Captain The Honble. Edward Thomas Gage, Royal Artillery, A.D.C. to Brig. General Cator, R.H.A., on leaving for the Eastern Expedition. April 8th 1854

Original unsigned watercolor; 3/4-length portrait in undress uniform, standing near cannon. Original unsigned watercolor; 3/4-length portrait in undress uniform, standing near cannon. Lieutenant-General the Honourable Edward Thomas Gage joined the Royal Horse Artillery in December 1844. He proceeded to the Crimea as a Captain, in 1854, and in July took command of a party of 40 sappers, from 10th Company Rl. Sappers and Miners, and a body of seamen, and traveled on horseback from Varna to Roustchouk. Here they were to be employed preparing materials for the bridge proposed to be established across the Danube. The success of this operation effectively thwarted the Czar of Russia's intended invasion, by the threat of a massive Turkish response across that all important makeshift bridge across the Danube, connecting Roustehouk with Giurgevo, a distance of some 700 yards. As Brigade Major to the Royal Horse Artillery he was present at the affairs of Bulganac and M'Kenzie's Farm, the battles of Alma, Balaklava and Inkermann, the capture of Balaklava, and the siege and fall of Sebastopol (awarded C.B., Brevets of Major and Lieutenant-Colonel). Gage saw no further active service and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1882, and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery in 1887. --DNW Auctions London, Parker Gallery, 1963.