NAM.1963-11-133-1

Captain John Clayton Cowell (1762-1819), 1st Battalion, 1st (or the Royal) Regiment of Foot, 1796 (c). Oil on canvas, attributed to Sir William Beechey (1753-1839), 1796 (c). Full-length, in a red jacket with dark blue facings and gold lace, reaching for his sword, in ‘classical’ interior with guardsman behind. Cowell was commissioned into the 99th Regiment of Foot in 1783. He was placed on half pay following its disbandment in 1784 and then exchanged into the 1st (or the Royal) Regiment of Foot in 1787. In 1801, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he commanded four companies of the regiment at the capture of the Danish-held West Indian Island of St Thomas. He retired from the Army in 1802.