'Viscount Hardinge'; Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge (1785-1856)

Photograph of a full portrait of Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge (1785-1856), standing, facing three-quarters to the left. The photograph was taken at Osborne House, Isle of Wight.

Lord Hardinge met Queen Victoria at Osborne on 18 August 1854. They discussed matters in India, at the time of the annexation of the Punjab and the exile of Maharaja Dalip Singh. The Queen wrote about the meeting in her journal, 'Saw L^d Hardinge after luncheon & looked over the map of India, — at the boundary, which it seems impossible the Russians could attack. This boundary is 13,000 miles in circumference & only 120 of that is unprotected; he showed me the still remaining independent states, which are Nepal, Rajputana, the most independent of all & containing the most ancient & highest bred families, very fine men, — Hindoos.' (QVJ, 18 August 1854, Royal Archives).

At the time the photograph was taken, Hardinge was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces, a position he took after the death of the Duke of Wellington in 1852. Hardinge was the Commander of the British Forces during the Crimean War in 1855. He suffered a stroke whilst  delivering a report on the war to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He continued to deliver the report, after Prince Albert had helped him to a sofa.

Photograph is titled, dated (18th May:1854) and attributed to Mr Becker in ink on the album page below the image.