Thomas st. Clair: the campaigns of the peninsular war in the paintings of a portuguese army officer. Conference by general rui moura at the portuguese military history commission. Independence palace, lisbon, april 26, 2022, at 6 pm, portugal. Thomas staunton st. Clair (1785-1847), from a scottish family, was born in gibraltar and joined the british army in june 1800, with the rank of ensign, in august 1803 he was ensign and the following year lieutenant. On september 30, 1807, he was promoted to captain, having been transferred, in june 1810, to the portuguese army with the rank of major, being added to infantry regiment no. 21, the former valença regiment, in september of that same year. He participated in the battle of buçaco, having commanded the grenadier companies of the portuguese brigade of colonel josé joaquim champalimaud de nussane (1771-1825), behaving «very bravely» according to this officer. Appointed major of the 1st battalion, he did not assume the role because he remained in coimbra during the invasion of massena. Returning to the regiment in 1811, he carried out the campaigns of 1811, 1812 and 1813 with it. In august 1813, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was given command of the hunter battalion no. The war campaigns in the peninsula did not leave him in great health and, after taking a month's leave in 1815, he was on sick leave, due to eye inflammation, for more than 3 years, from june 1, 1816 to august 1, 1819. In the meantime, he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of infantry regiment no. 7, the former setúbal regiment. The revolution of 1820 expelled him from the army, as well as all officers subject to his britannic majesty, returning to gibraltar and dying in malta in 1847. He designed the engravings opened by charles turner (1774-1857) in 1815 and which depict fundamental actions of the war in the peninsula, with the consistency of someone who actively participated in the conflict.
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