in 1643, was killed fighting for the Royalists at the Battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645. A portrait, bearing a date of 1642, by William Dobson at Knole (Kent, National Trust) is thought to show Sir Thomas aged 50 with a page.