Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword

by Andrew Bamford

  3. As, for example, in Oman, Wellington’s Army, 178–181, where the “rules” as the author understood them are laid down.

  4. Partridge and Oliver, Handbook, 60–81.

  5. Partridge and Oliver, Handbook, 71.

  6. Battalion Return of October 1, 1808, TNA, WO17/154.

  7. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2464.

  8. “Troops Embarked from Cork Under the Command of Lieut. General Sir Arthur Wellesley KB,” TNA, WO17/2464.

  9. Monthly Return, TNA, WO17/2464.

  10. Lawrence, Autobiography, 47.

  11. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 344.

  12. Linch, “Recruitment,” 204.

  13. Willis, “George Lake.”

  14. Casualty figures from Oman, Peninsular War 1:240; embarkation strength from McGuigan, “Origin of Wellington’s Peninsular Army,” 41; September figures from Monthly Return, TNA, WO17/2464.

  15. Sherer, Recollections, 61.

  16. Wellington to Castlereagh, September 12, 1809, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:146–147.

  17. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 353–354. Figures from Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2467–2468.

  18. GO of October 3, 1811, General Orders 3:201–202.

  19. Inspection Report of May 14, 1813, TNA, WO27/116.

  20. Partridge and Oliver, Handbook, 60–81.

  21. Latimer, 1812, 299; Le Couteur, Merry Hearts, 196.

  22. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/1516–1519.

  23. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 338, 345, 348.

  24. Cassidy, Marching with Wellington, xvii–xix, 1–6; Bois, “The Inniskillings at Waterloo”; Oman, Wellington’s Army, 334.

  25. York to Wellington, January 10, 1814, in Wellesley, Supplementary Despatches 3:495–498.

  26. Latimer, 1812, 186–192, 225.

  27. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/1517–1518.

  28. Fortescue, British Army 7:190; Jourdain and Fraser, Connaught Rangers 1:57. On the issue of inexperience, an Inspection Return of June 14, 1810 (TNA, WO27/98) shows 594 of 672 rank and file with two years’ service or less.

  29. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 346–349.

  30. Ibid., 349.

  31. Monthly Return, TNA, WO17/2467.

  32. GO of July 10, 1811, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:146.

  33. Jourdain and Fraser, Connaught Rangers 1:59.

  34. GO of November 17, 1810, in Gurwood, General Orders 2:207–208.

  35. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 189, 354.

  36. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/1760.

  37. McGuigan, “Anglo-Allied Army.”

  38. MacArthur, “British Army Establishments: Part 2,” 331–337.

  39. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 191.

  40. Fletcher, Galloping at Everything, 26.

  41. MacArthur, “British Army Establishments: Part 2,” 337–340.

  42. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 192. Oman’s misconception may stem from the fact that, in his day, the Household Brigade frequently did deploy only a single combined regiment when required for active service. See White-Spunner, Horse Guards, 391, 413–415.

  43. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 365–367, 371; Fletcher, Galloping at Everything, 238.

  44. This was the case with the 12th Light Dragoons; see Steuart to Captain James Bridger, July 12, 1811, in Bound letters of Colonel Sir James Stewart [Steuart].

  45. “Detachments proposed to be sent to the Force under the Command of the Marquess of Wellington by the 1st February next,” January 2, 1814, TNA, WO1/657, 13–14.

  46. Wellington to Cotton, September 17, 1811, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:279; see also Oman, Wellington’s Army, 193.

  47. Wellington to York, December 26, 1812, in Gurwood, Dispatches 10:5. See also Gerges, “Command and Control,” 342–347; and Oman, Peninsular War 6:232.

