I wonder whether any of your readers can help identify a nineteenth century portrait which my brother-in-law, Alan Reed, bought in an auction room in Bowness in the early 1960s.

The portrait is of an army officer and Alan is anxious to establish who he was.

The detail in the portrait does not establish definitely to which regiment he belonged but it may have been the Indian Army.

His rank is Lieutenant Colonel and he wears the Indian Mutiny medal and the Punjab Campaign medal.

Our guess is that he belonged to a family resident in the Bowness/Windermere area who, in the 1960s, moved to a smaller home where they no longer had space for a relatively large picture.

We would be delighted to hear from any of your readers who may be able to suggest who the gentleman was.

I can be contacted at 37 Dunmail Drive, Kendal, LA9 7JG.

Dr Donald Kerr

Kendal