Overall: 76cm (30in) x 70cm (27.5in)
Pastel and charcoal on paper. Half length portrait of Captain Jackson looking to the front in the review order tunic of the 16th (Queen’s) Lancers. Sheet: 59cm x 49cm. Framed and glazed.
George William Collins Jackson (1817-1893) was born in Calcutta. He was gazetted Cornet in the 1st Dragoon Guards on 29 March 1839, becoming Lieutenant on 12 June 1840, and Captain on 7 June 1844. He served in Canada, on detachment at Kingston under Captain Schonswar, from July 1841 to April 1842. He exchanged into the 16th Lancers in May 1845, and joined the regiment at Meerut in India on 18 November 1845. The 16th Lancers had been in India since 1822, having been sent thither after expressing its loyalty to Caroline of Brunswick, King George IV's estranged wife and queen consort. Legend has it that the King was so infuriated that he posted the regiment to India indefinitely. Consequently many of George Jackson’s brother officers had seen action in the First Afghan War (1839-42) and the Gwalior Campaign (1843). Jackson was subsequently deployed with the regiment in the First Sikh War (1845-46) being present in the actions at Buddiwal, Aliwal and Sobraon. At Aliwal a single squadron of the 16th charged an enemy cavalry force ten times its size, before going on to rout the artillery and infantry behind. Jackson went on Half-pay on 15 January 1847, and was appointed Staff Officer of Pensions the followng March. In October 1855 he was appointed to the 7th Hussars, on Full-pay, became Major in February 1856, and retired on 3 March 1857.