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Alfred Edward Borthwick (22 April 1871 - 7 December 1955) was a Scottish painter.

Life
His father was William Henry Borthwick (28 November 1832 - 8 October 1928), Lord Borthwick, 15th of Crookston, from Edinburgh.

His mother was Rebecca Cathcart (c. 1841 - 6 December 1887) from Cambuslang. William and Rebecca married on 31 December 1864.

Alfred Edward Borthwick was born on 22 April 1871 in Scarborough, England.

He married Mary Simcoe Violet Pringle (born 1879) on 12 June 1907.

His daughter Marjorie Borthwick also became an artist.

Death
He died on 7 December 1955 in Edinburgh.

From The Scotsman of Thursday 08 December 1955: DEATH OF NOTED ARTIST Captain Alfred E. Borthwick Captain Alfred Edward Borthwick, RSA, HRSW, LLD, the noted Scottish artist, died in an Edinburgh nursing home yesterday. He was 84. Cnﬁzatn Borthwick was president of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water-Colours from 1932 until his retirement in 1950 He studied art in Edinburgh, London, and Paris. and painted a la—r'i; number of notable portraits and_subject pictures. Probably his best known work is “The Pre- sence,” which was extensively reproduced, and copies of which were sold all over the world. ~Among some famous personages whose portraits he painted was the Duke of Windsor, then the Prince of Wales. s e _ During the South 4 wick African War Cap- ,A !‘. Bortf tain Borthwick served with the Scottish Sharpshooters, and in 1912 was asked by the War Office to help the or{aniution of the Scottish remounts. In 1915 he was recalled from active service and was transferred to the newlyformed Ministry of Munitions, where he was second in command of the Release from Colours Department. Later he became liaison officer between the Ministry and the War Office until the end of hostilities. B e He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1928. He was also an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. and an Honorary Fellow of the Fine Arts Trade Guild. He held the position of president of the Society of Scottish Artists when the constitution was extended to include applied art. In 1952 he received the honorary degree of LLD. of St Andrews University. For a time he was a member of the Pilgrim Trust Committee on “ Recording Scotland.” He was a son of the late Mr W. H gorgwick of Crookston and Borthwick astle. viets. It was painted in a spirit of devotion and an awareness of spiritual influences in human affairs that was part of Mr Borthwick's temperament. He was a man of many interests and activities. Those who knew “The Presence " might have thou%ht of him as a visionary. Actually he had a precise and scientific mind and a special aptitude for engineering, and he held a number of patents for mechanical contrivances. : Wiy During the war of 1914-1918 he did important work in the Ministry of Munitions. His connections with military affairs went back to the Boer War, in which he served with the Scottish Sharpshooters. He kept up his association with military affairs to some extent, while clnxing on his profession as an artist, and in 1912 he was asked by the War Office to help in connection with the organisation of the Scottish remounts.