This bust made by Sir Henry Cheere, commemorates the victory of the British army led by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (son of King George II), over the dissident Jacobites (supporters of the deposed Stuart family whose members ruled Britain in 1603-1688 and again in 1702-1714). The victory was the Battle of Culloden Moor near Inverness in northern Scotland on 16 April 1746. It has been suggested that this bust represents a man older than 25, the age of the Duke of Cumberland in 1746. However, comparisons with contemporary commemorative medals show him with similar features.

William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765) was third son of George II and Caroline of Ansbach. He was created Duke of Cumberland in 1726. He became known as a formidable and ruthless military commander ('Butcher' Cumberland). He fought in Flanders and later, back in Britain, he defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. He commissioned a series of pictures that combined his artistic and military interests.

Sir Henry Cheere (1703-1781) was one of the most successful sculptors in mid-18th-century Britain, and unlike some of his more eminent sculptor contemporaries, such as John Michael Rysbrack and Louis Fran‡ois Roubiliac, he was a native of this country. He specialised in portrait busts and tomb sculpture, and in the latter was particularly adept in the use of coloured marbles. He also employed a light, and yet at the same time highly-finished, style that was typical of the Rococo.