(Updated, September 2017) A half-length portrait, very slightly to right, of Captain Rutherford in captain’s full-dress uniform, 1793-1812 pattern. He is wearing his Trafalgar medal and holding the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund presentation sword he received as one of the captains there, as well as the thanks of Parliament.

Rutherford commanded a detachment of seamen with great distinction at the capture of Martinique in 1794 for which he was promoted from lieutenant to commander. At the battle of Trafalgar he commanded ‘Swiftsure’ whose fire set alight the French ‘Achille’, which later blew up. In 1814 he became one of the four Captains of Greenwich Hospital. Contemporary sources spell his name 'Rutherford' but descendants in that broader family later adopted 'Rutherfurd', under which he also appears in more modern references.


This portrait was commissioned for 50 guineas in 1919, by William Rutherfurd - a descendant of the sitter then living in Torquay - for presentation to the Naval Gallery in the Painted Hall at Greenwich. The source was what Hay called a 'very bad' copy of the original of about 1806, by then in New Zealand, which his client's sister had made there for her brother and brought over for him. He also had reference to other family background information on the sitter, including a portrait of his colonel brother, an original uniform he was able to borrow and sketches that he made of the sword and Trafalgar medal, which were then on loan to the Royal United Service Museum in Whitehall. Hay - no less than his client and the Naval Gallery on its presentation - was very satisfied with the result and considered it an original rather than strictly a copy.