Question about the set "death of general wolfe" (1 Viewer)
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Blackbob
Specialist
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There appears to be two versions of Penny's picture --see the Canadian Military History Gateway image --- http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/image-220-eng.asp?page_id=255
The figure in uniform supporting Wolfe may come from the 28nd Regiment of foot, while the soldier delivering news of the battle is thought to come from the 22nd regiment. The person in civilian clothes may be Dr Thomas Hinde, Royal Navy.
Sorry that this response sounds a bit vague but there is doubt about who was present at the death of Wolfe. Benjamin West's well known painting on the same subject is thought to be more suspect, containing people who were known not to be present at Wolfe's death.
Blackbob
The figure in uniform supporting Wolfe may come from the 28nd Regiment of foot, while the soldier delivering news of the battle is thought to come from the 22nd regiment. The person in civilian clothes may be Dr Thomas Hinde, Royal Navy.
Sorry that this response sounds a bit vague but there is doubt about who was present at the death of Wolfe. Benjamin West's well known painting on the same subject is thought to be more suspect, containing people who were known not to be present at Wolfe's death.
Blackbob
Thanks for your help. It's appreciated.
According to the "Canadian Military History Gateway", General Wolfe was with the "Louisbourg Grenadiers" when he was hit at the battle of the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759. And the 1763 painting "The death of General James Wolfe" by Edward Penny is probably much closer to the truth of how Wolfe died than Benjamin West’s more famous painting. Of all the accounts of the general’s last moments, Captain John Knox’s version is generally accepted as the most credible. Knox stated that ‘various accounts have been circulated of General Wolfe’s manner of dying, his last words, and the officers into whose hands he fell; and many, from a vanity of talking, claimed the honour of being his supporters after he was wounded; but […] Lieutenant Brown, of the grenadiers of Louisbourg and the twenty-second regiment […] with Mr. Henderson, a volunteer in the same company, and a private man, were the three persons who carried his excellency to the rear; which an artillery officer seeing, immediately flew to his assistance; and these were all that attended him in his dying moments.’
If we consider the fact that the "Louisbourg Grenadiers" was a temporary unit formed in 1759 for the Quebec expedition from the grenadier companies of the 22nd, 40th and 45th regiments, the figures in uniform are from these grenadier companies. And if we take into account the description of the uniform for each of these regiments, I would say that the figure in uniform supporting Wolfe is from the 22nd Regiment of Foot, while the soldier delivering news of the battle to Wolfe is from the 45th Regiment of Foot.
The above image shows grenadiers of the 22nd (left), 40th (right) and 45th (centre) Regiments of Foot.
mikemiller1955
Lieutenant General
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Wow! It's a very nice diorama!