• Title
  Item 2: Portrait miniature of Captain Watkin Tench, Royal Marines, 1787
• Call number
  MIN 579
  
• Level of description
  item
• Date
  
  approximately 1787
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Watercolours
• Reference code
  9675381
• Physical Description
  1 watercolour - visible oval image 63 x 48 mm, in frame 112 x 92 mm - on ivory
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Watkin Tench was promoted Captain Lieutenant in September 1782. Towards the end of 1786, he volunteered for a three-year tour of service with the convict settlement about to be formed at Botany Bay. He sailed in the transport Charlotte on 13 May 1787 as one of the two Captain Lieutenants of the marine detachment under Major Robert Ross, and arrived in Botany Bay on 20 January 1788.
  
  References
  Fitzhardinge, L.F. "Lieutenant General Watkin Tench." Royal Australian Navy. Accessed 26 June 2023. https://www.navy.gov.au/biography/lieutenant-general-watkin-tench
• Scope and Content
  A miniature portrait of Captain Watkin Tench wearing uniform, in a near-contemporary wood frame with a black-lacquered finish
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Description source
  
  Title transcribed from inscription on verso
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Inscribed in ink 'Captain Watkin Tench, Royal Marines, 1787' on paper backing
• Attributions / conjectures
  
  The condition of the portrait and the early inscription on the reverse, no later than 1800, indicate that it may have been painted by an amateur artist, likely on board ship. Additionally, Tench sailed in the transport ‘Charlotte’ on 13 May 1787, which left port in London, in the rank of ‘Captain Lieutenant’.
• Date note
  
  Date earliest (13 May 1787) based on inscription on reverse and the date Tench set sail from London. Date latest (20 January 1788) based on arrival in Botany Bay.
• Subject
  Tench, Watkin, 1759?-1833--Portraits.
  Portrait miniatures--18th century.
  Great Britain. Royal Navy--Officers--Portraits.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE20793746

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