The Dragoon Guard

Painted in 1820 following victory at Waterloo, this officer looks resplendent in his scarlet coat with silver lace, deep black collar with buttons, and gold aiguillette. Belonging to the 2nd Dragoon Guards (The Queen’s Bays), he is traditionally held to be from the Lindsell family.

Handsomely painted and with a blue grey background, the portrait has a scratched signature ‘J. H. M. – 1820 – fecit’. It is set in the original gold frame that is glazed on the back to show neatly plaited brown hair.

Census records show that James Heath Millington was born in 1799 in Wolverhampton rather than in Cork as previously understood. He married Elizabeth Burton, also of Wolverhampton, in 1837 and with her had a son and a daughter. Having become a widower with two young children, he re-married in 1848 to Caroline Gilder the daughter of a builder and with her had three daughters, Caroline Alice, Ada and Florence. Millington split his working life between London and Ireland. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Society of British Artists.