Portrait of Commander-in-Chief with grandson sells for £2,900 in Shropshire

The painting by Henry William Pickerscill (1782-1875) of Field Marshall Viscount Hugh Gough (1779-1869) and his grandson, Major General William Arbuthnot (1838-1893), went under the hammer at Halls Fine Art’s £200,000 auction of fine art, antiques and jewellery in Shrewsbury. The buyer lives in India.

“It was a very interesting portrait, as both men had illustrious military careers and I am delighted that it achieved such a good price at auction,” said Abigail Molenaar, Halls Fine Art’s paintings and prints specialist.

“It was consigned by one of our regular vendors from Cheshire.”

Field Marshal Gough was commissioned to the Limerick Militia in 1792, before transferring three years later to the 76th Highlanders. He fought at the Cape of Good Hope and at Barossa and was with the 87th Regiment of Foot at the siege of Tarifa.

Knighted in 1815, he was given command of the 22nd Regiment of Foot in 1819 and sent to Ireland two years later, before moving to Bangalore in 1837, upon his appointment as Commander of the Mysore Division of the Madras Army.

He was involved in the Opium War and was instrumental in negotiating the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The following year, Gough returned to India for a further six years as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, leading the army during the annexation of Punjab. He was made Viscount in 1849.

In 1880, a statue designed by John Henry Foley (1818-1874) and William Thomas Brock (1847-1922) was unveiled in his honour at the Phoenix Park, Dublin, which had been created from gun and canon metal taken and captured by his troops.

The statue, which was frequently vandalised and was blown up by the IRA, was removed from the park in 1957 and now stands in Chillingham Castle, Northumberland.

His grandson, Major General Arbuthnot, was educated at Eton and entered the Army on the March 25, 1856 as an ensign in the Rifle Brigade.

He was posted to India to fight in the Indian Mutiny, transferred to the 14th Hussars in 1861 and was serving in Abyssinia as aide-de-camp and Assistant Military Secretary to Lord Napier, Commander of the expedition, by 1867.

He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed commanding officer of the 14th Hussars in June, 1876. He was still with the Hussars when they were posted to South Africa in 1881, the same year he was promoted to colonel.

In 1885, he was part of the Sudan expedition and was promoted to Major-General in 1890.

An English painter specialising in portraits, Pickerscill painted many of the most notable figures of his time. He was member of the Royal Academy of Arts for nearly 50 years.