'Pte R.D. Laidler. R.R.W. Camp Security Guard. Palace Barracks Holywood Belfast.', 13 July 1974

Graphite and carbon by Ralph Lillford, 1974.

During his visit to Palace Barracks, Holywood, Co Down in 1974, Ralph Lillford encountered some difficulty from Private Laidler who made it clear that he did not like a civilians in the Guardroom and refused to let him look in the Armoury. When a sergeant arrived to see what the artist needed, Lillford asked to draw a soldier in combat gear - and suggested Laidler for a model.

For his uncooperative attitude, the truculent soldier had to sit sweating in an anti-gas respirator while the artist took nearly an hour to complete the drawing, working mainly on the rifle and equipment. Private Laidler wears a fragmentation vest, or flak jacket, while holding his L1A1 self-loading rifle. The weapon is fitted with a L2A1 infantry SUIT sight to improve the identification of targets in poor light or at night.

Between 1971 and 1976, drawn by an interest in the civil conflict, Ralph Lillford made repeated trips to Northern Ireland to draw what he saw in the streets.