Osprey - Men-at-Arms 084 Wellington's Generals [Osprey MaA 084].pdf

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OSPREY • MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES
Text by
M I C H A E L B A R T H O R P
Colour plates by
R I C H A R D H O O K
MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES
E D I T O R : MARTIN W I N D R O W
Text by
MICHAEL BARTHORP
Colour plates by
RICHARD H O O K
OSPREY PUBLISHING LONDON
Published in 1978 by
Osprey Publishing Ltd
Member company of the George Philip Group
12-14 Long Acre, London WC2E 9LP
© Copyright 1978 Osprey Publishing Ltd
This book is copyrighted under the Berne Convention.
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the
purpose of private study, research, criticism or review,
as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical,
optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries
should be addressed to the Publishers.
ISBN 0 85045 299 6
Filmset by BAS Printers Limited,
Over Wallop, Hampshire
Printed in Hong Kong
The Command and
Staff System of
Wellington's Army
Up to the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars the
most usual, though not the only, method of
obtaining a commission in the British army was by
purchase. Thereafter, further promotion was either
by purchase of the next step in rank, by seniority
without purchase, or by the patronage of the
commander-in-chief. This applied up to and
including the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Above
that rank, promotion was entirely by seniority, the
date on which an officer achieved his lieutenant-
colonelcy determining his seniority for life. In
theory any lieutenant-colonel could expect, in due
course of time, to attain the rank of general, quite
regardless of whether he was ever employed in any
of the intervening ranks; he only had to live long
enough. In 1811 three major-generals were pro-
moted lieutenant-general, none of whom had seen
any service since the American Revolution! The
officer would only receive pay for the higher ranks,
however, if he was actually employed as a colonel
or a general officer, and then only for the duration
of that employment. Once he ceased to be so
employed, his pay reverted to that of his regimental
rank.
Ludicrous though the system sounds, it had
advantages in that there was no limit to the number
of generals in the army, and there was no obligation
Wellington and generals at the Battle of Nivelle, 1813. Above
his right hand is Beresford, on his left is Cotton, above whose
left shoulder are Colville, Dalhousie and Picton. Cole and Hill
are looking towards the pointing hussar officer on the right.
After Heaphy. (National Army Museum)
3
to employ those who had reached that rank. Thus,
if it was desired to promote a promising younger
officer, all that was required was to raise all those
senior to him to the next higher rank, however aged
or useless they may have been. In 1813, eighty-one
colonels were promoted major-general in order
that the 82nd in seniority could be appointed to a
major-general's command in the field, and, in
1814, ninety-one lieutenant-generals and major-
generals were promoted to the next higher rank, so
that Major-General Charles Stewart could be
advanced to lieutenant-general. The only excep-
tion to this ponderous system was the promotion, in
1813, of Wellington himself to field-marshal,
when, at the age of forty-four, he jumped ahead of
some one hundred and forty officers senior to him to
a rank in which none of the previous incumbents,
other than Royal dukes, had been less than sixty-
one years old on appointment.
Sir John Hope (1765-1823), 3rd Earl of Hopetoun, in the undress
uniform of a lieutenant-general, c. 1814. Adjutant-General to
Abercromby in Egypt, 1801; brigade commander in the
Hanover expedition, 1805; lieutenant-general in Moore's
Corunna campaign, 1808-09; divisional commander at Wal-
cheren, 1809; commanded the 1st Division of the Peninsular
army in 1813 and the left wing of the army in 1814. After
Raeburn. (National Army Museum)
Front and rear of the embroidered coat of a lieutenant-general.
Note the buttons in threes. (National Army Museum)
The system resulted in a serious dearth of senior
officers who were both young and competent
enough to take command of Wellington's brigades
and divisions in the field. The provision of officers
for these appointments was the responsibility of the
Military Secretary at the Horse Guards in London,
and, as a general rule, Wellington, as commander
in the field, had to make do with what he was sent.
While the Military Secretary, Colonel Torrens, did
his best to select suitable officers, Wellington also
found himself saddled with the likes of the short-
sighted and drunken Sir William Erskine. When
Wellington remonstrated against Erskine's ap-
pointment on the grounds that he was 'generally
understood to be a madman', Torrens replied: 'No
doubt he is sometimes a little mad, but in his lucid
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