  48. Tomkinson, Diary, 2; Monthly Return for May 1809, TNA, WO17/2464.

  49. Monthly Return for October 1811, TNA, WO17/2468.

  50. Tomkinson, Diary, 273; Monthly Return for May 1815, TNA, WO17/1760.

  51. Wellington to Cotton, October 7, 1811, in Gurwood, Dispatches 8:326.

  52. Tomkinson, Diary, 7, 22–23, 98, 225, 228–229.

  53. Tomkinson, Diary, 120–121.

  54. Guy, Oeconomy and Discipline, 118; Houlding, Fit For Service, 4–23; “Tables of Relief,” TNA, WO379/1.

  55. Wellington to Liverpool, January 19, 1811, TNA, WO1/248, 71.

  56. Wellington to Peacocke, January 24, 1810, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:440–442.

  57. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 354, 361, 368.

  58. GO of September 24, 1809, in Gurwood, General Orders 1:184–186.

  59. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 345–346, 348, 354, 360; Wellington to Peacocke, August 30, 1810, in Gurwood, Dispatches 6:370.

  60. Monthly Return for August 1809, TNA, WO17/2464.

  61. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2464, 2465.

  62. “Memorandum of Instruction,” July 20, 1813, in Gurwood, Dispatches 10:548–549; Wellington to Hope, November 5, 1813, in Gurwood, Dispatches 11:255. See also Bathurst to Wellington, July 5, 1813, in Wellesley, Supplementary Despatches 8:60, which notes that the 2/84th was originally intended to relieve the 1/37th at Gibraltar.

  63. “Memorandum of Instruction,” July 20, 1813, in Gurwood, Dispatches 10:548–549; Oman, Wellington’s Army, 368.

  64. Wellington to Hope, October 18, 1813, in Gurwood, Dispatches 11:203. Hope seems slightly to have missed the point, since Wellington had to reiterate himself two days later; see ibid., 208.

  65. Wellington to Hope, March 2, 1814, in Gurwood, Dispatches 11:541–542.

  66. Gleig, Subaltern.

  67. McGuigan, “Anglo-Allied Army.”

  68. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2472–2476.

  69. Beamish, History of the KGL 2:157.

  70. Monthly Return for November 1813, TNA, WO17/2241.

  71. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2241–2243.

  72. Dunn, “Royal Veterans.”

  73. Wellington to Frere, February 5, 1810, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:488–489; Wellington to William Stewart, February 27, 1810, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:523–525; notes to Monthly Returns for June and July 1810, TNA, WO17/2465.

  74. See, for example, Wellington to Campbell and Wellington to Bathurst, both December 26, 1812, in Gurwood, Dispatches 10:4 and 10:7.

  75. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2464.

  76. Wellington to Cradock, May 27, 1809, in Gurwood, Dispatches 4:338; Oman, Wellington’s Army, 345.

  77. McGuigan, “Origin of Wellington’s Peninsular Army,” 48; Oman, Wellington’s Army, 346.

  78. Muir, Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 115–116; Oman, Peninsular War 3:128–152, 315–326.

  79. Hall, Wellington’s Navy, 114. See also “Journal of the Proceedings of the British Army serving at Cadiz and the I. of Leon,” entry of September 23, 1810, TNA, WO28/339.

  80. Oman, Peninsular War 3:145–148; 5:537–539.

  81. Report accompanying inspection return of June 12 1810, TNA, WO27/98.

  82. Divall, Redcoats against Napoleon, 38–50.

  83. The composition of the Cadiz Garrison may be tracked by reference to the “Journal of the Proceedings of the British Army,” TNA, WO28/339–341, and correspondence, TNA, WO1/247, 252, 264–266, which are together summarized in Bamford, “British Forces at Cadiz.”

  84. Graham to Liverpool, September 13, 1810, TNA, WO1/247, 583.

  85. “Journal of the Proceedings of the British Army,” September 23, 1810, TNA, WO28/340.

  86. With respect to instructions from home see, for example, Wellington to Liverpool, September 12, 1810, TNA, WO1/246, 529–530.

