was nurtured by my father and later by Dr Norman Atkinson at St Columba’s College and Professor J.G. Simms at Trinity College Dublin. On this current project many people and organisations have given me help and encouragement. To the staff in the National Library of Ireland, the library of Dublin University (TCD), the Royal Irish Academy, the British Library, the National Archives, the National Army Museum, the Hartley Library at Southampton University, the Arquivo Histórico Militar and the Arquivo Nacional da Torre de Tombo in particular I give my heartfelt thanks. Likewise, I owe a huge debt to Raquel Rocha, who while in Ireland taught me sufficient Portuguese to enable me to read documents in that language.
To those with whom I have discussed the project and who have made suggestions I am grateful. In Portugal they include Pedro d’Avillez, Major General Rui Moura, Clive Gilbert MBE, José Ermitão and Professor Paulo Miguel Rodrigues (Madeira). In Argentina, Rogelio Maciel and his daughter, Maria Laura, spent time showing me the sites of the Reconquista in Buenos Aires. In France I received kindness and assistance from the Mayors and others of towns in the Pyrenees, the Pays Basque and the Bearn; sometimes descendants of those who fought for Napoleon. In England my efforts were encouraged and helped by many, including Karen Robson at the Hartley Library Archives, Major Nick Hallidie and Dr Mark Thompson. I remain in awe of the works of Dr Rory Muir, who has also extended me a helping hand and sound advice. I have learnt much from scholarly presentations at conferences run under the auspices of the University of Southampton (The Wellington Congress), The Waterloo Association and The Friends of the British Cemetery, Elvas.
To the creators and organisers of ‘The Napoleon Series’ I take off my hat. I have had regard to these online discussions on numerous occasions when trying to resolve particular points. In Ireland I would like to record my thanks to the Marquis and Marchioness of Waterford for their generosity, as well as to Suzie Pack-Beresford.13 I should also like to commend Julian Walton who has undertaken the assembly and indexation of the family archive at Curraghmore. In Scotland, Mindy Maclean has been most helpful (Susie and Mindy are both descendants of Major General Sir Denis Pack, who was not only a great friend of William Carr Beresford, but who married Elizabeth, the half-sister of Beresford). My family have responded with enthusiasm to my endless ‘discoveries’ about ‘WCB’, as he quickly became known. Edel has been a pillar of support on this project, and my children have assisted in so many ways, ranging from proofreading, the drawing of maps and the resolution of IT issues.
It was understandable that with the emergence of liberalism in Portugal, Beresford, as the representative of an authoritarian government as well as that of a not entirely disinterested ally, should have been regarded with distaste. Largely ignored by Portuguese historians of the nineteenth and twentieth century because of whom he had represented, a new interest in the Marshal has been awakened, linked rightly with the role played by the Portuguese army and people in defeating a hitherto invincible enemy who invaded and laid waste to their country on three separate occasions in five years; an army moreover which then played an important role for a further three years in the liberation of Spain and the defeat of Napoleon in south west France in 1814.
The reader will note that I have referred to Arthur Wellesley as Wellesley until 4 September 1809. Thereafter he is Wellington. This is possible because there is a natural break in events after the retreat following the tactical victory at Talavera. William Carr Beresford is referred to as ‘William’ or ‘Beresford’ save where the use of the name ‘Carr’ is used to make a particular point. I have sought to provide substantial details in the footnotes to each chapter to facilitate those who wish to research the topics further. I have also used these as an opportunity to bring forward information about events and personalities which, if not centre stage, deserved in my opinion their footnote in history.
I have been fortunate to have found in Irish Academic Press a publisher which has high standards, and whose staff have shown great interest in and been most attentive to this project. In particular I would like to thank my publisher Conor Graham, editor Fiona Dunne and Myles McCionnaith.
Finally I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Professor Malyn Newitt. The professor’s encylopaedic knowledge of Portuguese and Brazilian history made it a pleasure as well as a privilege to discuss with him Beresford’s part in these wars. He was kind enough to read my script and I am certain it is much improved as a result of his comments and suggestions. At the end of the day, the views expressed are my own as are any mistakes. I have tried to be objective and to avoid any sense of an apologia; dealing with both Beresford’s achievements and the occasions on which success eluded him or was only partial. The reader will judge the degree of success or otherwise attaching to my endeavour.
1 THE EARLY YEARS
‘A before marriage boy of the old Lords’1
William Carr, born in 1768, was the younger of the two boys fathered by George de la Poer Beresford, Earl of Tyrone, prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Monck. John Poo had been born two years earlier than William Carr. Little is known about their early lives but given that Elizabeth was reportedly fond of them, they presumably spent those days at the family home, Curraghmore, County Waterford. There they clearly formed close bonds with their siblings, as is borne out by their later correspondence. The Marchioness gave birth to six children and all bar the first, Lord la Poer, were to have a continuing and lifelong relationship with William Carr.2 In the family, the boys were addressed in correspondence as ‘Poo’ and ‘Carr’ respectively, rather than John and William. They probably carried these as surnames in early years, for later in life both boys obtained licences to use the name ‘Beresford’.3 Obtaining these licences seems only to have regularised a pre-existing condition, for the naval and military records of the two boys refer to them as Beresford from the commencement of their service, and they signed documents as such from that time.4
Childhood at Curraghmore would have been comfortable by the standards of the day. Lying in a broad and beautiful valley in County Waterford, through which runs the river Clodagh, the architecture of the house incorporates the mediaeval tower along with additions including those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. William was not to enjoy those surroundings for long. At the age of eight he was sent (along with John) to a school in Catterick Bridge in Yorkshire to be educated.5 Later, the two boys moved to a school in York, where they were looked after by two ladies whom they remembered with kindness later in life.6 As might be expected, his elder brother, John, very much led the way at this time.7 In his seventeenth year (1784), William entered the military academy in Strasbourg to train for the army.8 His stay there was relatively short, for in 1785 he was appointed an ensign in the 6th Regiment of Foot (1st Warwickshire Regiment). It is likely this position was purchased, perhaps by his father with whom he remained in close contact, albeit mostly by correspondence given William’s long absences abroad, for the rest of the Marquis’s life.9
The 6th regiment was posted to Nova Scotia in 1786. One of William’s fellow ensigns in the 6th regiment was Thomas Molyneux, who joined it in 1786 and also hailed from Ireland.10 William and Thomas were part of a hunting party one day when a covey of partridges rose up. As Thomas shot at the birds, a pellet from his gun struck William in the left eye, entirely depriving him of sight in that eye.11 While the loss is evident in some of the paintings of William in later life, in others it is as if airbrushed to produce a more sympathetic picture.
Promotion came rapidly, albeit by changing regiments. In 1789 he joined the 16th Regiment of Foot as a Lieutenant, a regiment of which in later life he became Colonel.12 In the following year he became a Captain in the 69th Regiment of Foot, and in that capacity he served with the marines under Admiral Lord Hood.13 He was present at the opening to a British force of the gates of Toulon by French royalists in August 1793. For some time prior to this event, Hood’s fleet had been blockading that French naval base, but royalist success was to be shortlived. On 2 December of the same year, the town fell to French revolutionary forces (the French artillery was commanded by a certain Napoleon Bonaparte). However, Hood was able to ensure that
