John Stanley (British Army officer)

John Stanley
Portrait by Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1776
Born(1750-01-18)18 January 1750
England
Died18 June 1783(1783-06-18) (aged 33)
Malvern Wells, Worcestershire
Buried
Ormskirk, Lancashire
AllegianceGreat Britain
Service years
1775–1783
Rank
Captain
Unit20th Regiment of Foot
Conflicts

Captain John Stanley (18 January 1750 – 18 June 1783) was a British Army officer who served in the American War of Independence.[1][2][3]

Biography

Born on 18 January 1750, son of Revd Dr Thomas Stanley, whose cousin was the 11th Earl of Derby, and his wife Betty (d. 1780), daughter and coheir of John Shaw of York. His eldest brother was Colonel Thomas Stanley, who later became a long-serving Member of Parliament for Lancashire. Stanley was educated at Manchester Grammar School.[1][2][4][5][3]He belonged to the Stanleys of Cross Hall, a branch of the family descended from Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby; his grandfather Thomas Stanley of Cross Hall was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1718.[6]

As historian Norman S. Poser argues, political and military power in eighteenth-century Britain was largely controlled by an oligarchy of about two hundred immensely wealthy landowning families. Advancement to senior positions in politics or the army typically required belonging to—or marrying into—one of these families.[7] Stanley's connection to the prominent Stanley family (the Earls of Derby) significantly shaped his career. As a cousin of Lady Charlotte (Stanley) Burgoyne—wife of Lieutenant-general John Burgoyne—this family tie was the primary reason for his appointment as Burgoyne's aide-de-camp. This relationship underpinned his service throughout the American War of Independence and remained a constant in his career, continuing when Burgoyne was later appointed Commander-in-Chief in Ireland in 1782.

Military career

Stanley's military service began in 1775, when he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 20th Regiment of Foot. His rise was rapid: on 9 March 1776, he was promoted to captain. That same May, he was sent to Quebec to serve as aide-de-camp to Burgoyne, a position secured through family ties—Burgoyne had married Stanley's cousin.[1][2][7]

In 1777, during the Saratoga campaign, Stanley was severely wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Freeman's Farm. Following the battle, he appeared in the hospital returns at Albany, where injured British prisoners were treated by Continental Army medical staff, and was subsequently exchanged as a prisoner of war. He probably returned home with his regiment around 1781.[1][2][3][8]

The following year, 1782, he continued in his role as aide-de-camp after Burgoyne's appointment as Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.[1][2][3]

Stanley’s service ended tragically on 18 June 1783, when he died at Malvern Wells "of a decline" at the age of 33; he was buried in Ormskirk, Lancashire-the traditional burial place for the Stanley family (Earls of Derby).[1][2][3][7]

Battles of Saratoga

As aide-de-camp to Burgoyne, Stanley played an important role in the Battles of Saratoga, which historian Edmund Morgan has described as "a great turning point" for the American War of Independence.[9] R. W. Apple Jr. called them "the most important battle ever fought in the world within the last 1,000 years."[10][11]

The first Battle of Saratoga was on September 19, 1777: the Battle of Freeman's Farm. Burgoyne personally accompanied the centre column, commanded by Brigadier General James Hamilton, together with Stanley and his other aides-de-camp. Stanley's regiment, the 20th Regiment of Foot, formed part of the centre column.[12]As Burgoyne’s aide-de-camp, Stanley was constantly exposed to the fighting; at one point, a sharpshooter’s fire was so close that Burgoyne himself was believed to have been killed, when the victim was actually an aide beside him.[13] [14][15] At Freeman's Farm, Burgoyne's force of about 7,200 men faced an American force of about 9,000.[16][17]This was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war especially for Stanley's battalion.[1][2][18][3][8][19]

Positioned on the left flank of Brigadier General Hamilton’s central column with the 20th Regiment of Foot, the regiment faced heavy pressure from American riflemen. When the British center under the 62nd Regiment began to waver, elements of the 20th, personally led forward by General Phillips, delivered a timely reinforcement that stabilized the line and prevented a breakthrough.[20][19]Burgoyne later reported that “the stress lay upon the 20th, 21st, and 62nd regiments, most parts of which were engaged near four hours without intermission.”[21]

