8. Family tradition states that he was at both Eton then Harrow schools, but he does not appear in the records at Eton. The tradition that he attended Harrow and was under Lord Byron has some possibility of being true. Lord Byron attended the school from 1801-5 and there is a record of a ‘Gardiner’ with no forenames attending from 1804. Therefore he could have been associated with Lord Byron in his last year of attendance.
9. 1st Lieutenant Donald Macleod died at the Action on the Coa, 24 July 1810. According to George Simmons, he was shot through the heart.
10. Reference The London Gazette Issue 16398 page 1262 dated 21 October 1810.
Chapter 2: Enlistment and Training
1. The ‘purchase system’ may seem an anathema to modern readers but it continued in the British Army until 1871. The ability for the wealthy to purchase high rank for their children had previously caused huge problems, with even colonels of regiments still at school! However by the time of the Napoleonic wars, the Duke of York, as Commander in Chief, had abolished most of the extreme abuses and although ‘purchase’ was still allowed, minimum terms in each rank ensured that the system did provide experienced officers. There is no evidence that James’ first appointment was purchased as the records show he was given a death vacancy, which were usually filled without purchase, the deceased losing the value of his rank from his estate. But the fact that James and his father discussed purchasing further steps in rank would indicate that even if it was not purchased, that they had at least planned to do so if necessary.
2. His father James Gairdner.
3. National Army Museum (NAM) reference 7011-21-1.
4. James Penman was gazetted a 2nd Lieutenant in the 95th on 23 August 1810 vice Joseph Austin who had become a 1st Lieutenant. He however seems to have had the entire month of September to prepare his equipment and kit.
5. This would appear to be Caroline Moodie (née Gordon) who had married Benjamin Moodie the British Consul at Charleston and had a son named James Gairdner Moodie.
6. ‘Town’ was of course London.
7. Regulation pay for an Ensign or equivalent in the line regiments. Reference The British Military 1803-15 by S.J. Park and G.F. Nafziger.
8. The lands sold actually covered the territory that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; the portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River; a large portion of North Dakota; a large portion of South Dakota; the northeastern section of New Mexico; the northern portion of Texas; the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (plus New Orleans); and small portions of land within the present Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
9. This payment equates in modern terms to approximately $240 million, a snip at the price.
10. National Army Museum Reference 7011-21-2.
11. It was quite normal for junior officers to require an additional income from their parents or benefactor to maintain themselves.
12. Robert Walker one of nine children of Alexander Walker and Helen Eleanor (née White).
13. Adam Walker (1788-1867), Robert’s brother had been born in South Carolina and married Mary Anne Wylie there.
14. NAM Reference 7011-21-3
15. Lieutenant Colonel Hamlet Wade had originally joined the army as an ensign in the 25th Foot in 1791, rising to Captain by 1795. He served at Gibraltar, the West Indies, then the Helder in 1799. In 1800 he became a major in the 95th and became a Lieutenant Colonel in 1805. He served at Copenhagen and the Peninsular, seeing action at Vitoria, Orthes and Toulouse. He later became a Colonel, retiring in 1815 and died in 1821.
16. Major General Sir John Murray. He had joined the 3rd Foot Guards as an Ensign in 1788 and became a lieutenant in 1793. He served in Holland as aide de camp to the Duke of York. In 1795 he became lieutenant colonel of the 84th Foot and served at the Cape of Good Hope, Egypt and India before being put on the Staff of the Eastern District of England. In 1813 he served on the East coast of Spain with Lord William Bentinck and became embroiled in the debacle of the lifting of the siege of Tarragona, abandoning his siege artillery. He was court martialled but the Prince Regent cancelled his admonishment and he continued to serve.
17. Shorncliffe Redoubt is seen as the birthplace of the Light Division and is currently being preserved by a trust.
18. As the third battalion had already been raised in 1809, was there an idea of raising a fourth battalion?
19. The house at Wooden, Roxburghshire, was in the hands of the Walker family from 1757. Robert Walker inherited the estate in 1787 and he probably rebuilt the house in its present form about 1820. It was advertised for sale in 1826 and was bought the following year by Robert Haldane Scott of Kinloss. Several years later Scott left Scotland for Jamaica and passed the estate to his brother George Scott who was a captain in the Royal Navy. It passed to a third brother in the early 1860s and thereafter to his three unmarried sisters.
