Yates was commissioned lieutenant in 1755 and was promoted to commander in 1760. He is shown here in half-length, turned slightly to the right (sitter's left) in commander's full-dress uniform 1748-67, wearing a hat. His left hand rests on a cannon and holds some unidentifiable object and there is a two-decker warship in the background. The NMM Sea Officers' List as annotated by Commander Pitcairn-Jones appears to record this sitter variably as 'Yates' and 'Yeates' but these are fairly clearly the same man. He was third lieutenant of the 'Dover' in 1756, second of the 'Lyme' in 1757 and, on promotion, commanded the 'Wasp', sloop, from 1760 and the 'Ranger', sloop, from 1777. He presumably went onto half-pay about 1780, had no further active naval employment, and died on 20 April 1801. His first names suggest that Admiral Edward ('Grog') Vernon, who died in 1757, was a namesake whom Yates's parents had reason to compliment this way: taking dates into account the most likely explanation is that Yates's father was also naval and served under him as as close 'follower'. The rank and uniform shown date the portrait to 1760-67 but there is an old label on the frame attributing it to 'John George dated 1765'. John George's known active dates were 1763-71 but no further information has yet been found about him. For unknown reasons the picture was also not included in the 1986 NMM 'Concise Catalogue of Oil Paintings'. [PvdM 7/11]