The Governors Cottage on the Rock of Gibraltar, March 1827. (w/c)

The Governors Cottage on the Rock of Gibraltar, March 1827. Watercolour by Major General Staunton St Clair (1785-1847). View of the Half Way Battery with a soldier of the 42nd Regiment in the foreground and the Governor’s Cottage and Wind Mill Hill in the background. St Clair enjoyed a successful military career and was awarded the Army Gold Medal towards the end of the Peninsular War for his part in the Battle of Nive in 1813. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1817 at the age of 32. Thomas St Clair was third in command of the garrison of Gibraltar in 1827 and a prolific amateur artist. Due to a fear of spies and invasion, it was illegal to draw the peninsula’s coasts or defences unless authorised by the military authorities. But as an officer St Clair was exempt from this exclusion. St Clair achieved the rank of Major General in 1846, the year before he died.