Colonel Thomas Gell (1594-1656), 1645 (c)

Miniature portrait in oil on copper, English school, 1645 (c).

Oval bust-length portrait in studded armour with a lawn collar.

Thomas Gell was a well-connected barrister, a bencher of the Inner Temple and Member of Parliament for Derby in 1645. From 1632, along with his older brother, Sir John Gell, he was Receiver and Supervisor for the Derbyshire and Staffordshire estates of the Duchy of Lancaster, a royal possession. Thomas Gell served with distinction as a colonel in the Parliamentary Army under his brother Sir John during the English Civil War in 1645.