Chapter 3: Journey Out to the Battalion
1. First entry in his Journal commencing from my embarkation at Portsmouth 14th November 1811 for Lisbon reference National Army Museum 1969-02-5.
2. Eight companies of the 1/95th were currently serving in the peninsula.
3. Captain John Phillimore, Royal Navy.
4. The convoy was escorted by at least HMS Diadem, Leopard and Endymion.
5. James was particularly fortunate. Storms in the North Sea and Baltic led to the loss of a great number of ships during this period.
6. This is one of the few occasions where it appears that James has revisited his diary in later years.
7. Figueira da Foz at the mouth of the Mondego River.
8. Captain William Percival 9th Foot who served at Roliça, Vimiero, Salamanca, Vitoria and San Sebastian. The Challis list however has him absent from Spain from June 1809 until December 1812. This is clearly a mistake as James proves that he returned to the Peninsula in December 1811.
9. The league did vary in length depending on the country, but the English league measured 3 miles (all but 5km).
10. 1st Lieutenant James Stokes had served previously with the 2nd Battalion at Walcheren and Cadiz before transferring to the 1st Battalion, he then participated in the battle of Fuentes d’Oñoro, the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and was later killed at the Storming of Badajoz on 6 April 1812.
11. 1st Lieutenant Alexander Coane had served with the 95th in the peninsula since July 1809, seeing action in numerous small affairs, besides the battles of Corunna and Fuentes d’Oñoro. He had been severely wounded at the Coa in 1810, but died on 14 February 1812 at Lisbon of an unknown illness, where he had presumably been transferred to hospital after James saw him.
12. ‘On command’ indicates that he was there on official business.
13. A small village one mile west of Lamas and twelve miles south of Coimbra.
14. The Royal Waggon Train provided, for the first time, the army with wagons and professional drivers to move stores etc. Commissary General John Bissett oversaw its work in the peninsula.
15. The 9th Foot were then at Fuenteguinaldo, see the letters of Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Campbell by the editor. The troops for this division would therefore march east via Vide, whilst the remainder marched north east.
16. Lieutenant James Fraser who after arriving in the peninsula in November 1811, remained with the army until the end of the war in 1814, served at Salamanca, Burgos, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive and was severely wounded at Toulouse. He later fought in the Waterloo campaign.
17. One mile west of Seia.
18. The Cameronian Highlanders.
19. The Cameronian Regiment of Foot.
20. On the road from Guarda to Sabugal.
21. Lieutenant Thomas Smith had just returned to Spain having been severely wounded at the Coa. He served at Corunna, the Coa, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelles, Nive, Orthes and Toulouse.
22. Lieutenant Charles Grey 52nd Foot whose regiment wa
s in the light division with the 95th, he served at Fuentes d’Oñoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, and Nivelles, Nive and Bayonne as a captain in the 85th Foot. He was killed at New Orleans.
23. Captain John Uniacke had fought at Corunna, the Coa, Bussaco, Fuentes d’Oñoro where he was severely wounded. He was blown up by a mine at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Chapter 4: Two Sieges in Four Months
1. The breach being formed, the riflemen were positioned to fire on the breach to prevent the French from repairs or preparing new defences.
2. A small group of volunteers would attack first in the hope of causing the defenders to set off any mines etc. before the main storming party arrived. This dangerous job, with little prospect of survival, was always oversubscribed with volunteers as surviving officers received a step in rank and the ordinary soldiers gained great prestige and the opportunity to be first for plunder.
3. Harry Smith records that he ‘ran on with poor Uniacke’s company to meet the 3rd Division, or rather clear the ramparts to aid them, when the horrid explosion took place which killed General Mackinnon of the 3rd Division on the spot, and many soldiers, awfully scorching others. I and Uniacke were much scorched, but some splinters of an ammunition chest lacerated him and caused his death three days after the storm.
