''The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781'' is a 1783 large

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...

. It depicts the death of Major

Francis Peirson Major Francis Peirson (January 1757 – 6 January 1781) was a British Army officer who was serving on Jersey, in the Channel Islands off the coast of France. He was killed in the Battle of Jersey, one of the last battles to take place in the B ...

at the

Battle of Jersey The Battle of Jersey took place on 6 January 1781 when French forces during the American Revolutionary War unsuccessfully invaded the British-ruled island of Jersey to remove the threat it posed to French and American shipping. Jersey provided ...

on 6 January 1781.

Background

The Battle of Jersey was the last French attempt to seize the island of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, and one of the last battles with invading forces from a foreign nation in the British home islands.The

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden (; gd, Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince Wi ...

in 1746 was the last pitched battle on the British mainland; the

Battle of Fishguard The Battle of Fishguard was a military invasion of Great Britain by Revolutionary France during the War of the First Coalition. The brief campaign, on 22–24 February 1797, is the most recent landing on British soil by a hostile foreign force ...

involved a short-lived French invasion of Wales in February 1797, and a French expeditionary force fought at the Battle of Ballinamuck in the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influence ...

. The invasion was organized privately by Baron

Philippe de Rullecourt Philipe Charles Félix Macquart, Baron de Rullecourt was a French soldier who became a general of the Kingdom of France. In 1781, he was mortally wounded commanding the attempted invasion of Jersey at the Battle of Jersey. Biography Philipe C ...

but funded and supplied by the French government, and was intended to remove the threat that British naval vessels based in Jersey posed to American ships in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Approximately 1,000 French soldiers, commanded by de Rullecourt and an Indian,

Mir Sayyad Mir Sayyad, or Prince Emire, was an Indian general in the service of France who fought in Battle of Jersey, 1781. After his domain was annexed by the East India Company, he left India and entered the service of the Kingdom of France. He advised P ...

, landed at La Rocque,

Grouville Grouville is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. The parish is around east of St Helier. The parish covers a surface area of 4,354 vergées (7.8 km²). The parish includes the south-east portion of the main island o ...

, overnight on 5–6 January. They occupied

St Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

early on the morning of 6 January. They captured the

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey The Lieutenant Governor of Jersey (, Jèrriais: ''Gouvèrneux d'Jèrri'') is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The Lieutenant Governor has his own flag in Jersey, ...

Moses Corbet Major Moses Corbet (1728–1814) was a British Army officer who served as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey from 4 April 1771 to 6 January 1781. Early career Corbet joined the British Army c.1745. In 1748 he was an Ensign in the 7th Regiment of Foo ...

, in bed. Although Corbet surrendered, Peirson, the 24-year-old commander of around 2,000 troops of the British garrison, refused to surrender. As Peirson organized a counter-attack, a French shot killed him. Lieutenant Philippe Dumaresq of the Jersey militia took command of the British forces, which comprised detachments of the 95th Regiment of Foot, 78th Highlanders, and Jersey Militia. The British forces quickly overwhelmed the French, most of whom surrendered.

Painting

John Boydell John Boydell (; 19 January 1720 (New Style) – 12 December 1804) was a British publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated a British tradition i ...

, a successful engraver and publisher and

Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, commissioned Copley to paint a large painting, by . The scene looks towards the final French resistance in Royal Square, viewed along what is now Peirson Place, with the French soldiers taking their last stand around the statue of

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) * ...

. Further British reinforcements are visible on the hill at the top left. The statue and some of the buildings depicted still stand (some with bullet holes caused by the battle). Although Peirson was killed in the early stages of the battle, the painting shows Peirson (at the centre of the painting under the large

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

, supported by other officers) being shot down leading the final charge, giving him a more heroic role and fate. To the left, his black servant Pompey avenges his master by shooting the sniper. It is believed that the depictions of the officers supporting the stricken Peirson are true portraits; the black servant of auctioneer James Christie was the model for Pompey, although it is unclear whether a black servant played a role (there is no suggestion in contemporaneous sources). Copley modeled the civilians fleeing to the right on his wife, family nurse and children. Peirson became a national hero, and the painting drew crowds when it was first exhibited at 28

Haymarket Haymarket may refer to: Places Australia * Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia Germany * Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market) Russia * Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...

in May 1784, with admission charged at 1 shilling. The

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

purchased the painting in 1864. Between 1989 and 2010, a copy appeared on the 10

Jersey pound The pound (french: Livre de Jersey, Jèrriais: Louis de Jersey; abbreviation: JEP; sign: £) is the currency of Jersey. Jersey is in currency union with the United Kingdom, and the Jersey pound is not a separate currency but is an issue of ban ...

note, and before that on the 1 pound note. File:The Death of Major Peirson 1784 Copley description 1.jpg, 1784 description File:The Death of Major Peirson 1784 Copley description 2.jpg,

Notes

References

;Citations ;Bibliography
''The English school''
G. Hamilton; Charles Tilt, 1833; p. 193-5
''Empires of the Imagination: Politics, War, and the Arts in the British World, 1750–1850''
Holger Hoock; Profile Books, 2010; , p. 94-6

External links

''The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781''
at the Tate Gallery's official website *
John Singleton Copley in America
'' a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on the painting (fig. 10) {{DEFAULTSORT:Death of Major Pearson Paintings by John Singleton Copley War paintings Flags in art Paintings about death category:Paintings about the American Revolution Collection of the Tate galleries 1783 paintings Cultural depictions of British men Cultural depictions of military officers Paintings of people

Background

Painting

See also

Notes

References

External links