The subject represents a recruiting party outside St George's Gate, Canterbury. Canterbury at this time was a large garrison city, where fresh recruits were always in demand. The recruiting party in the foreground shows an officer handing out the 'Royal Shilling' to an interested party.

Sandby exhibited two watercolours of Canterbury at the Royal Academy in 1786, the only time he exhibited such subjects. The other work was 'The Cemetary Gate at Canterbury', a view of St. Augustine's, and both subjects were engraved in aquatint bearing the date 1782, though this date has been thought rather early for the style of the costumes