1781 – The Honourable Spanish Captain - Gibraltar
(1820 - John Trumbull (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The above painting depicts a specific event that occurred during a sortie that took place during the 18th century Great Siege of Gibraltar. The painting has probably done more to popularise and enhance this British military intervention than all the many words which have been written since.
The following for example, is what John Herriot had to say about it in his . . . Historical Sketch of Gibraltar . . . and the Sortie.
And it is the last paragraph that is of interest here – Eliott and his officers were right to be uncertain as to the identity of Don Joseph Barboza. When Turnbull originally painted his picture he was unaware that the fellow was supposed to have been a captain of the Spanish Artillery and gave him the wrong uniform – which he then corrected.
A bit of a waste of time as Joseph Barboza was not a Captain of the Spanish artillery, but a member of the Royal Walloon Guards. His name was spelt Barbosa and he was at the time not a captain but a lieutenant.
Much more remarkably, on the 23rd of December 1781, about a month and after Barbosa was supposed to have died on the morning of the 27th of November 1781 the official Spanish Gazeta de Madrid offered its readers the following news – King Charles III of Spain had seen fit to promote First Lieutenant Joseph Barbosa to Colonel for the risks he had taken during the ongoing Siege of Gibraltar.
In other words, whoever, that honourable soldier was, it is very unlikely to have been Joseph Barboza . . . and certainly not Joseph Barbosa.
So who could he have been?
I am not at all sure but a prime candidate would have been the only Spanish officer who the Gazeta de Madrid of 1781 acknowledges as having been killed during the Sortie. . . and that would have been Capitán de Voluntarios Francisco Grañena.
With acknowledgements to my good digital friend Rafael Fernández who once again demonstrated his wonderful researching skills after we had discussed this curious anomaly a while ago. Thank you Rafael.