Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia has acquired a Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97) portrait of an Irish veteran of the French and Indian War, writes Roland Arkell. The foundation bought it at Sotheby’s Old Master day sale in December when it sold for £40,000 plus premium.
Captain Richard Bayly (d.1764), who sailed from Cork and disembarked at Hampton, Virginia, in January 1755, served with the 44th Regiment during the famed ‘Braddock’s Defeat,’ fought outside today’s Pittsburgh on July 9, 1755. Bayly and George Washington were among the few Anglo-American officers who escaped unwounded.