Cornet Thomas Boothby Parkyns, 15th (or the King's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, 1780

Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left 'J Boultbee, Pinx 1780', by John Boultbee (1753-1812), 1780.

Parkyns served in the 15th Light Dragoons from 1776 to 1781. He wears the distinctive metal light dragoons head dress with the comb and Gorgon's head, together with the battle honour, 'Emsdorf' (1760), particular to the 15th. The artist's sister, Jane Boultbee, was his stepmother.

Shortly after his marriage to the 'sole heir of Sir William James', Parkyns became MP for Stockbridge, Hampshire, then for Leicester in 1790. That he 'married money' is also suggested by the fact that in March 1794 he rejoined the Army as a Lieutenant and, by November, had risen through the ranks to be Colonel of the Prince of Wales's (Leicester) Fencible Infantry, a regiment raised for home defence. The following year he was created Baron Rancliffe of the Peerage of Ireland.