An unidentified officer of the 13th Bombay Native Infantry, 1824 circa (oil on canvas)

An unidentified officer of the 13th Bombay Native Infantry, 1824 circa. Oil on canvas by George Chinnery (1748-1847). The officers of the East India Company armies were largely from England, Scotland and Ireland. Scots and Irish were represented in a higher proportion than in the United Kingdom overall. Company officers generally came from more middle class backgrounds than officers in the British Army, who were more upper class. Chinnery worked in London as a miniaturist before travelling to India in 1802. He also visited Thailand and China. Apart from one brief visit to England he spent the rest of his life in the East and died in Macao in 1847.