'The Right Honble. Vicount [sic] Hardinge G.C.B. P.C., 1849'

Mezzotint by J Faed after Sir Francis Grant (1803-1878), published by Paul and Dominic Colnaghi, London, 1 November 1851.

A veteran of the Corunna retreat (1809) who lost a hand while serving as a liaison officer with the Prussians at Ligny (1815), in later years Lieutenant-General (later Field Marshal) Henry Hardinge, First Viscount Hardinge of Lahore (1785-1856) showed himself an able military administrator.

Upon the death in 1852 of his mentor, the Duke of Wellington, who in 1816 had presented him with the sword reputedly worn by Napoleon at Waterloo (and which he is here depicted as wearing), Hardinge succeeded to the command of the Army. He had a reputation as a reformer and established the School of Musketry at Hythe, as well as overseeing the introduction of the Enfield Rifle. However, the shortcomings of the Army during the Crimean War (1854-1856) clouded his reputation and he resigned as commander-in-chief in July 1856, dying two months later.