This fine fellow is Timothy Balderston (1680-1764), and he was Mayor of Norwich from 1736 to 1751. He was the nephew of my 7th great-grandfather, John A. (“The carpenter”) Balderston. This portrait is from the Norwich Archives.
Aside from breeding like rats, the early Balderstons displayed a remarkable lack of creativity in choosing given names for their offspring. In spite of this, I have been able to ascertain, with a reasonable degree of certainty, that the chap in the portait is indeed my first cousin, seven times removed.
I am sceptical that this will be sufficient to earn me the keys to the city of Norwich, but you never know.
Moser Family History 