He fought within the Napoleonic wars and is one among solely 9 Black troopers identified to have acquired the Waterloo Medal, the primary British medal awarded to troopers no matter their rank.
But the story of Pte Thomas James has been neglected for hundreds of years.
Now the Nationwide Military Museum in London has recognized James because the probably topic of an “terribly uncommon” portray from 1821, which it has attributed to the artist Thomas Phillips, whose extra typical sitters had been Georgian luminaries such because the Duke of Wellington and Lord Byron.
The portrait will likely be unveiled to the general public on Tuesday on the museum’s “Military at Residence” gallery in Chelsea, the place will probably be positioned on everlasting show to focus on the service of James and different Black troopers through the Napoleonic wars.
“There’s this false impression that there weren’t any Black troopers at Waterloo,” mentioned the museum’s artwork curator, Anna Lavelle. “That’s not the fault of the general public – it’s not been within the historic discourse. And but Thomas James is one among many.”
James’s story deserves to be celebrated and he needs to be higher identified, she mentioned. “He was keen to get harm and put his life in danger for different individuals in his regiment.”
James, an illiterate percussionist within the 18th Gentle Dragoons, was more likely to have been born enslaved in Montserrat, the West Indies, in 1789. Little is understood about his adolescence. By the point he enlisted in 1809, he had made his method to Sussex, the place slavery had been abolished, and was describing himself as “a servant”.
He was awarded the Waterloo Medal after being wounded preventing a band of Prussian troopers who had abandoned and tried to loot his officers’ belongings.
“There have been about 20 troopers who had been taking care of the officers’ baggage, however James was the one one famous to have been severely wounded,” she mentioned. “He clearly put up a very good combat – a spirited defence – which I believe says loads about his character and his sense of camaraderie.”
Officers, she mentioned, should even have felt they might belief James with their belongings, in all probability containing cash, jewelry and mess silver. “I believe he was courageous foremost, and honourable as nicely.”
James’s portrait exhibits him in a shiny white cavalry uniform, holding cymbals, suggesting he had a very flamboyant position within the band. “Bandsmen would swing cymbals below their legs, flip them up into the air, catch them and clang them collectively loudly … it might have been fairly a theatrical, excessive vitality efficiency, and brought a variety of talent.”
Choices for Black males in Georgian England had been restricted and males who didn’t want to be servants usually, like James, enlisted within the military as navy musicians, she mentioned: “Black troopers wore the identical uniform and had been paid the identical wages and pension as their white counterparts – and within the military hierarchy, a Black soldier and a white soldier of the identical rank must deal with one another equally.”
Black bandsmen had been so wanted for regimental bands that they knew they might discover a “small group” of different troopers of color inside the military, she mentioned, and when their regiments disbanded, Black troopers would “overwhelmingly re-enlist”.
When the museum acquired the portrait for £30,000 final yr, the identification of each the sitter and the painter had been unknown.
“We simply had a hunch it was particular,” mentioned Lavelle, who researched medal data and used clues such because the cymbals and the sitter’s uniform to establish James because the probably topic.
She thinks that officers in all probability commissioned the portrait to rejoice James for his braveness: “This portrait would have been costly – it’s not one thing James, or some other personal within the military, would have been capable of pay for themselves.”
Portraits of particular person, identified Black British troopers had been “terribly uncommon”, she mentioned – she is aware of of solely two others in existence from the interval. “This can be a portrait which will help us to inform the story of Black bandsmen basically and the vital position they performed in historical past.”
She factors out that James is sporting a hoop and is depicted in a relaxed pose, trying immediately on the viewer: “He comes throughout within the portray as quietly assured – a soldier who’s dignified and has an actual sense of satisfaction.”
