John Stanley (British army officer)

Captain John Stanley (1750–1783) was a British Army officer who served as aide-de-camp to General John Burgoyne during the American War of Independence and when he was Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.^[1][2][3]

Born on 18 January 1750, son of Revd Dr Thomas Stanley, whose cousin became 11th Earl of Derby, and his wife Betty (d. 1780), daughter and coheir of John Shaw of York. Stanley was educated at Manchester Grammar School.^{[1][2][4][5][3]}

As historian Norman S. Poser argues, political and military power in eighteenth-century Britain was largely controlled by an oligarchy of about two hundred immensely wealthy landowning families. Advancement to senior positions in politics or the army typically required belonging to—or marrying into—one of these families.^[6] Captain John Stanley's connection to the prominent Stanley family (the Earls of Derby) significantly shaped his career. As a cousin of Lady Charlotte (Stanley) Burgoyne—wife of General John Burgoyne—this family tie was the primary reason for his appointment as Burgoyne's aide-de-camp. This relationship underpinned his service throughout the American Revolutionary War and remained a constant in his career, continuing when Burgoyne was later appointed Commander-in-Chief in Ireland in 1782.

Captain John Stanley's military service began in 1775, when he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 20th Regiment of Foot. His rise was rapid: on 9 March 1776, he was promoted to captain. That same May, he was sent to Quebec to serve as aide-de-camp to General John Burgoyne, a position secured through family ties—Burgoyne had married Stanley's cousin.^[1][2][6]

In 1777, during the Saratoga campaign, Stanley was wounded and taken prisoner. He probably returned home with his regiment around 1781.^[1][2][3]

The following year, 1782, he continued in his role as aide-de-camp after Burgoyne's appointment as Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.^[1][2][3]

Stanley’s service ended tragically on 18 June 1783, when he died at Malvern Wells "of a decline" at the age of 33; he was buried in Ormskirk, Lancashire-the traditional burial place for the Stanley family (Earls of Derby).^[1][2][3][6]

As aide-de-camp to General Burgoyne, Captain John Stanley would have played an important role in the Battles of Saratoga, which historian Edmund Morgan has described as "a great turning point" for the American War of Independence.^[7]

The first Battle of Saratoga was on September 19, 1777: the Battle of Freeman's Farm. This was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war especially for Stanley's battalion, the 20th Regiment of Foot.^{[1][2][8][3][9][10]}

In the memoir of Roger Lamb, a British soldier present at the battle, he wrote:

'In this battle an unusual number of officers fell, as our army abounded with young men of respectability at this time, who after several years of general peace anterior to the American revolution, were attracted to the profession of arms. Three subalterns of the 20th regiment on this occasion, the oldest of whom did not exceed the age of seventeen years, were buried together'^[11]

General Burgoyne had gained the field of battle but suffered nearly 600 casualties. The most by the 20th Regiment of Foot including Stanley who was severely wounded and taken prisoner. Total casualties for the battalion were 116, all incurred in the first battle.^{[1][2][8][3][9][10]}

An iconic portrait of Captain John Stanley by Thomas Gainsborough was painted several months prior to Stanley's departure for Quebec.^[1][2][12]

The portrait is feigned oval. Captain John Stanley is shown in the post-1768 uniform of the Regiment of the 20th Foot (the coat with yellow facing and coat buttons moulded with 'XX' decoration) is shown in three-quarter pose looking to the left. He wears a powdered bagwig, his right hand is tucked into his waistcoat, and he holds his hat beneath his left arm.^[12][1][2]

Ellis Waterhouse described the picture as 'probably Bath period'.^[12] However, Hugh Belsey writes that the painting was likely commissioned to mark Stanley's army commission in 1776. As such, Gainsborough would have painted the picture shortly after he had moved from Bath to London.^[1][2]

Interestingly, Portrait of Captain John Stanley (1776) and Sir Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of John Burgoyne (1766) were both sold by Knoedler. The Frick bought the Burgoyne portrait from Knoedler in 1943. Knoedler sold the Stanley portrait in 1924 to John Levy, New York from where it entered the collection of Mary, Viscountess Eccles.^{[1][2][13][14]}

Stanley is absent from John Trumbull's Surrender of General Burgoyne painting (c. 1821–1822), as Trumbull often omitted figures he had not personally sketched or for whom he lacked reliable likenesses during his preparatory work in the 1790s (Stanley having died in 1783).^[15]

The painting is notable as the only major British portrait by either Gainsborough or Reynolds depicting an officer directly involved in the American Revolutionary War—in full military uniform and painted in 1776, just before the Battles of Saratoga—that remains in private hands.^[16][17]