Overall: 44cm (17in) x 35cm (13.7in)
Provenance: Artist’s studio
Watercolour with gouache on paper. Uniform studies of Lieutenant Winston Churchill in service dress when attached to A Squadron of the 21st from 4th Hussars, and a 21st Lancers’ Signaller during the Sudan Campain, 1898 – by Douglas N Anderson. An original plate work for The Last Charge: The 21st Lancers and the Battle of Omdurman 2nd September 1898’, page 69, by Terry Brighton.
In 1898 the regiment served in Sudan during Campaign of Re-Conquest, as the only British cavalry regiment involved. It was there that the full regiment charged with lances in the classic cavalry style during the Battle of Omdurman in September 1898. Of less than 400 men involved in the charge 70 were killed and wounded and the regiment won three Victoria Crosses. These three were Private Thomas Byrne, Lieutenant Raymond de Montmorency and Captain Paul Kenna. This spectacular encounter earned considerable public attention and praise for the regiment, though it was also criticized as a costly and unnecessary anachronism - since the 2,000 Dervish spearmen dispersed by the 21st Lancers could have been destroyed by rifle fire with few if any British losses. Winston Churchill (then an officer of the 4th Hussars), rode with the regiment. ’Omdurman’ was the regiment's only battle honour, giving rise to the satirical regimental motto of ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ That same year, the regiment was given the title 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers, taking the name from Queen Victoria who was the Empress of India.
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Douglas Napier Anderson Jr., (b.1927) was the son of Douglas Napier Anderson, a commercial artist and illustrator. Born in Glasgow, he trained at Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1952. He was called up for National Service with the Highland Light Infantry. He became well known as an illustrator military books including the Rev Terry Brighton’s ‘The Last Charge: the 21st Lancers and the Battle of Omdurman’ (Marlborough: Crowood, 1998); ‘Masters of Battle: Monty, Patton and Rommel at War’ (London: Penguin, 2008) ‘Winston's Charge: Lieutenant Churchill and the British Army's Last Cavalry Charge’ (Hard Corps Books, 2020).
