Height overall: 47cm (18.5in)
Patinated bronze. Cast from a model by George Halliday (fl 1868-1912) based upon Sir Thomas Lawrence’s full length portrait of Francis, Lord Seaforth. Raised on a rectangular base with concaved sides applied with a bronze plaque to the obverse inscribed, 'Seaforth Highlanders /1793’ and another to the reverse inscribed ‘The Right Hon The Countess of Carnarvon / from an ever grateful patient / 1916 - 1917’. Height of bronze figure: 35cm (13.7in). Attributed to the art bronze founders and silversmiths Elkington & Co. Ltd.
The present model was the traditional regimental wedding present for officers of the Seaforth Highlanders, but in silver rather than bronze. The model depicts the Mackenzie clan chieftan who raised the regiment for service against Revolutionary France in 1793. This bronze version was presented to Almina, Lady Carnarvon by a grateful Seaforths officer who was evidently sent to recuperate Lady Carnarvon's Hospital for Officers, 48 Bryanston Square, London. One notable detail in the present figure is the regimental motto clearly incised on the shoulder belt plate - "Cuidigh n' Righ’ (Help the King).
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At the age of nineteen, Lady Almina married the 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Half French, she was believed to be the illegitimate daughter of Baron Alfred Rothschild who was both her guardian and godfather. Her fortune saved her husband from financial ruin and, like Lady Cora, the American heiress in Downton Abbey, she funded the renovation of her husband’s ancestral seat. Her subsequent inheritance from also funded Lord Carnarvon’s search for Tutankhamen’s tomb. In 1914, the Countess was thirty-eight, when she opened Highclere Castle as a surgical hospital for officers. She took on the role of matron and appointed the family doctor as medical director and employed 30 nurses. Eminent surgeons were brought from London and an operating theatre was set up in one of the bedrooms.
In 1916 with no end to the war in sight, Lady Carnarvon decided that Highclere offered insufficient scope, and decided to relocate the hospital to London. She applied for a lease on 48 Bryanston Square to the Trustees of the Portman Estate who were reluctant to take on a hospital but were more concerned that the premises would be commandeered by the War Office. With the lease secured, the Countess set about the converting the building. As with the hospital at Highclere, Baron de Rothschild paid for the equipment and alterations, which included an elevator, an operating theatre and X-ray apparatus, as well as essential medical supplies, and the salaries for both the nursing and domestic staff. A matron was in charge of the nursing staff, most of whom were Irish, having been recruited via contacts in horse-racing circles. The domestic staff consisted of a cook, a dozen maids and several footmen.
Lady Carnarvon's Hospital for Officers opened in January 1916. It had 40 beds and was affiliated to Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital on Millbank. Lord Kitchener came to inspect the premises and was very impressed. In February 1917 George V and Queen Mary also paid a visit. During that year the hospital began to treat casualties from the Royal Flying Corps, and became one of three in London specializing in burns cases. The country house atmosphere persisted with the single rooms and small wards for 2 to 4 patients bearing names taken from the guest rooms at Highclere. Moreover fresh produce arrived from daily from Highclere estate. One officer, in writing a letter of thanks to Lady Carnarvon, recalled being served breakfast in bed by a butler, before a footman inquired in which order he would care to read the papers.
Francis Humberston Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth (1754-1815), Chief of the Mackenzie Clan was known as MacCoinnich Bodhar (‘Deaf Mackenzie’ in Gaelic). As a young midshipman in the Royal Navy, he lost his hearing to scarlet fever and was speech impaired, forcing him to quit the Service; but, having learnt to ‘talk with his fingers’, he went on to pursue social, intellectual and political ambitions. When war broke out with Revolutionary France in 1793 he was empowered as Lieutenant-Colonel-Commandant and raised a Highland Battalion to be called the 78th Highland Regiment, known as Seaforth’s Highlanders. In 1797 he was created Lord Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail in the peerage of Great Britain, and later rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1808.
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