Foster 9

Lieutenant-Colonel James Skinner (1778~1841), 1830-40

Half-length portrait. He is dressed in a dark blue uniform faced with red and profusely ornamented with silver lace. A gold sword-belt encircles his waist, the sword itself being tucked under the left arm. On his breast is the cross of the Bath.

Signed by the artist lower left in ‘nasta‘liq’ script.

30 by 25 ins (76 by 63.5 cms)

Presented by John Gubbins, 18....

Exhibited: ‘India and Britain’, Commonwealth Institute, 1982, (210)

Skinner was born in 1778, the son of an officer in the East India Company’s service and a Rajput woman. While still young he obtained a commission in the army of Sindhia, then commanded by General de Boigne. Here he speedily distinguished himself by his dashing valour and skill in tactics. On the outbreak of war between the Marathas and the English in 1803, Skinner was forced to lay down his commission; and he then joined the army of General Lake, and obtained the command of an Irregular Cavalry Corps, which soon made itself famous as ‘Skinner’s Horse’. His services won for him the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, a Companionship of the Bath, and a grant of land in Aligarh district. He died at Hansi on 4 December 1841, and was buried at Delhi, in the church of St. James, which he himself had built some years previously at a cost of £20,000.

For the artist, see M. and W.G. Archer, ‘Indian painting for the British’, Oxford, 1955, p.69. The painting is similar to that painted by William Melville c.1836 which hung in the vestry of St. James's Church, Delhi, and from which the engraving in J.B. Fraser, ‘Military memoir of Lieutenant-Colonel James Skinner’ (London,1851) was made. For Melville see F880.

Other portraits of Skinner are in the possession of Basil Bourne (see D. Holman. ‘Sikander Sahib’ (London, 1961) frontispiece, pp.166-67), the National Army Museum and the mess of Skinner’s Horse. See also M. Archer, ‘The world of Colonel Skinner’ (London, 1983).