Gillray, James. “Brigade Major Weymouth 1797”. Original antique engraving by James Gillray. From the Bohn edition of 1851, using Gillray’s original copper plates. With later hand colouring.

“Brigade Major – Weymouth 1797” was first published by Hannah Humphrey on 15 November 1797.

The print mocks the pomposity of the British military forces stationed along the Dorset coast during King George III’s frequent summer holidays.

Historians and curators have long debated the exact identity of the portly officer depicted. There are two primary historical theories.

The most widely accepted 1830s theory suggests the subject is Captain and Lieutenant Colonel Harry Burrard of the First Regiment of Foot Guards, who was stationed at Weymouth. Burrard appears as a recurring character in other Gillray military satires from this era.

Later curators suggested a “Major Reid”. Modern researchers point to a Lieutenant Colonel Henry Read of Lord Harrington’s troops, whose presence at Weymouth was heavily documented during the King’s 1797 visit.

The humour in the etching relies heavily on the physical contrast between the clumsy officer and his high military station:

A very stout, heavily built officer is shown sitting astride a large charging horse (a charger) in profile.

His head is turned completely away from the viewer, giving him an aloof and anonymous appearance. He clumsily stretches out his right arm, holding a cane as if aggressively directing battlefield manoeuvres.

Gillray targets the vanity of officers taking part in “mock battles” and grand military reviews staged explicitly to entertain the King, who used the Weymouth barracks—the largest in Dorset—to review cavalry and infantry units.

Gillray was one of five children, and the only one to survive to maturity. In 1770 he was apprenticed to Harry Ashby, a London writing in engraver, and five years later W. Humphrey published a few of Gillray’s illustrations including satirical works. By the time Gillray commenced his career satire was old, but personal caricature was in its infancy. Other exponents in this form of art were soon overshadowed by Gillray’s superior craftsmanship.

His figures were full of vitality, titillating and reflective of some political crisis or private scandal. As his popularity increased so did demand by the public to see more of his work. In the rapidly changing politics of the late18th century he would produce a plate in twenty-four hours. Although sometimes overlooked his speech bubbles were elaborate and Gillray would spend considerable time composing and redrafting the text.

Between 1791 to 1807 his career continued successfully in association with William and Hannah Humphrey. There after Gillray’s health began to suffer. He eventually slipped into madness and died shortly before the Battle of Waterloo on June 1st 1815. Hannah, who had a close relationship with him nursed Gillray through out his final years and following his death the copper plates then formed part of Hannah’s estate when she died in 1818.

The executors of Hannah’s estate sold Gillray’s painstakingly worked plates for there second hand copper weight. Hearing of this, the then publisher, Bohn who had previously expressed an interest in buying the plates set about purchasing them from a variety of different sources, eventually acquiring over 500. In 1851 Bohn republished the engravings in a large folio volume, “The Works of James Gillray”.