Jersey : Stamps

From James auction lot which arrived today..Thank James.

1981
The Battle of Jersey
The Death of Major Peirson.  (Copley)






wiki
The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 is a 1783 large oil painting by John
Singleton Copley. It depicts the death of Major Francis Peirson at the Battle of Jersey on  6 January 1781.

The Battle of Jersey was the last French attempt to seize the island of Jersey, and one of
the last battles with invading forces from a foreign nation in the British Isles.[Note 1] The
invasion was organised privately by Baron Philippe de Rullecourt but funded and
supplied by the French government, and was intended to remove the threat that British
naval vessel based in Jersey posed to American ships in the American Revolutionary
War.

Approximately 1,000 French soldiers, commanded by de Rullecourt and an Indian, Mir
Sayyad, landed at La Rocque, Grouville, overnight on 5–6 January. They occupied St
Helier early on the morning of 6 January. They captured the Lieutenant Governor of
Jersey Moses Corbet, in bed. Although he surrendered, Peirson, the 24-year-old
commander of around 2,000 troops of the British garrison, refused to surrender. As
Peirson organised a counter-attack, a French shot killed him. Lieutenant Philippe
Dumaresq of the Jersey militia took command of the British forces, which comprised
detachments of the 95th Regiment of Foot, 78th Highlanders, and Jersey Militia. The
British forces quickly overwhelmed the French, most of whom surrendered.

John Boydell, a successful engraver and publisher and Aldermen of the City of London,
commissioned Copley to paint a large 251.5 centimetres (99.0 in) by 365.8 centimetres
(144.0 in), painting. The scene looks towards the final French resistance in Royal Square,
viewed along what is now Peirson Place, with the French soldiers taking their last stand
around the statue of George II. Further British reinforcements are visible on the hill at the
top left. The statue and some of the buildings depicted still stand (some with bullet holes
caused by the battle).

Although Peirson was killed in the early stages of the battle, the painting shows Peirson
(wearing white, at the centre of the painting under the large Union Flag, supported by
other officers), and being shot down leading the final charge, giving him a more heroic
role and fate. To the left, his black servant Pompey avenges his master by shooting the
sniper. It is believed that the depictions of the officers supporting the stricken Peirson are
true portraits; the black servant of auctioneer James Christie was the model for Pompey,
although it is unclear whether a black servant played a role (there is no suggestion in
contemporaneous sources). Copley modeled the civilians fleeing to the right on his wife,
family nurse and children.

Peirson became a national hero, and the painting drew crowds when it was first exhibited
at 28 Haymarket in May 1784, with admission charged at 1 shilling. The Tate Gallery
purchased the painting in 1864. Today, a copy appears on the 10 Jersey pound note.