4. General Craufurd died of his wounds and was subsequently buried in the breach with full military honours.
5. Major General John Ormsby Vandeleur is perhaps most famous as a cavalryman at Waterloo. He had served previously in India and served in the Peninsula commanding a brigade of infantry in the Light Brigade. He fought at Ciudad Rodrigo where he was slightly wounded, and subsequently at Salamanca, Vitoria and the Nive.
6. Edward Costello p.147.
7. The 5th Division were tasked with repairing the breaches in case of a French attack.
8. Privates William Mills, Miles Hodgson and Malcolm McInnes of the 95th, Corporal Robert Fuller, Privates James Cummins, William Robinson, Patrick O’Neil and John Maloney of the 52nd and Private Thomas Price 43rd were found guilty of desertion. Nine others from other divisions were also tried and found guilty. Costello records that two deserters were pardoned before the execution, one being ‘Hodgson of the 95th … The other was a corporal of the 52nd Regiment, called Cummins.’
9. Brevet Colonel Thomas Beckwith had previously served in Ceylon, India and Copenhagen before serving in the Peninsula. He saw service at Vimiero, Corunna, the Coa, Bussaco, and Fuentes d’Oñoro. He commanded a brigade of the Light Division before returning home in July 1811.
10. 1st Lieutenant Joseph Austin served at Walcheren and then at Badajoz, but strangely, although he then served throughout the remainder of the Peninsular War, he did not serve at any other action.
11. 1st Lieutenant Thomas Bell served in the 3rd Battalion 95th at Cadiz and Barossa then joined the 1st Battalion and served at Badajoz where he was wounded. Following his wound he retired in June 1812.
12. The writing is unclear and would appear to be either Jas or Jos for James or John. Despite the best efforts of the editor and Ron McGuigan, we have been unable to identify this officer with certainty. Ron has suggested 2nd Lieutenant John Fry of 2/95th, but Challis shows him in the Peninsula only from May 1812.
13. Three miles north-west of Sabugal.
14. Others describe traditional burials as short affairs with little if any religious involvement; one describes the burial of an infant below the flagstones of a chapel being laid in a simple cloth and then being virtually pummelled flat before the flagstone was replaced to ensure that the floor remained level. See An Eloquent Soldier, by the editor.
15. A large country house or estate.
16. About two miles south east of Castelo de Vide.
17. Mark Urban has him as Almond, but the minutes of his court martial agree with Allman.
18. Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Graham had been an aide de camp to Sir John Moore and had then commanded the British forces at Cadiz, gaining a significant success at the Battle of Barossa.
19. Major General Sir Rowland Hill had seen great service Toulouse, Egypt and Hanover, before arriving in the Peninsula. He was probably Wellington’s ablest and most trusted general who was one of only a few given independent commands. He regularly commanded forces in the south of Spain whilst Wellington’s forces fought in the north.
20. Captain William Balvaird had served at Corunna, Bussaco, Fuentes d’Oñoro and Ciudad Rodrigo. He was severely wounded at Badajoz but served at Salamanca, the Pyrenees, the Bidassoa, Nivelle and the Nive.
21. Lieutenant Colonel Sir Andrew Barnard had transferred from 1st Foot to the 95th in March 1810. He had previously served in the West Indies and Helder. Whilst in the Peninsula, he served at Cadiz, Barossa, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Bidassoa, Nivelle, Orthes and Toulouse. He also fought at Waterloo where he was wounded.
22. Captain Peter O’Hare had previously served at Buenos Aries before the peninsula, where he served at Corunna, Fuentes d’Oñoro, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz where he was killed.
23. 1st Lieutenant Richard Freer, had served at Walcheren before the Peninsula, where he served at Cadiz, Fuentes d’Oñoro, Badajoz where he was wounded and Toulouse. He also served at Waterloo.
24. Lieutenant Richard Ellwood was not actually present, he served at Talavera, Bussaco and Albuera where he was wounded and made a prisoner of war, only gaining his release in 1814.
25. Kincaid p.66.
26. Lieutenant Colonel Sir George Elder served in the Portuguese Army commanding the 3rd Cacadores.
27. George Simmons records that Lieutenant Gardiner was wounded at Badajoz, this is a clear misidentification of our James Gairdner. These two officers are constantly confused.