In the memoir of Roger Lamb, a British soldier present at the battle, he wrote:

'In this battle an unusual number of officers fell, as our army abounded with young men of respectability at this time, who after several years of general peace anterior to the American revolution, were attracted to the profession of arms. Three subalterns of the 20th regiment on this occasion, the oldest of whom did not exceed the age of seventeen years, were buried together'[22]

One 20th Regiment soldier remembered that, as the hours passed, the "ground flowed with English and American blood, and the dead bodies of friends and enemies covered each other" on the contested field.[23]

General Burgoyne had gained the field of battle but suffered nearly 600 casualties. The most by the 20th Regiment of Foot including Stanley who was severely wounded and taken prisoner. Stanley was one of the notable losses among Burgoyne’s staff, while fellow aide-de-camp Sir Francis Clerke was mortally wounded at Bemis Heights.[24] [25][26][27] Total casualties for the battalion were 116, all incurred in the first battle. According to the Admissions Register of Manchester School, at the Battles of Saratoga "the 20th Regiment is said to have distinguished itself by great gallantry".[1][2][18][3][8][19][28][29]

Prior to the formal surrender of Burgoyne’s army on 17 October 1777, the colours of the 20th Regiment of Foot were burnt to prevent their falling into American hands.[30][31]

More than fifty years after the battle, G. R. Gleig's historical novel The Chelsea Pensioners (1829) recalled the regiment's conduct at Freeman's Farm, describing the 20th as having "covered themselves with glory" and as having behaved "with a degree of gallantry almost unprecedented."[32]

Gainsborough portrait

A portrait of Stanley by Thomas Gainsborough was painted several months prior to Stanley's departure for Quebec.[1][2][33]

'XX' button on Captain John Stanley
'XX' button for enlisted soldiers of the 20th Regiment of Foot c1776

The portrait is feigned oval. Stanley is shown in the post-1768 uniform of the Regiment of the 20th Foot (the coat with yellow facing and coat buttons moulded with 'XX' decoration, and a single epaulette on the right shoulder) is shown in three-quarter pose looking to the left. The ‘XX’ on the buttons reflects the regiment’s designation in Roman numerals, which gave rise to its long-standing nickname “The Two Tens”.[34][35] The single epaulette on the right shoulder was the prescribed insignia for a captain of a battalion company under the Clothing Warrant of 19 December 1768.[36] [37] He wears a powdered bagwig (the long hair at the nape enclosed in a black silk or taffeta bag secured with a visible black ribbon), a fashionable style for officers and gentlemen of the period,[38]his right hand is tucked into his waistcoat, and he holds his black cocked hat beneath his left arm.[39][40]

The portrait exemplifies Gainsborough’s distinctive approach to military portraiture.[2]He combined accurate rendering of rank insignia and uniform details with the fluid, feathery brushwork that characterised his mature style, giving the fabrics, gold lace and linen a sense of lightness and movement rather than rigid formality.[41]The conventional pose of the right hand tucked into the waistcoat conveys composure and self-command, a gesture frequently employed in eighteenth-century portraiture.[42]The hat held beneath the left arm follows a standard genteel convention of the period, prescribed in contemporary etiquette manuals as part of a composed and refined male posture.[43][44]

Military and naval portraits formed a relatively small part of Gainsborough's output. Katherine Gazzard notes that he did not produce a large number of military portraits, although he attracted a small but steady stream of commissions from mostly aristocratic military and naval officers throughout his career.[45]

Gazzard further argues that, in the late 1770s, Gainsborough's military and naval portraits increasingly adopted a more sentimental mode, depicting young officers in pensive poses that emphasised private feeling alongside public duty. Painted in 1776, Stanley's portrait can be understood within this development: its composed pose, genteel manner, and emphasis on self-command present the sitter as both a military officer and a cultivated gentleman, rather than through martial action alone. [45]

Ellis Waterhouse, who may have known the painting only from a photograph in the Witt Library and was unaware of the sitter’s identity, described it as “probably Bath period”.[33]Hugh Belsey, however, considers it likely—both stylistically and in light of Stanley’s biographical details—that the portrait was commissioned to mark the sitter’s army commission in 1776, and was therefore painted shortly after Gainsborough’s move from Bath to London.[2]

