Major Sir Thomas Pearson, 23rd Regiment, 1805 (c)

Miniature silhouette in watercolour on card, probably by John Buncombe, 1804 (c).

Thomas Pearson was commissioned into the 23rd Regiment of Foot as a second-lieutenant in 1796. He took part in General Sir Ralph Abercromby's expeditions to Egypt in 1801, and was wounded in the thigh. In 1804, he was promoted major and rejoined his regiment on the Isle of Wight. It was probably in this year that he sat for this portrait, since the artist John Buncombe lived on the island.

Pearson went on to fight during the Napoleonic Wars and in the American War of 1812. He was knighted in 1835 and promoted Lieutenant-General in 1841, and was Colonel of the 85th Regiment of Foot from 1843.