  87. Wellington to Cooke, September 9, 1812, TNA, WO1/265. See also Oman, Peninsular War 5:539–541; 6:95.

  88. Wellington to Donkin, June 23, 1809, in Gurwood, Dispatches 4:431–432; Donkin to Gough, September 15, 1809, in Cunliffe, Royal Irish Fusiliers, 38. See also Oman, Peninsular War 2:649–651.

  89. Wellington to William Stewart, February 7, 1810, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:489–49
0.

  90. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 363, 369; Monthly Return, TNA, WO17/2476.

  91. Stanhope, Letters and Journals, 106.

  92. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2470–2472.

  93. Musteen, “Nelson’s Refuge and Wellington’s Rock,” 218.

  94. Reports accompanying Monthly Returns for July 1813 through May 1814, TNA, WO17/1799–1800.

  95. Inspection Report by Major General Widdrington, December 10, 1811, TNA, WO27/111, part 2.

  96. Battalion Return for April 1813, TNA, WO17/259; Monthly Return for March 1813, TNA, WO17/1799.

  4. The Limits of the System

  1. York to Bathurst, March 14, 1814, TNA, WO1/657, 455, quoted in full on pages 170–171.

  2. Muir, Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 89–90, 101–106. The extent to which Dundas kept out of strategic decisions is reinforced by the fact that Muir mentions him on only four occasions.

  3. Cameron to Craddock, January 16, 1809, quoted Burnham, “Filling the Ranks,” 202.

  4. Burnham, “Filling the Ranks,” 203.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Wellesley to Castlereagh, 12, May 1809, in Gurwood, Dispatches 4:297–301.

  7. Stewart to Castlereagh, June 15, 1809, quoted Field, Talavera, 14.

  8. GO of September 14, 1809, in Gurwood, General Orders 1:168–170.

  9. GO of September 22, 1809, in Gurwood, General Orders 1:179–181.

  10. Dundas to Castlereagh, July 7, 1809, TNA, WO1/641, 233–234.

  11. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2464–2465, 2467. From November 1809 the detachments from each battalion are listed separately, implying the existence of two companies.

  12. McGuigan, “Origin of Wellington’s Peninsular Army,” 68; Oman, Wellington’s Army, 344.

  13. Return for the 9th’s depot at Canterbury, August 25, 1809, TNA, WO17/110, lists the arrival of 126 men joined from “Sick Absent in Spain and Portugal.” See TNA, WO17/2464 for strengths whilst in Spain with 2/9th.

  14. Dundas to Castlereagh, May 10, 1809, submitting “Return of all the Battalions of the Line now in England, with the effective strength of each,” TNA, WO1/641, 49–50

  15. TNA, WO1/641, 77; this led to the dispatch of seven battalions, detailed in Dundas to Castlereagh, May 27, 1809, TNA, WO1/641, 109.

  16. Dundas to Castlereagh, May 13, 1809, TNA, WO1/641, 59–60.

  17. TNA, WO1/641, 171–180.

  18. Dispatch of July 3, 1809, TNA, WO1/641, 221–224; signatory and recipient illegible.

  19. “List of the several corps, General and Staff Officers, comprising a large Division of His Majesty’s Army, to be employed upon a Particular service,” July 7, 1809, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1809 15:21–24. See also Bond, Grand Expedition, 168; and Burnham, “British Expeditionary Force.”

  20. Monthly Return, TNA, WO17/2479.

  21. Battalion Returns, TNA, WO17/234.

  22. Partridge and Oliver, Handbook, 62–79.

  23. MacVeigh, 78th Highlanders, 127.

  24. On the inadequacy of British strategy for 1809, and the overkill inherent in the numbers of troops sent to Walcheren, see Muir, Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 87–92, 101–104.

  25. Muir, Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 110–113.

  26. Aubrey-Fletcher, Foot Guards, 184.

  27. The initial proposal was for the flank battalions to have only the companies from the second battalions, but in practice the flank companies of the First Guards Brigade were also added; see Monthly Return for August 1809, TNA, WO17/2479.

