A three-quarter-length portrait to the left showing Barlow in his commander’s full dress uniform, 1833–43, holding his cocked hat under his right hand, which is on his hip. His sword hilt shows on the right and he is holding the scabbard, although his hand is off the canvas. He wears the CB, an unidentified cross, and the order of a Knight of the Spanish Order of St Ferdinand. The CB must have been added after 1841.
Charles Anstruther Barlow entered the Navy on 14 November 1812 as a volunteer in the 74-gun ‘Victorious’ on the North American station. He became a midshipman on 10 December 1813, serving in home waters and the Mediterranean, where he saw action in the 'Queen Charlotte' at the bombardment of Algiers in 1816. On 1 July 1822, he was promoted lieutenant in the ‘Despatch’ under William Clarke Jervoise. Further appointments followed, culminating in him becoming the lieutenant commander of the 10-gun ‘Royalist’ (15 December 1834), off the coast of Spain during the siege of Bilbao. His actions earned him the Order of the First Class of San Fernando, presented on 23 December 1839. He left the ‘Royalist’ upon being promoted commander on 10 January 1837. Barlow assumed command the ‘Nimrod’, 20 guns, on 2 December 1839, sailing to China, where he played a prominent role in operations off Canton during the First Anglo-Chinese Opium War. He was promoted captain on 8 June 1841 and made Companion of the Bath on 14 October that year. He saw no further service at sea.