35cm (14in) x 46cm (18in)
Watercolour and gouache on paper. ‘17th Leicestershire Regiment - Landing on Cape Breton Island Previous to the Capture of Louisberg, 8th June, 1758’ - titled on the mount. Signed lower right. Image: 22.5cm x 34.5cm. Framed and glazed.
During the pivotal 1758 Siege of Louisbourg, the 17th Regiment of Foot served under the command of Brigadier General James Wolfe. On 8 June 1758, the regiment participated in the treacherous, heavily opposed amphibious landing at Gabarus Bay (Fresh Water Cove), where British forces successfully outflanked entrenched French positions and secured a critical beachhead on Cape Breton Island. Following the landing, the 17th Regiment of Foot actively supported Wolfe’s tactical operations, which included seizing the heights overlooking the harbour Fortress of Louisbourg and participating in the methodical, seven-week siege and heavy bombardment of the . Wolfe’s brigade heavily pressured the garrison until the French under Governor Drucour unconditionally capitulated on 26 July 1758, delivering a monumental victory that stripped France of its Atlantic stronghold. The 17th Foot then formed a part of the force which defeated the French at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and was present at the capture of Montreal in 1760, which transferred the sovereignty of Canada from France to England.
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Richard Simkin (1850-1926) was born in Kent, served in the Artists Rifles and attended the Heatherley Art School. He was employed by the War Office designing recruiting posters and providing illustrations for the ‘Army and Navy Gazette’. He married in 1880 and lived for six years at Aldershot before moving to Herne Bay. He illustrated ‘The War in Egypt’ for publisher George Routledge in 1883; and in 1888, produced a volume of illustrated verse under the title ‘Following the Drum - Sketches of Soldier-Life in Peace and War, Past and Present’. Regarded as an authority on British military uniforms, he depicted imperial and colonial troops to create such series as 'Types of the Indian Army' for the ‘Army and Navy Gazette’ in 1901, having gained much first hand information at the Colonial and India Exhibition of 1886. During his lifetime, he contributed illustrations to numerous publications including ‘The Graphic’ and ‘Boy’s Own Magazine’. His work can be found in many regimental museums.