A Lady’s Experiences in the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83)

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The Diary of Miriam Green, wife of William Green, Chief Engineer at Gibraltar, and later Chief Engineer of Great Britain, is a primary source of information on life at Gibraltar during the great siege. There are reports on the privations faced by the inhabitants, the continuing social life (such as it was), hints at difficulties and discontents with General Eliott, the Governor and Commander. There is information on two different outbreaks of smallpox, in the second of which hundreds of children died, with the Governor refusing to allow inoculations against the infection. There are accounts of duels between young officers "to settle an Idle business, merely the Effect of their being Young Men".

The most curious event recorded is the case of Colonel Ross, who grossly insulted General Boyd, the Lieutenant Governor and Colonel of the 39th Regiment, in front of the Regiment and while it was being reviewed. Ross was Lieut.-Colonel of the same regiment.