Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Richardson, First Regiment of Foot Guards, 1792 (c)

Oil on canvas by Jean Laurent Mosnier (1743 (c)-1808), 1792 (c).

Richardson served as a lieutenant and captain of the First Regiment of Foot Guards during the American War of Independence (1775-1883). He was with the regiment in May 1779, when it was sent on a successful expedition to Virginia.

In July 1781, the First Regiment of Guards were amongst Lord Cornwallis's force which occupied and then became besieged in Yorktown. After the surrender to George Washington eight weeks later, Richardson was one of seven officers of the First Guards held prisoner. They were all released in 1783.

In 1789 Richardson was promoted captain and Lieutenant-Colonel. Four years later, the 17 year old Prince William Frederick of Gloucester was granted a commission for the same rank in the regiment. Nephew of King George III and son of the Duke of Gloucester (Colonel of the Regiment), the prince had his commission backdated to one day before Richardson's, thus giving him seniority. In fact he would only have been 13 years old at the time. Richardson retired the following year.

The French artist Mosnier trained as a miniature painter before being appointed Royal Painter to Queen Marie-Antoinette. He was one of the first émigré painters to flee to London from the French Revolution in 1790. He exhibited no less than 32 paintings at the Royal Academy from 1791-1796 and later became Court Painter to the Tsarina of Russia.