An officer of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, 1833

Oil on board, signed and dated lower right, ' A. Dubois Drahonet/1833', by Alexandre-Jean Dubois Drahonet (1791-1834), 1833. Inscribed lower left, '(119.)'.

Unfortunately, it has not been possible to identify the sitter for this portrait. There is a portrait of a private of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars and a very similar portrait of Captain William Lyon of the same regiment in the Royal Collection. Drahonet's paintings of this regiment record the change in the uniform from pale grey to navy blue overalls, with a red pelisse. The shako is surmounted by a black plume.

The two portraits in the Royal Collection are from of a series of 100 by Alexandre-Jean Dubois Drahonet, which were commissioned by King William IV in 1832 to record recent changes in uniform, weapons and equipment. Ninety-one of these are still in the Royal Collection, including a portrait of the future Queen Victoria.

The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was raised in Ireland in 1693 as a dragoon unit. The regiment was designated the 8th Regiment of Dragoons in 1751. It became a light dragoon unit in 1775 and gained the 'King's' prefix two years later. It went on to serve in many campaigns until 1958, when it was merged into The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars. In 1794, the regiment was posted to the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary War (1793-1802). From 1796, it garrisoned the Cape of Good Hope before sending a detachment to join General Sir Ralph Abercrombie's force in Egypt in 1801. It saw service in the Second and Third Maratha Wars (1803-05, 1817-18), as well as campaigning against Meer Khan in 1812 and in Nepal in 1814. In 1822, it was renamed and re-equipped as a hussar regiment, keeping order in England and Ireland for the next 30 years.