One year after painting Stanley, Gainsborough returned to exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1777, his first appearance there in five years. Contemporary commentary in the London Chronicle described him as "one of the first portrait-painters in the Kingdom", adding that "he is inferior to none in the most essential requisites of his art, but perhaps he is superior to all others in the ease and richness of his drapery".[46]

Before its acquisition by Knoedler, the portrait belonged to a Revd Patterson, who had retired to Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. It was purchased at an ironmonger's in the town by art dealer Robert Partridge (1861-1932) for £5 (information from the Frank Simpson Papers). Knoedler purchased it on 30 November 1923.[2] Portrait of Captain John Stanley (1776) and Sir Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of John Burgoyne (1766) were both sold by Knoedler. The Frick bought the Burgoyne portrait from Knoedler in 1943; it had previously been in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan Sr.[47] Knoedler sold the Stanley portrait in 1924 to John Levy, New York from where it entered the collection of Mary, Viscountess Eccles.[1][2][47][48]Following her death in 2003, the portrait was offered in the Christie's Important British and Irish Art sale of 9 June 2004. In its press release for the sale, Christie's presented it as “the elegant portrait by Thomas Gainsborough of Captain John Stanley in military uniform,” without referring to the painting’s important place among portraits of the American War of Independence.[49] A condition report by British picture conservator and art historian Sarah Walden assessed the painting as being in excellent condition.[50]Its subsequent ownership and present location are not publicly recorded.[2]

In 1929, five years after selling the Stanley portrait, Knoedler purchased another military portrait by Gainsborough—the full-length Portrait of Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Craggs-Nugent (1764)—at auction in London for $74,095, a record price at the time for any Gainsborough portrait of a man.[51]

Stanley is absent from John Trumbull's Surrender of General Burgoyne painting (c. 1821–1822), as Trumbull often omitted figures he had not personally sketched or for whom he lacked reliable likenesses during his preparatory work in the 1790s (Stanley having died in 1783).[52]

The painting is notable as the only major British portrait by either Gainsborough or Reynolds depicting an officer directly involved in the American War of Independence—in full military uniform and painted in 1776, just before the Battles of Saratoga—that remains in private hands.[53][54]

