Object Description
This strong portrait of an was painted by Charles Hayter, presumably to record the sitter’s staff appointment as Permanent-Assistant-Quarter-Master-General, the uniform of which he wears. Based in London, by the time this portrait was painted Hayter was well-established as a portrait painter and had been exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy since 1786. He and his wife Martha raised their children as artists – including their daughter Anne, who, like her father, painted portrait miniatures as her career. This portrait, which shows little to no fading, is typical of Hayter’s style – including the wavy lines which make up the tonal background.
Although there is little biographical information to be gleaned on the life of the sitter – an officer called William Read – his promotions in the Army are typically well documented. He was first commissioned in the Royal Staff Corps on 28th February 1800. The Royal Staff Corps were established c.1800 and disbanded c.1837, their main task being the creation and upkeep of military lines of communication and ultimately answerable to the Quartermaster General.
On the 2nd January 1801 Read was promoted to Lieutenant and on 19th December 1803 to Captain. We know that Read was stationed in Cape Town in January 1806 from a document held in the National Archives, it is signed by Read and details the positioning of newly established lines of communication. Cape Town was first occupied by the British in 1795 although leaving in 1803 following a truce, returning three years later in 1806 for recapture when the truce collapsed.
On 9th December 1813 Read was made Permanent-Assistant-Quarter-Master-General, brevetted to the rank of Major within the Army. Read maintained this position until 2nd December 1824 when he was promoted to Deputy Quarter-Master-General to His Majesty’s Forces in the East Indies with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army.