COLUMBIA (AP) -- A portrait of the last royal governor of South Carolina by noted landscape and portrait artist Thomas Gainsborough is expected to bring as much as $450,000 at a London auction.
The portrait of Lord William Campbell is being auctioned Tuesday at Christie's London as part of a sale of old master and 19th century paintings.
Campbell had a brief and stormy tenure. He became royal governor of the South Carolina colony in June 1775, six months after patriot leaders established a provincial congress to act independently of Britain.
He was forced to flee three months later on a British ship and was wounded in battle when he returned a year later.
Ben Hall of Christie's says the portrait was owned by an English collector whose estate is auctioning it.
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