George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield

Inscriptionback to top

Obverse inscribed: GEORGE AUGUSTUS ELIOTT GOVERNOR OF GIBRALTAR. and J. P. DROZ F.
Reverse inscribed: FORTITER ET RECTE and in the exergue: XIII SEPT/MDCCLXXXII./DROZ F.

This portraitback to top

Eliott had returned to England from Gibraltar in June 1787 [1] and Droz arrived in London in September to stay until 6 October. [2] By 3 October Lord Heathfield (as he had become) had sat four times to Droz who had made ‘a sketch’ and on 22 October Droz wrote from Paris that the portrait was finished, meaning probably that he had made a satisfactory wax model. A year later, in October 1788, Droz called on Lord Heathfield in London and found his portrait a close resemblance. Droz’s wax model of the head belonged to Matthew Boulton in 1790 and it appears that the medal may not have been cast until 1816-20.

Footnotesback to top

1) His last letter from Gibraltar was dated 21 May 1787 and on 6 July he was created Baron Heathfield.
2) The following account is entirely taken from J. G. Pollard, Numismatic Chronicle, 7th ser., VIII, 1968, pp 263-64 (largely based on correspondence between Droz and Matthew Boulton).

Referenceback to top

Brown 1980
L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, no.247 (as 1782).

Provenanceback to top

Glendining’s, 22 November 1989, lot 163, bought A. H. Baldwin & Sons for the NPG.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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