The Shanghai Volunteers at a Review, 1892

Oil on canvas by John Charlton RBA, 1892.

The Shanghai Volunteer Corps was raised in 1853. It was not formally a part of the British Army and Shanghai was not a British colony or dependency. British subjects living in the city nevertheless organised themselves into a regiment that eventually included Americans, Italians, Russians and several other nationalities. Some soldiers were formed into national companies, others into mixed units.