Footnotes

Provenance:
The Countess of Bertrand, from the artist.
Given to Captain Humphrey Senhouse, upon the Countess of Bertrand's return to England in 1821.
Thence by descent to Mrs Pocklington Senhouse, Netherhall, Cumberland.

The Senhouse Family were important traders in Whitehaven in Cumbria, England, in the 18th Century, and were involved in privateering and the slave trade to West Africa and the West Indies, where the family owned plantations. Captain Humphrey Senhouse was flag captain to Rear Admiral Sir Henry Hotham, commanding the British Fleet of France in 1815.

Literature:
Arnold Chaplin, Napoleon's Captivity on St. Helena 1815 - 1821, A Comprehensive Listing of Those Present including Civil, Military and Naval Personnel with Biographical Details, originally published in 1919 (reprinted by Savannah in 2002) p. 163.

Lt. Col. Basil Jackson (1795-1889), a Lieutenant in the Staff Corps, was one of a group of young British officers guarding Napoleon at Longwood House in St. Helena. Born into a military family in Glasgow, Jackson was present at Waterloo as deputy assistant quartermaster-general, before being posted to St. Helena in 1816. Jackson was charged with the duty, under Major Emmett, of supervising the repairs to Longwood, the building of Bertrand's Villa, and Longwood New House. He was thus brought into close contact with the residents and his knowledge of French made him popular company. On July 20th, 1817, in company with Major Emmett, he had an interview with Napoleon. In July 1819 Jackson left St. Helena in the Dunira with Mrs. Hodson and Mrs. Knipe.

Jackson produced several watercolour sketches of views in St. Helena and several likenesses of Napoleon himself. He also drew the plans for Longwood New House (see for example Bonhams Knightsbridge, 30 March 1999, lot 74). Jackson died in 1889, at the advanced age of ninety-four, and therefore has the distinction of being the last person to survive of those connected with the captivity of Napoleon. Jackson recalled his time in St. Helena in Notes and Reminiscences of a Staff Officer, chiefly relating to the Waterloo campaign, and to St Helena matters during the captivity of Napoleon.