Overall: 44cm (17in) x 35cm (13.7in)
Provenance: Artist’s studio
Watercolour and gouache on paper. Sergeant Bernard McCabe of the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Sobraon placing the Regimental Colour on the Sikh ramparts, after the Ensign originally carrying it had been killed on 10th February 1846. Original artwork. Signed lower right in pencil ‘Douglas N Anderson’.
The present original artwork is featured on the British Empire website and carries the accompanying commentary: ‘This illustration by Douglas Anderson is based on the Ackerman print [by Henry Martens] of the battle of Sobraon in the First Sikh War … The Colour is carried by a sergeant of the Light Company as the regiment storm the Sikh defences in the closing stages of the war.
‘Some regiments wore their full dress shakos with white covers during the First Sikh War of 1845-6 but the 31st had white covered peaked forage caps. They are also, seen here in this illustration by Douglas Anderson, wearing red shell jackets which still required the wearing of the black leather stock under the collar. The collar and round cuffs are buff and the buttons are pewter. The two men on the left are privates of a battalion company, wearing crossed shoulder belts to carry the ammunition pouch and bayonet, and a haversack on the left hip. There is no sign of a water-bottle in the illustration. The belts are kept in place with a white waist-belt, an item not normally worn by British regular regiments but adopted by EIC regiments.
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The bugler is wearing light company shoulder wings and is armed with a sword. He has no need of an ammunition pouch or bayonet so his right shoulder belt carries his sword while his haversack hangs on his right hip. The bugle is strung with green cords and tassels.
The officer, on the right has a different pattern shell jacket which has numerous gilt buttons down the front which are ornamental because it actually fastens with hooks and eyes. The collar and pointed cuffs are buff, and on the shoulders are gold cord straps which form a figure at the shoulder and are buttoned near the neck . Over his left shoulder is a cased spy glass but another eye-witness account mention a flask of cold tea being carried. The waistbelt is of black leather and is used to carry the sword.’
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 did 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).
