Lot 170: Sir Oswald Birley (British, 1880-1952) Portrait of General E. H. Clive MP, ex Grenadier Guards

Portrait of General E. H. Clive MP, ex Grenadier Guards
signed and dated 'Oswald Birley/1911' (upper right)
oil on canvas
88 x 79cm (34 5/8 x 31 1/8in).

Footnotes

• These portraits depict General Edward Clive (1837-1916) and his son Lieutenant General Sir George Sidney Clive (1874-1959), both painted in the same year by Sir Oswald Birley. After having both attended Harrow School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, they would lead distinguished careers in the armed forces.
  
  Edward would begin his career as an ensign with the Grenadier Guards in 1854, working his way to the position of General in the year of his retirement, 1898, although he would go on to be appointed Colonel of the King's Liverpool Regiment in 1906. He served as MP for Hereford from 1869-71, resigning from this position to take up the historic role of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. He would also go on to hold the positions of Deputy Lieutenant of Herefordshire and County Mayo, and Justice of the Peace for Herefordshire and County Mayo.
  
  George would enjoy a similarly illustrious career, starting in 1893, as his father did, in the Grenadier Guards. However, George would see far more field combat. He travelled in 1898 in the military expedition to Sudan, would serve from 1899-1902 in the Second Boer War and was appointed Head of the British Mission at the French Army Headquarters from 1915 until the close of the First World War. Following the War, he was appointed as Military Governor of Cologne, a vital role in maintaining the stability of the region whilst post-war revolts spread throughout most of the rest of Germany. He was appointed British Military Representative to the Armaments Commission of the League of Nations in Geneva in 1921 and became Military attaché in Paris in 1924, rising to Major-General in the same year. He was appointed Director of Personal Services at the War Office in 1928 and Military Secretary in 1930, retiring as a Lieutenant-General in 1934. This career would see George receive numerous Distinguished Service Orders along with his investment as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.