  28. Hamilton, Grenadier Guards 2:410.

  29. “Disposition of His Majesty’s Land Forces; and the Foreign Troops in British Pay—1776,” TNA, WO379/1; Fortescue, British Army 3:178; Great Britain War Department, British Minor Expeditions, 26.

  30. Dilkes to Graham, 16, June 1810, TNA, WO27/98.

  31. Monthly Returns for April and May 1811, TNA, WO17/1486, recording transfer of 210 men from 2/1st Foot Guards to 3/1st Foot Guards.

  32. Oman, Peninsular War 4:112–113.

  33. Compare Oman, Peninsular War 4:612 with Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/1486.

  34. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 346–349; Bamford, “British Forces at Cadiz.”

  35. Urban, Rifles, 53, 185–186; Oman, Wellington’s Army, 357–372.

  36. GO of June 26, 1811, in Gurwood, General Orders 3:115–117.

  37. Battalion Returns, TNA, WO17/126, and Monthly Return for August 1809, TNA, WO17/2479; see also Graves, Dragon Rampant, 103–107.

  38. Strengths respectively from “State of the Force about to proceed on Foreign Service,” Horse Guards, June 22, 1810, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1809 15:16–17; “List of the several Corps,” 21–23; “Return of the Regiments now under orders for Foreign Service, showing the probable number of Rank and File, which will embark with each corps, leaving behind such men as are at present unfit for duty,” Adjutant General’s Office, July 15, 1809, in Great Britain War Department, British Minor Expeditions, 76–77.

  39. Cannon, Historical Record of the Eighth, 81–83.

  40. Inspection Report by Major General Sir John Murray, October 25, 1810, TNA, WO27/100.

  41. Battalion Returns, TNA, WO17/206; Monthly Return for March 1811, TNA, WO17/2467; see also Barrett, 85th, 59.

  42. Oatts, Proud Heritage 1:93.

  43. Latimer, 1812, 215, 277–279.

  44. York to Wellington, January 20, 1813, in Wellesley, Supplementary Despatches 7:528–529.

  45. Fletcher, Bloody Albuera, 100; Holmes, Redcoat, 106.

  46. Wellington to Liverpool, June 6, 1811, and Wellington to York, June 27, 1811, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:75–76 and 5:120–121; and GOs of June 6 and 26, 1811, in Gurwood, Dispatches 5:74 and 5:118.

  47. Inspection Report of May 12, 1813, TNA, WO17/117.

  48. Wellington to Liverpool, May 7, 1811, in Gurwood, Dispatches 7:521–525.

  49. Ibid.

  50. “Confidential Half-Yearly Report of the Provisional Battalion composed of the 2nd Battalions 31st and 66th Regiments, Villafranca, May 15, 1812,” accompanying Inspection Return for 2/31st, TNA, WO27/106, part 1.

  51. l’Estrange, Recollections, 165.

  52. GO of December 6, 1812, in Gurwood, General Orders 4:229–235.

  53. Oman, Wellington’s Army, 345–364; Holmes, Redcoat, 403.

  54. Burnham, “Filling the Ranks,” 216–219.

  55. Monthly Return, TNA, WO17/2470.

  56. “List of Courts Martial of the 2nd Provisional Battalion,” filed with 1813 first half-yearly inspection returns for the 2/53rd, TNA, WO17/117.

  57. See Muir, “Order of Battle,” 150–157, in respect of the deployment of Beresford’s corps at Toulouse.

  58. Wellington to Bathurst, August 11, 1813, in Gurwood, Dispatches 6:674–675.

  59. Monthly Returns, TNA, WO17/2470.

  60. Fifty-six wounded and six dead; see Oman, Peninsular War 7:554.

  61. See, generally, Oman, Peninsular War 1:225, and on this particular issue, see ibid., 6:223–224, 231–235.

  62. Muir, Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 276.

  63. Oman, Peninsular War 6:232–233; this rendering is a fraction of the length of the original, and even those passages presented as direct quotations are only loosely based on the text in Wellesley, Supplementary Despatches, which is nevertheless cited by Oman as their origin.

