Researchers Identify Black Sailor in 1748 Reynolds Portrait as Boston Jersey, Who Served in Royal Navy

Researchers from the National Trust, London’s National Gallery and Royal Museums Greenwich have identified the Black boy depicted in an 18th-century portrait by Joshua Reynolds as a real person named Boston Jersey who served in the Royal Navy. The portrait of Lieutenant Paul Henry Ourry and the boy known as Jersey was completed around 1748.

In the painting the boy wears a navy-blue coat, red waistcoat, embroidered white turban and pearl earrings while gazing up at the young Royal Navy lieutenant.

Zoe Shearman, a property curator at the National Trust’s Saltram estate in Plymouth, told CNN on Friday that as tropes we can’t always be sure that the person of color, the Black sitter, is a real person. The team scoured British government archives, original letters, ship captains’ logs and documents relating to crew members to establish his identity.

The boy’s surname was Jersey and it might have replaced a former name.

His full name is recorded as Boston Jersey in a crew record book, according to historical geographer Mark Brayshay. Paul Henry Ourry was born in St Helier, the capital of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The boy might have been named Boston because he lived in Boston, Massachusetts before being in England.

Boston Jersey was baptized under the name George Walker on July 30, 1752, probably at a chapel in Westminster, London. The baptism certificate reads: A Certain Black Boy Called Boston Jersey Baptised by the name of George Walker aged fifteen. The boy was around age 11 in the portrait.