Captain John Stanley
Captain John Stanley was a British Army officer who served as aide-de-camp to General John Burgoyne during the American War of Independence and when he was Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.
Biography
Born on 18 January 1750, son of Revd Dr Thomas Stanley, whose cousin became 11th Earl of Derby, and his wife Betty, daughter and coheir of John Shaw of York. Stanley was educated at Manchester Grammar School.Military career
1775 Commissioned Lieutenant in 20th Regiment of Foot.9 March 1776 Captain
May 1776 sent to Quebec as aide-de-camp to General John Burgoyne, who had married Stanley's cousin
1777 wounded and taken prisoner at Saratoga
1781 probably returned home with his regiment
1782 continued serving Burgoyne as aide-de-camp after his appointment as Commander-in-Chief in Ireland
18 June 1783 died at Malvern Wells 'of a decline' and buried at Ormskirk Lancashire
Battles of Saratoga
As aide-de-camp to General Burgoyne, Captain John Stanley would have played an important role in the Battles of Saratoga, which historian Edmund Morgan has described as "a great turning point" for the American War of Independence.The first Battle of Saratoga was on September 19, 1777: the Battle of Freeman's Farm. This was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war especially for Stanley's battalion, the 20th Regiment of Foot.
In the memoir of Roger Lamb, a British soldier present at the battle, he wrote:
'In this battle an unusual number of officers fell, as our army abounded with young men of respectability at this time, who after several years of general peace anterior to the American revolution, were attracted to the profession of arms. Three subalterns of the 20th regiment on this occasion, the oldest of whom did not exceed the age of seventeen years, were buried together'
General Burgoyne had gained the field of battle but suffered nearly 600 casualties. The most by the 20th Regiment of Foot including Stanley who was severely wounded and taken prisoner. Total casualties for the battalion were 116, all incurred in the first battle.
Gainsborough portrait
An iconic portrait of Captain John Stanley by Thomas Gainsborough was painted several months prior to Stanley's departure for Quebec.The portrait is feigned oval. Captain John Stanley is shown in the post-1768 uniform of the Regiment of the 20th Foot is shown in three-quarter pose looking to the left. He wears a powdered bagwig, his right hand is tucked into his waistcoat, and he holds his hat beneath his left arm.
Ellis Waterhouse described the picture as 'probably Bath period'. However, Hugh Belsey writes that the painting was likely commissioned to mark Stanley's army commission in 1776. As such, Gainsborough would have painted the picture shortly after he had moved from Bath to London.
Interestingly, Portrait of Captain John Stanley and Sir Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of John Burgoyne were both sold by Knoedler. The Frick bought the Burgoyne portrait from Knoedler in 1943. Knoedler sold the Stanley portrait in 1924 to John Levy, New York from where it entered the collection of Mary, Viscountess Eccles.