NAM.1962-11-6-5

my next step was to procure a Discharge ... Coloured sepia etching. From ‘The Life of William Cobbett - written by himself’, a set of eight coloured sepia etchings by and after James Gillray, nd Originally published by J Humphrey, 27 St James’s Street, London, 29 Sep 1809. Republished, 1816 (c). The set forms a satire against Cobbett’s account of his own army career. After serving with the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot for eight years and reaching the rank of Sergeant Major, he obtained his discharge in 1791 with a good report from his commanding officer, Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was later cashiered from the army and died from a wound received whilst resisting the Irish insurrections of 1798.

Wars of the French Revolution, Ireland (1797-1798)