Thomas Allen (1771-1838) a Greenwich Pensioner, circa 1832<br><p>Oil study for John Burnet's 'Greenwich Pensioners Commemorating the Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar' displayed at Apsley House, London. The NMM holds a print of the completed picture (PAI1598). The painting, conceived as a pendant to David Wilkie's 'Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo dispatch' was either commissioned by the Duke of Wellington, who owned that, or purchased by him from Burnet. This is one of nine of such studies for it, all of Greenwich Pensioners wearing typical dress.
</p><p>A paper label on this painting's stretcher, in a 19th-century hand, identifies the artist, the date of painting as 1832, the sitter as 'Nelson's personal attendant, Victory' and gives his age as 65. Allen, like Nelson, was from Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, and was Nelson's faithful though often difficult servant. Although he missed the battle of Trafalgar and was not a seaman, Sir Thomas Hardy, Governor of Greenwich Hospital, 1834-39, admitted him as a Pensioner. Hardy had a monument placed over his grave in the hospital burial ground when he died in 1838. This monument still survives to this day.
</p><p>For a woodcut silhouette of Allen, published on his death, see PAD3457; and a drawing by Daniel Orme, see PAG6838.<br></p>
Thomas Allen (1771-1838)  a Greenwich Pensioner, circa 1832
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:John_Burnet_(painter)" class="extiw" title="w:en:John Burnet (painter)"><span title="Scottish engraver and painter (1784-1868)">John Burnet</span></a>
</bdi>
1832<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1832-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13981">http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13981</a>