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Portrait of Peter Jones
Late 18th Century

$37,421.50List Price

About the Item

FOLLOWER OF SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY RA (1753 – 1839) Portrait of Peter Jones as an officer in the Surrey Yeomanry Cavalry, c.1805. Oil on canvas 91.4 x 71.1 cm Provenance C.G. Todd Esq, Tebb’s Copyhold, Ightham, Sevenoaks, Kent in 1967 Inscription on stretcher verso Christie’s auction stencils BH 322 and FR 224 Label on frame verso Kent Council of Social Service County Local History Committee Family Portrait Survey, 12th April 1967, number 54. Surveyed by Mrs G. Branson as by or after Beechey. The sitter is identified in the 1967 Kent Council of Social Service Family Portrait Survey as Peter Jones.1 Andrew Cormack, the foremost expert on historical British military uniforms, has identified the sitter as an officer of the Surrey Yeomanry Cavalry.2 At the date of this portrait, two regiments, the 8th (King’s Royal Irish) Light Dragoons on tropical service in India, and the Surrey Yeomanry wore light blue, or ‘French grey’ coats with red facings. They were distinguishable by the colour of the plumes in their helmets. The 8th Light Dragoons wore white or red and white plumes, and the Surrey Yeomanry wore red as shown in the portrait of Captain Christopher Dunkin of the Surrey Yeomanry painted c.1805 The Surrey Yeomanry uniform is described in an article by L.E. Buckell published in 1950 in the Journal for the Society for Army Historical Research. Buckell draws his information from contemporary illustrations including an 1806 portrait of Lord Leslie, the regimental Colonel, by the Regency portraitist and caricaturist Charles Dighton: ‘Lord Leslie, and all earlier representations, have red facings, but as Wilson’s Volunteer Chart, published in 1806, shows black facings for the Surrey Yeomanry, the change [from red to black facings] was evidently made after Dighton’s portrait was finished. All known portraits and prints of the regiment show light blue uniforms, with silver braid and buttons, and large scarlet plumes in the helmets. The light blue uniforms and all scarlet plumes were not, so far as is known, worn by any other corps at this time.’3 Regiments of Volunteer Yeoman Cavalry were raised at Prime Minister William Pitt’s direction in 1794 for civil defence in response to the threat of invasion by Napoleon. The Yeomanry regiments were disbanded in 1802 when hostilities briefly ended with the Peace of Amiens, before being rapidly reconstituted in 1803.4 In Dr Cormack’s words, the Yeomanry regiments ‘were entirely for home defence in the event of invasion and would then have acted as auxiliaries to those regular regiments that remained at home. It was not to be expected that they would be able to stand up to highly experienced French line cavalry, but the Yeomanry would have been used for reconnaissance duties, convoy (vehicle) protection and "sweeping the Country”, i.e. moving all of the population and any animals that might have been useful to the French and as many wagons as possible out of the likely invasion area and then burning any crops if possible. The Yeomanry regiments never went abroad and their terms of service did not oblige them to do so. The Surrey Yeomanry Cavalry was formed as a regiment under Colonel Lord Leslie in 1797, although the individual troops had existed since 1794. The regimental headquarters were at Clapham and soldiers were recruited from London and the adjacent southern counties. In Buckell’s words, ‘the corps was for all practical purposes a Metropolitan one, having in the ranks many men of standing in the business and professional circles of the City of London. It existed for half a century before being disbanded in 1848. Throughout its existence it maintained its strength and had a high reputation for efficiency and training.’ In 1820 the regiment provided crowd control at Westminster Bridge during the Coronation of King George IV when it was threatened by unruly demonstrations in favour of the King’s estranged wife Queen Caroline. 6 The Yeomanry regiments were revived in 1899 to make up for military losses in the Boer War and the Surrey Yeomanry was reformed in 1901, becoming part of the Territorial Force in 1908. As the Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary’s Regiment) they saw action in the First World War 1914–1918. Converted to artillery they saw action throughout the Second World War 1939–1945. In modern times the name of the Surrey Yeomanry survived amalgamations to become 127 (Sussex Yeomanry) Field Squadron, 78th (Fortress) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers (Volunteers). The portrait of Peter Jones has previously been attributed to Sir William Beechey but is more likely to have been painted by a contemporary portraitist following Beechey’s manner. The artist creates a dramatic effect in the contrast between the light, rather translucent colour of the tunic set against the red collar and plume of the helmet and is particularly accomplished in depicting the details of military uniform, including the Tarleton helmet (fig. 2). This style of Light Dragoon headgear was invented in the American War of Independence by Colonel Sir Banastre Tarleton. The example in Peter Jones’s portrait is shown so clearly that we can see the chain loops which were thought to support the ‘turban’, worn either in fur, as in the portrait of Captain Dunkin, or in uniform cloth as in this example. By examining surviving examples Dr Cormack has shown that the chains were often purely ornamental. The turban was ‘sewn through the leather cap or even glued’.8 Arguably the portrait supports this suggestion, since the chains are hanging relatively loosely to the turban. Just visible where the black fur crest meets the peak of the helmet is a bronze plaque which would have been engraved with the name of the regiment. Peter Jones’ biography is presently unknown, but the artist characterises him deftly. The swagger of the laced tunic and sword cocked under the sitter’s arm is offset by his stern and appraising expression. The painting was recorded in a private collection in the Kent village of Ightham in 1967, placing the sitter within the regimental catchment area. He may, therefore, have been a Kent gentleman, or one of the ‘many men of standing in the business and professional circles of the City of London’ who served in the regiment during this period. Notes 1. Records of the Kent Council of Social Service Family Portrait Survey, retrieved by Tim Moreton. 2. Email correspondence with Dr Andrew Cormack. 3. L. E. Buckell: ‘The Surrey Yeomanry Cavalry’, Journal for the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol.28, No.116, Winter 1950, p.172. 5. Cormack (note 2). 6. Buckell, op. cit. (note 3), p.171. 7. Op. cit. (note 4). 8. Cormack (note 2). 9. Buckell, op. cit. (note 3), p.171.

Creation Year:
Late 18th Century
Dimensions:
Height: 45.28 in (115 cm)Width: 37.8 in (96 cm)Depth: 0.04 in (1 mm)
Medium:
Oil
After:
Sir William Beechey (1753 - 1839, British)
Period:
Late 18th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Lincoln, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU80517994552

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