Portraits of British officers who served in the American Revolutionary War are exceptionally scarce. Curators at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation have noted that “likenesses of British officers who served in the Revolutionary War are rare,” while Ghislain d’Humières, the foundation’s director, observed that “the faces of early America’s military officers are largely lost to time.”[55][56]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Important British and Irish Art, Christie's, 9 June 2004, page 8 to 19, OCLC, 55543973.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Catalogue raisonné of Thomas Gainsborough, The Portraits, Fancy Picture, and Copies after Old Masters, Hugh Belsey, 2019,  page 84, catalogue no. 845 OCLC 1031341988.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Obituary of John Stanley, Esq, captain in the 20th regiment of foot, under 'Obituary of Considerable Persons; with Biographies', Gentleman's Magazine, LIII, June 1783, pp. 542-43
  4. ↑ Family Search on Elizabeth "Betty" Shaw (about 1720-1780)
  5. ↑ J. Burke, A general and heraldic dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom, London 1826-, 2003, I, p.1102
  6. ↑ Seacombe, John (with 1840 additions). History of the House of Stanley. Published in the 1840 edition.
  7. 1 2 3 From the Battlefield to the Stage, The Many Lives of General John Burgoyne, Norman S. Poser, McGill-Queens University Press 2022, Page 4, ISBN 978-0228014539
  8. 1 2 3 Baumgardt, Kenneth. The Royal Army in America During the Revolutionary War: The American Prisoner Records, 2008, p. 109-117
  9. ↑ Morgan, Edmund (1956). The Birth of the Republic: 1763–1789. [Chicago] University of Chicago Press. pp. 82–83
  10. ↑ Apple, Raymond Walter (1999-04-18). "Best Battle: Benedict Arnold, Hero". Millennium issues. The New York Times Magazine. New York City. Archived from the original on 2023-09-09. Retrieved 2026-05-30.
  11. ↑ Schnitzer, Eric (2021-03-25) [2019-11-26]. "Battle of Saratoga: When Goliath Blinked". American Battlefield Trust. Washington, DC. Archived from the original on 2026-02-07. Retrieved 2026-05-30.
  12. ↑ Steven E. Clay, Staff Ride Handbook for the Saratoga Campaign, 13 June to 8 November 1777 (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, US Army Combined Arms Center, 2018). Exact location in the text: Day 2, Sub-stand 12A – “The Advance” (description of the British advance on the morning of 19 September 1777).
  13. ↑ William L. Stone, The Campaign of Lieut. Gen. John Burgoyne, and the Expedition of Lieut. Col. Barry St. Leger (Albany: Joel Munsell, 1877), p. 393.
  14. ↑ Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War (New York: Henry Holt, 1997), chapter on the Battle of Freeman’s Farm.
  15. ↑ John F. Luzader, Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution (New York: Savas Beatie, 2008), account of Freeman’s Farm.
  16. ↑ John Luzader, Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution (Savas Beatie, 2008) p230
  17. ↑ Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War (Henry Holt, 1997) p355
  18. 1 2 Saratoga National Historical Park, 'How many casualties were there in the Battles of Saratoga?' Official Facebook Page Post dated 30 September 2021
  19. 1 2 3 The British Invasion from the North: The Campaigns of Generals Carleton and Burgoyne from Canada, 1776-1777, with the Journal of Lieut. William Digby (edited by James Phinney Baxter, 1887)p 332-335
  20. ↑ Staff Ride Handbook for the Saratoga Campaign, p. 166 (or relevant section on Freeman's Farm). "Sensing the danger of the 62nd's condition, General Phillips sent the 20th Foot to bolster that regiment's left flank."
  21. ↑ John Burgoyne, letter to Lord George Germain, Albany, 20 October 1777, printed in A State of the Expedition from Canada, as Laid Before the House of Commons, by Lieutenant-General Burgoyne (London: J. Almon, 1780), pp. 12–13 (or the corresponding pages in the documentary appendix containing the full dispatch).
  22. ↑ Hagist, Don N., ed. (2022). A British Soldier's Story: Roger Lamb's narrative of the American Revolution. p. 48. ISBN 978-1594163975.
  23. ↑ 1. Don N. Hagist, British Soldiers, American War (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2012), 63. William Crawford whose autobiography,  "A Narrative of the Life and Character of William Crawford", was published in 1823, was, in 1777, a private in Lieutenant General the Honourable George Lane Parker's company, 20th Regiment of Foot
  24. ↑ Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War ( New York: Henry Holt, 1997), sections on Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights.
  25. ↑ John F. Luzader, Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution (New York: Savas Beatie, 2008), accounts of staff and officer casualties at both battles.
  26. ↑ Steven E. Clay, Staff Ride Handbook for the Saratoga Campaign, 13 June to 8 November 1777 (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2018), pp. 228–231 (officer casualties in Hamilton’s brigade and staff presence).
