Antoine Maurin

Lord Raglan (Fitzroy Somerset) Commandant en chief de l'Armee Anglaise en Orient

12 x 18 inches

A half-length lithographic portrait by the French lithographer, Antoine Maurin; published in Paris and New York circa 1855.

Fitzroy James Henry Somerset was born in 1788, the 9th (and final!) son of the 5th Duke of Beaufort. Such an illustrious birth was the beginning of a very distinguished life and military career. In 1804 at the age of just 14 he was commissioned as a cornet in the Light Dragoons and went on to serve in the Peninsular Wars becoming military secretary to the Duke of Wellington. He cemented this relationship by marrying the Duke's niece, Lady Emily Wellesley-Pole. In 1854 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the British troops in the Crimea but only a year later he had died as a result of depression and dysentery, a sad end to an extraordinary life.