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I recently bought a print of a portrait of a British soldier at an antique market, but I have no idea who he is. I have tried to find this picture online, and or a similar face in other portraits but to no avail. From researching his uniform, and painting style, I have established that he is most likely a lieutenant-General or Major-General in one of the many ‘of-foot’ regiments during the late 18th century, and based on similar clothing on some other officers paintings, he likely served in the American Revolutionary War and possibly at Gibraltar. The print is unsigned but was printed by Morris and Bendien, Inc. NY. , probably sometime between 1920-1940, but that avenue also lead me nowhere. Any help or points in the right direction would be appreciated. This has been an ongoing mystery that I would like to solve. Thanks.
Hi Shawn,
Welcome to the forum. That’s a great print, and part of the fun of collecting is piecing the history together.
On the site here we put had put together a “facebook”-like view of many of the officers we could find (American, British, French, Spanish). I checked out the British officers here: http://revwartalk.com/People/british-military-personnel.html .
There was one individual whom was a Major-General and has a similar uniform, though the face isn’t a perfect match. His name is John Moore: http://revwartalk.com/British-Military-Officers-and-Personnel-J-Z/john-moore.html . In your image, I don’t recognize the face myself as someone familiar to me.
In some internet searching, I came across a site that talks about British Royal Marine uniforms, citing some modern-day film productions showing examples of the uniforms. About mid-way down this page a man is wearing one that looks similar to the one in your print : http://manthecapstan.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/behind-the-uniform-addendum/ . If he might be a Royal Marine, it would be very possible he served at Gibraltar. Also, you might have already come across this in your research.
I wish I recognized his face right off the bat! Maybe some other folks will come along whom can share some other insight, it would be great to solve the mystery.
-Dan
He’s definitley a General officer, late 18th C, first impression is that it looks vaguely Napoleonic, but you’d need a full uniform view to prove that. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.
Josh.
Thanks for your reply Dan. I have also come across Moore in my searching, and yes he does have similar features, but your right, they are a little off. I will follow up on some of the leads you have suggested and let you know if I find anything. The royal marines is an avenue I have considered but haven’t yet given the attention it needs. Thanks again.
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