King’s Bastion
Corporal John Brand & Sergeant James Shirres
1790
This model of the King’s Bastion in Gibraltar depicts a major feature of the defences built along the island’s western shoreline by the Company of Soldier Artificers during the 1770s. The model was completed in 1790 by Corporal John Brand, assisted by Sergeant James Shirres of the Royal Military Artificers. Brand served at Gibraltar as a ‘boy artificer’ during the Great Siege. He later trained as a model maker and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers. This model was presented to King George III in 1793 and remained at Buckingham Palace until 1820. It is now on loan to the Royal Engineers Museum from The Royal Artillery Institute.