  64. York to Wellington, January 13, 1813, in Wellesley, Supplementary Despatches 7:524–525.

  65. Ibid.

  66. Ibid.

  67. Ibid.

  68. Ibid.

  69. York to Wellington, January 10, 1814, in Wellesley, Supplementary Despatches 8:495–496.

  70. Enclosure accompanying York to Wellington, January 10, 1814, in Wellesley, Supplementary Despatches 8:497–498.

  71. See, for example, correspondence with the War Office, TNA, WO1/657–658.

  72. Inspection Return and Report, October 21, 1813, TNA, WO27/122, part 1; Monthly Return of July 1813, TNA, WO17/1773.


  73. Report of October 10, 1813, accompanying return, TNA, WO27/122, part 1.

  74. Report of October 12, 1813, accompanying return, TNA, WO27/122, part 1.

  75. Beamish, History of the KGL 2:173; Smith, Leipzig, 210–211.

  76. Wallmoden to Graham, January 18, 1814, TNA, WO1/199, 590.

  77. Beamish, History of the KGL 2:143, 171–172, 213–214; returns, TNA, WO17/270.

  78. Linch, “Recruitment,” 250–251, not including the incorporation of the 102nd through 104th into the line, or the two battalions of foreigners added to the 60th.

  79. York to Bathurst, January 17, 1814, TNA, WO1/658, 89–92.

  80. Bathurst to Graham, nos. 1 to 4, December 4, 1813, TNA, WO1/199, 29–49.

  81. Memorandum dated November 21, 1813, TNA, WO6/16, 18–19.

  82. Hamilton, Grenadier Guards 2:484–485.

  83. Battalion Returns, TNA, WO17/262–263, 267–268.

  84. Battalion Returns, TNA, WO17/262–263.

  85. Cope, Rifle Brigade, 175–179.

  86. Inspection Report by Major General Wilder, November 4, 1813, TNA, WO27/121, part 1.

  87. Inspection Report by Major General Mackenzie, October 8, 1813, TNA, WO122, part 1.

  88. Report of October 1, 1813, TNA, WO27/121, part 2; Report of October 27, 1813, TNA, WO27/122, part 1.

  89. Graham to Bathurst, December 27, 1813, TNA, WO1/199, 277–280.

  90. Torrens to Bunbury, 19, December 1813, TNA, WO1/198, 39.

  91. Inspection Reports, TNA, WO27/121–122; Divall, Redcoats against Napoleon, 124–129.

  92. Monthly Return, TNA, WO17/1773.

  93. Enclosure accompanying Graham to Bathurst, 15, April 1814, TNA, WO1/200, 557; Inspection Report for 2/21st, 21, May 1814, TNA, WO27/126, part 2.

  94. “Statement of Forces in Holland and Under Orders,” January 4, 1814, TNA, WO1/657; Inspection Report for 33rd, April 25, 1814, TNA, WO27/126, part 2.

  95. York to Bathurst, October 18, 1813, TNA, WO1/657; Monthly Return for January 1814, TNA, WO17/1488.

  96. Graham to Liverpool, January 3, 1811, no. 2, TNA, WO1/252, 5–7.

  97. Abstract of Courts Martial for 7/60th, TNA, WO27/127.

  98. Calvert to Doyle, November 23, 1813, TNA, WO3/60, 225.

  99. Inspection Report by Major General Darroch, TNA, WO27/127.

  100. Inspection Reports by Major General Darroch on 7/60th, October 31st, 1814, and Major General Widdrington on 8/60th, January 19, 1815, TNA, WO27/130, part 1.