  27. ↑ For Clerke specifically: contemporary reports summarized in the above works (mortally wounded 7 October 1777 while carrying orders; died 15 October).
  28. ↑ Smith, Jeremiah Finch, ed. (1866). The Admission Register of the Manchester School (PDF). Vol. I. Manchester: Chetham Society. pp. 90–91, 233. Retrieved 2026-05-30.
  29. ↑ Thomas, Campbell (1807). "XII" (PDF). Annals of Great Britain from the Ascention of George III, to the Peace of Amiens (PDF). Vol. I. Edinburgh: Mundell, Doig & Stevenson. pp. 381–429. Retrieved 2026-05-30.
  30. ↑ Major B. Smyth, A History of the Lancashire Fusiliers (formerly XX Regiment), Vol. I (Dublin: Sackville Press, 1903), p. 168, explicitly states: “Previous to the surrender the colours of the XX were burnt.”
  31. ↑ Stanley C. Johnson, The Flags of Our Fighting Army (A. & C. Black, 1918) says of the Lancashire Fusiliers (the later designation of the 20th): “They were burnt in order that they should not fall into the hands of the enemy when forced to surrender at Saratoga.”
  32. ↑ Gleig, G. R. (1829). The Chelsea Pensioners. Vol. 2. London: Henry Colburn. pp. 204, 207.
  33. 1 2 E. Waterhouse, Thomas Gainsborough, London, 1958, no. 773, as 'Officer of the 20th Foot'. OCLC 4900302
  34. ↑ Lancashire Fusiliers. Wikipedia. “In 1751, the regiment became the 20th Regiment of Foot, often written in Roman numerals ‘XX Foot’, (hence the nickname The Two Tens).”
  35. ↑ Richard Trimen, The Regiments of the British Army Chronologically Arranged (London: W.H. Allen & Co., 1878).
  36. ↑ 27. Royal Warrant of 19 December 1768, “His Majesty’s Warrant for the Regulation of the Colours, Clothing, etc. of the Marching Regiments of Foot”, The National Archives, Kew, WO 30/13B (Miscellany Book: Clothing Correspondence); exact wording: ' Epaulettes The Officers of grenadiers to wear an epaulette on each shoulder. Those of the battalion to wear one on the right shoulder. They are to be either of embroidery or lace, with gold or silver fringe.'
  37. ↑ Hew Strachan, British Military Uniforms 1768–1796 (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1975), pp. 171–178.
  38. ↑ Richard Corson, Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years (London: Peter Owen, 1965/later eds.).
  39. ↑ Royal Warrant of 19 December 1768 (WO 30/13B): “ The hats to be laced either with gold or silver… and to be cocked uniformly.”
  40. ↑ Carl Franklin, British Army Uniforms from 1751 to 1783 (Pen & Sword).
  41. ↑ Sarah Gould, “Thomas Gainsborough’s ‘Carelessness’: Portraiture, Technique and Individuality”, Interfaces, no. 51 (2024)
  42. ↑ Marcia Pointon, Hanging the Head: Portraiture and Social Formation in Eighteenth-Century England (Yale University Press, 1993), pp. 59–62.
  43. ↑ François Nivelon, The Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour ( London, 1737)
  44. ↑ David Mannings, “A Well-Mannered Portrait by Highmore”, The Connoisseur , vol. 189 (1975), pp. 116–119.
  45. 1 2 Gazzard, Katherine (2019). Portraiture and the British Naval Officer, 1727–1805. PhD thesis. University of East Anglia. p. 140-141
  46. ↑ London Chronicle, 24-26 April 1777, p. 396
  47. 1 2 Frick Collection object page (provenance: J. Pierpont Morgan → Knoedler → Frick, 1943)
  48. ↑ Frick history on post-1919 acquisitions (explicitly lists the 1943 purchases including the Reynolds Burgoyne)
  49. ↑ Christie's, Important British and Irish Art , 9 June 2004, press release, 16 April 2004, pp. 1–3.
  50. ↑ Sarah Walden, condition report on Portrait of Captain John Stanley by Thomas Gainsborough, attached to Christie's, Important British and Irish Art , 9 June 2004.
  51. ↑ $74,095 for Portrait; London Price Is Record for Gainsborough Painting of Man. The New York Times. 3 May 1929. Archived from the original
  52. ↑ Jaffe, Irma B. (1975). John Trumbull: Patriot-Artist of the American Revolution. New York Graphic Society. pp. 85-92. ISBN 978-0821204597 (or 0821204599)
  53. ↑ Belsey 2019 (Gainsborough cat. raisonné), OCLC 1031341988: Lists no other Gainsborough portraits of Revolutionary War officers in private hands.
  54. ↑ David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, Yale University Press, 2000, OCLC 45328809: Lists no other Reynolds portraits of Revolutionary War officers in private hands.
  55. ↑ Art Daily, “Rare Revolutionary War portrait acquired by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation”, 8 November 2018. The article reproduces a Colonial Williamsburg Foundation press release and includes the statement: “Likenesses of British officers who served in the Revolutionary War are rare.”
  56. ↑ Fine Art Connoisseur, “New Acquisition: Portrait of a British Officer Who Fought in America”, 12 March 2019. The article quotes Ghislain d’Humières, then director of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, as saying: “The faces of early America’s military officers are largely lost to time.”
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