4. of Uniforms and Portraits

University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository University of Calgary Press University of Calgary Press Open Access Books 2018-10 The True Face of Sir Isaac Brock St-Denis, Guy University of Calgary Press St-Denis, G. (2018). The True Face of Sir Isaac Brock. Calgary, AB. University of Calgary Press. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/108892 book https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca THE TRUE FACE OF SIR ISAAC BROCK by Guy St-Denis ISBN 978-1-77385-021-4 THIS BOOK IS AN OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK. It is an electronic version of a book that can be purchased in physical form through any bookseller or on-line retailer, or from our distributors. Please support this open access publication by requesting that your university purchase a print copy of this book, or by purchasing a copy yourself. 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Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the wording around open access used by Australian publisher, re.press, and thank them for giving us permission to adapt their wording to our policy http://www.re-press.org B 4 A Of Uniforms and Portraits Ludwig Kosche was an unlikely Brock enthusiast. Having grown up in Germany during the 1930s, much of his childhood was dominated by Nazi ideology. Such an upbringing was hardly conducive to fostering an interest in the Canadian exploits of a long dead British general, and yet it was the rise of the Third Reich that ultimately brought Kosche into contact with the heroic story of Sir Isaac Brock. As a young man struggling to make his way in a ruined post-war economy, Kosche realized that he would have to seek out his future elsewhere and so in 1950 he immigrated to Canada. But after several years spent working on the railways of north- ern Ontario, he gave up a good and steady job for the uncertain life of an academic. In 1964, he began his undergraduate studies and two years later received a bachelor of arts degree in history. Kosche then went on to earn a master’s degree in the same discipline—history, but not Canadian history. Preferring the familiarity of the German national experience, he chose an aspect of the First World War for his thesis topic. After successfully defending his research in April of 1969, Kosche might have pursued a doctorate and established himself as a professional historian.1 He chose to become a librarian instead.2 By 1974, Kosche managed to land a job at the Ottawa Public Library.3 Within a few years, however, he found employment more to his liking as the new librarian at the Canadian War Museum.4 It was in this capacity that he began to develop an appreciation for Sir Isaac Brock, as one of the museum’s most prized artifacts was Brock’s undress or plain coatee (fig. 23)—the short close-fitting uniform coat he allegedly wore at the Battle of Queenston Heights.5 The coatee had never been fully authenticated and so Kosche, a dedicated scholar, rose to the challenge. Eventually he concluded 69 Figure 23. that this coatee was in fact the one worn by Brock at the time of his death.6 As part of his research, Kosche made a careful inspection of Brock’s portraits by John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, including those in St. Peter Port and Toronto (figs 21, 22), as well as the study in Ottawa (fig. 16). Since Forster was thought to have worked from the actual brigadier general’s coatee in which Brock was killed, Kosche treated these artworks as primary sourc- es.7 He also began investigating other portraits of Brock—initially for the sake of the uniform, and then for Brock’s likeness itself. This evolution began in April of 1978, when Kosche wrote to Captain Michael H.T. Mellish of St. Peter Port, Guernsey. He did so thinking that Captain Mellish, a collateral descendant of Sir Isaac Brock, might have documentation relating to the coatee. There was good reason to be 70 The True Face of Sir Isaac Brock Figure 21. optimistic. Captain Mellish was known to possess a profile portrait of his famous ancestor (fig. 3), not to mention certain other inherited heirlooms. Kosche thought there might also be an archival component as well. It was an intriguing possibility, and since he was planning a research trip to Guernsey for early the next month, Kosche hoped a visit to Captain Mellish might be added to his itinerary.8 The captain was agreeable, but unfortunately had nothing in the way of old family papers—although he was happy to let Kosche come and view his Brock heirlooms. Kosche took up the invitation, mainly because he wanted to discuss the brigadier general’s coatee.9 He had already decided that the uniform in the profile portrait represented a lower rank, and so that artwork was of little interest. But there was another attraction in Guernsey. Forster’s portrait of Brock at the 4 | Of Uniforms and Portraits 71 Royal Court (fig. 21) held great appeal, as it contained an abundance of visual information regarding the coatee—all of which Kosche anticipated putting to good use back in Ottawa. Before taking his leave of the Royal Court, Kosche requested a colour photograph of Brock’s portrait. But nearly five months later, he was still waiting for action on the part of the deputy greffier (or deputy registrar). While the necessary arrangements were even then being made, the process was proving far too slow for Kosche. Having given up on the deputy greffier, an exasperated Kosche wrote to Captain Mellish in hopes that it might be possible to have the photographic work done more quickly by someone else.10 The captain, however, preferred to use a gentler approach in trying to move things along. As secretary and aide-de-camp to the lieutenant governor of Guernsey, Captain Mellish thought he could bring about the desired result simply by mentioning it to the deputy greffier. He was right. A few weeks later, the captain was able to report that the request was “in hand.”11 A grateful Kosche reciprocated by sharing his research with Captain Mellish, who in turn became a source of much encouragement. This moral support meant a great deal to Kosche, especially as he was beginning to feel underappreciated at the Canadian War Museum.12 In December of 1978, Kosche wrote to Captain Mellish about some minor differences he noticed in two of Forster’s portraits of Brock. While comparing photographs of the painting at the Ontario Legislature (fig. 22) with its study (fig. 16), he saw that the stock around Brock’s neck and the sash at his waist differed from one artwork to the other.13 An inscription on the back of the study indicated that Forster had used the “original portrait in the possession of John Savery Carey” as a reference, which was reason enough for Kosche to suspect that the artistic representation of Brock’s uniform might not be entirely accurate. Although he assumed this “original portrait” was the profile portrait Captain Mellish had hanging in his sitting room (fig. 3), it was actually Carey’s copy (fig. 4).14 The likenesses, however, were essentially the same, and Kosche noticed that the uniforms in the profile portraits were very similar to those depicted in Forster’s por- trayals.

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