Original Printed Commission, completed in manuscript, signed ‘Combermere’ as Commander-in-Chief, appointing C.J.Richardson, Gentleman, to be Lieutenant in the King’s Army in the East Indies by INDIA. East Indies Commission, 1829

Fort William in Bengal, 1 October 1829. 10 x 15 inches, vertical folds (some clean tears neatly repaired), in good clean condition, with Combermere’s wafer seal affixed. Bearing a good bold signature of Sir Stapleton Cotton, Field Marshal Viscount Combermere (1772-1865), the Peninsular War commander, who was Commander-in-Chief in India (1825-30). In January 1827 Combermere successfully stormed the fortress at Bhurtpore. Charles John Richardson was born at Negapatam, Madras, on 30 September 1808, the son of Francis Richardson, Esq., Commercial Resident at Nagore, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Richardson, tenth daughter of the 1st Earl Winterton; and the grandson of William Richardson, Esq., sometime Accountant General of the Honourable East India Company. Commissioned Ensign on 13 May 1825, he was posted to the 57th Native Infantry, was promoted Lieutenant on 18 July 1828, and was appointed Instructor and Quartermaster of the Regiment on 22 May 1833. He subsequently served as Adjutant from 22 June 1836 until 21 May 1841, and was promoted Captain on 7 January 1841. He was present at the Insurrection in Bundelkhand in 1842, and the engagement near Jaitpur, where he was slightly wounded. Appointed Assistant to the A.G.G. Bundelkhand, specially attached to Jhansi State, on 20 February 1843, he served as Second in Command, 5th Infantry, Gwalior Contingent, from 13 January 1844, and was Commandant, 4th Infantry, Gwalior Contingent, from 9 November 1849 until going on furlough in 1856. Promoted to Brevet Major on 11 November 1851, he died at St. Leonards-on-Sea on 17 February 1857.