Wellington’s Brigade Commanders

Recent research into the Duke of Wellington’s armies during the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign has enhanced our understanding of the men he led, and this new biographical guide to his brigade commanders is a valuable contribution to this growing field. Ron McGuigan and Robert Burnham have investigated the lives and careers of a group of men who performed a vital role in Wellington’s chain of command. These officers were the brigadiers and major generals who, for a variety of reasons, never made the jump to become permanent division commanders. Their characters, experience and level of competence were key factors in the successes and failures of the army as a whole. Their biographies give us a fascinating insight into their individual backgrounds, their strengths and weaknesses, and the makeup of the society they came from. Each biography features a table covering essential information on the individual, his birth and death dates, the dates of his promotions and details of his major commands. This is followed by a concise account of his life and service. AUTHOR: Ron McGuigan has been studying the British army for over five decades. He is the author of Into Battle: British Orders of Battle for the Crimean War and co-author, with Robert Burnham, of The British Army against Napoleon: Facts, Lists and Trivia 1805-1815. Robert Burnham is the editor of the largest Napoleonic history site on the internet (www.napoleon-series.org) and author of Charging against Wellington: the French Cavalry in the Peninsular War. Both authors contributed to Inside Wellington’s Peninsular Army.