James Archibald Hope was born on 14 April 1786, the son of Colonel Esrkine Hope of the 26th Cameronians. He was commissioned as an ensign in his father’s regiment. He served with them in Nova Scotia, and then in Hanover in 1805-6. For the campaign against Copenhagen he was Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General under Lord Cathcart in 1807, and on the staff of Sir John Hope in Sweden in 1808. He was in the retreat to Corunna in 1808-9 and the Walcheren expedition before returning to the Peninsula, serving as ADC at Barossa and at the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz.
After a spell in the UK on sick leave he returned to Spain, appointed as Assistant Adjutant-General, present at Salamanca, Burgos, Vittoria, San Sebastian and the passage of the Bidassoa. He was then on the staff of Marshal Beresford’s Portuguese Corps, taking part in the battles of Nivelle, Nive, Orthez and Toulouse. He was awarded a brevet of major in March 1811 and lieutenant-colonel in Jan 1813. On 25 July 1814 he transferred to the 3rd Foot Guards as captain and lieutenant-colonel. He went on half-pay on 1 Nov 1839 and was promoted to major-general in 1841. He served in Lower Canada from 1841 to 1847 and was appointed Colonel of the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment on 18 Feb 1848 remaining their Colonel for 24 years. He reached the rank of General in 1859 and was invested as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1861.
He was married at the age of 53 to Christina Elizabeth, aged 21, and lived at Balgowan House, Pittville, Cheltenham. They had three sons and two daughters. He died on 30 Dec 1871 at the age of 86. Christina died in 1907, aged 89. The portrait shows him in the full dress uniform of a major-general c1841.
