NAM.1967-07-35-1

Lieutenant Thomas Myddleton Biddulph, 1st Life Guards, 1833. Oil on millboard, signed and dated lower right ‘A J Dubois Drahonet 1833’, by Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet (1791-1834), 1833. Full-length, in uniform, his helmet on the ground beside him. Thomas Biddulph, who was born in 1809 and educated at Eton, joined the 1st Life Guards as a Cornet in 1826. He purchased a lieutenancy in 1829 and, the year after this portrait was painted, became Captain. He remained at this rank until he was placed on half-pay in October 1851 having just been appointed Master of the Queen’s Household. Biddulph held this appointment until 1866, when he became one of the joint Keepers of the Queen’s Privy Purse, being made the sole Keeper the following year. He was also Receiver General for the duchy of Cornwall. He was created KCB for his services in 1863 and a Privy Councillor in 1877, when he was also promoted to the rank of General. General Biddulph died in 1878 and was buried in the churchyard of Clewer, near Windsor, where he had spent his life in the service of the Queen.