ANOTHER NEW BOOK

20th August 2011

I’ve been rather busy in the last year or so. After my second book, “Inside the Regiment” came out in the spring I was already at work on my third book, entitled “Napoleonic Lives”. This one deals with the lives of individual people who fought in the Napoleonic era, and covers men from the infantry, the cavalry, artillery, as well as some who served on board ships as marines. Some of the men were heroes, others were known to their contemporaries as “the King’s hard bargains”.

At the end of each chapter I have included detailed notes on exactly how I researched the individuals and their exploits, so there should be some useful material there for those of you who are involved in family history research.

As and when details become available I will update you on the progress of this book. You might also wish to look at my “Stop Press” page where you will find details of my latest project, yet another book.

___________

INSIDE THE REGIMENT

I am very pleased to tell you that my second book is to be published at the end of February 2011. Although it will probably not be available in bookshops until mid-March my publishers tell me that it will be available to order directly from them late this month. For further information or to order go to the Pen and Sword link on this page.

Front cover of “Inside the Regiment”

This is my second book and I have tried to give an accurate and comprehensive view of exactly what life was like in the British army of the Napoleonic era. It is the result of many years’ research using primary sources and draws directly on the lives of soldiers of the period. The book covers aspects of soldiers’ lives ranging through everything from recruitment to discharge, and includes, for example,  law and order, medical services  and women and children. This book is intended as a companion volume to my first book, “Redcoats Against Napoleon”, which many of you have read and been kind enough to comment on.

I hope you enjoy this second book and, as always, I shall be delighted to hear from Napoleonic enthusiasts either through this web site or directly at: caroledivall@aol.com

________________________________________

MY FIRST BOOK: REDCOATS AGAINST NAPOLEON

Kingston Maurward Hall near Dorchester was an excellent setting the Napoleonic and Regency Fair.

I met many old friends and fellow enthusiasts during the weekend and sales of my book were good.

“Redcoats against Napoleon” is essentially a biography of a regiment, the 30th Regiment of the Line, during the period of the Revolutonary and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), although the story is extended to cover the regimental history in India up to 1829.

Although the 30th Regiment is not one of the most famous or renowned regiments of the period, it enjoyed a range of experiences which involved officers and men in most of the activities demanded of soldiers in the early decades of the 19th Century. For instance, in the years dealt with in the book men of the 30th were at one time acting as “police” in Ireland, the next year they might be found serving as marines, or holding Toulon against a Revolutionary attack, perhaps struggling through the heat and sands of Egypt, or standing firm in square at the Battle of Waterloo.

Because thy were essentialy a “workaday” regiment, their story provides an interesting perspective on the military experiences of thousands of soldiers in similar units. The story of the 30th also lends a different perspective on familiar events. For instance, the section of the book dealing with Badajoz, with the focus on the taking by escalade of the San Vincente bastion, explains how the Anglo-Portugese forces flooded into the town despite the 3rd Division being holed up in the castle and the 4th and Light Divisions unable to cross the breaches. Any account of the retreat from Burgos which treats the action at Villamuriel as nothing more than a footnote fails to convey the gallantry displayed, as well as the suffering experienced during that retreat. I hope that in this respect the book serves to clarify the real situation. Similarly, by concentrating on the 30th at Waterloo the experiences of the men at the centre of Wellington’s position are brought sharply into focus.

Accounts of events, related in the book, are supported by primary material, much of it unpublished or long out of print, which enlivens and makes more immediate what the 30th, and other rgiments, actually underwent during these extended wars. For example, the unpublished journals of Lieutenant and Adjutant William Stewart vividly convey how officers lived day-to-day behind the lines of Torres Vedras, and during the pursuit of Marshal Massena which culminated in the action at Fuentes de Oñoro.

Lieutenant Colonel John Downham served with the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, of which the 30th, as the first battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, was the senior unit. He remarks in his foreword to the book that no regiment could function effectively without inspired leadership, and the 30th were particularly fortunate in their commanding officers, especially Alexander Hamilton. His career, spent entirely with the 30th, covers the period explored in “Redcoats against Napoleon”, and also encompasses all the activities that the regiment undertook, thus providing a specific focus. Like many of the men in the ranks, he grew old in the service of King and Country.

Just as the biographies of individuals record precisely the general experiencs of the time and context in which they lived, so the biography of a regiment illustrates that same process. This book, therefore, should appeal to anybody interested in the general military history of the period, but will also give the reader a more specific perspective from which to evaluate the experiences of British soldiers of the Napoleonic era than can be found in many histories of a more general nature.