Chapter 5: Recovery
1. Volunteer John Fitzmaurice gained a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in April 1811. He served at Fuentes d’Oñoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive and Toulouse. He was slightly wounded at Badajoz, he captured a gun at Vitoria and served at Waterloo where he was wounded.
2. 1st Lieutenant William Johnston served at Rolica, Vimiero, Bussaco, Fuentes d’Oñoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz and Toulouse. He was wounded at Badajoz as a volunteer on the storming party.
3. It is only on entering this fort that we become aware of its strength, for though ... a fortified square, there is so much more of solidity and strength, and so many obstructions to surmount, that we wonder how so simple a figure could be rendered so strong. At the back there is a horn-work, which takes in the entire summit. ... the ditches are traversed in every direction by loopholes and casemates, while the ramparts are crowded with artillery. There is a reservoir constantly supplied with water sufficient for the garrison of 2,000 men for two years, and stores of corn and provisions for that time are also laid up. There is a mill within the walls for grinding corn, and an oven for baking sufficient bread, so that as there are no means for taking the fort but by treachery, surprise, or famine, the siege of La Lippe must be a work of patience, not to mention the loss; for as the besieged will be perfectly safe within their walls, so will the besiegers be completely exposed to the fire of the garrison: though surrounded on three sides by hills, they are all too low and too well commanded by the fort to admit of any annoyance from them. The Penny Magazine, 9 September 1837.
4. Major General Victoria, governor of Elvas.
5. 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Worsley had been severely wounded at Badajoz. He had previously served at Ciudad Rodrigo and saw further service at Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes and Toulouse. He served at Waterloo where he was wounded.
6. Ebenezer Gairdner & Sons Ltd was declared bankrupt on 17 August 1810, reference The London Gazette of 28 May 1816 page 1028. He was a brother of James Penman’s father and therefore his uncle.
7. Gordon, the son of Edwin Gairdner was born in 1803.
8. Rebecca Walker was a sister of Adam Walker and later married her cousin David McDougal
of Caverton Mill.
9. Emily and Jane were daughters of Edwin Gairdner and Jane (née Gordon), therefore were James’ cousins. Emily married Mr Mallet but died in Old Aberdeen in 1815. Jane who was born in 1799 married Dr. Edward Blackmore who emigrated from Cornwall to New Zealand in 1834.
10. 1st Lieutenant Henry Manners, who had seen service at Walcheren, Rolica, Vimiero, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz (where he was severely wounded).
11. Captain Jonathan Leach who had served in the West Indies before fighting in virtually every major action in the Peninsula. He later served at Waterloo where he was wounded. They seem to have been quite close colleagues in the battalion and often billeted together.
12. Almost certainly the village of Donas.
13. 1st Lieutenant Christopher Croudace, 3/95th was killed 6 April 1812 at the storming of Badajoz.
14. Reference, The London Gazette Issue 16604, page 931, dated 16 May 1812.
15. Vila Boa is a small village some five miles north east of Sabugal.
16. The main house in this village was often used by the Duke of Wellington as his headquarters.
17. 1st Lieutenant Nicholas Travers returned to the Peninsula in May 1812 and served at Walcheren, Salamanca, Vitoria, the Pyrenees and New Orleans with the 2nd Battalion 95th.
18. 1st Lieutenant Duncan Stewart who served with the 3rd Battalion at Cadiz, Barossa, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz (where he was severely wounded), Salamanca, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive and Orthes.
19. Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson 43rd Foot served at Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz (wounded), Salamanca, and having transferred to the 85th Foot, Nivelle, Nive, Bayonne and Bladensburg before being mortally wounded at New Orleans.
20. A tiny village 3 miles north east of Calzada.
21. The French had actually prepared three separate convents as makeshift fortresses in Salamanca named St Vincent, La Merced and St Cayetano.
22. Charles Alten served with the Hanoverian Army, rising by 1802 to Lieutenant Colonel of the Hanoverian Guards. He joined the King’s German Legion in 1803 became a Major General in 1810. He served at Copenhagen, Sweden, and in the Peninsula he commanded a brigade. He commanded a division at Waterloo.
The American Sharpe Page 28