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Thompson, Mark S. (2009) the Rise of the Scientific Soldier As Seen Through the Performance of the Corps of Royal Engineers During the Early 19Th Century

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Thompson, Mark S. (2009) the Rise of the Scientific Soldier As Seen Through the Performance of the Corps of Royal Engineers During the Early 19Th Century Thompson, Mark S. (2009) The Rise of the Scientific Soldier as Seen Through the Performance of the Corps of Royal Engineers During the Early 19th Century. Doctoral thesis, University of Sunderland. Downloaded from: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/3559/ Usage guidelines Please refer to the usage guidelines at http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected]. THE RISE OF THE SCIENTIFIC SOLDIER AS SEEN THROUGH THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS DURING THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY. Mark S. Thompson. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Sunderland for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. February 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Table of Contents.................................................................................................ii Tables and Figures. ............................................................................................iii List of Appendices...............................................................................................iv Abbreviations .....................................................................................................v Abstract ....................................................................................................vi Acknowledgements............................................................................................vii SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................... 1 1.1. Context .................................................................................................. 1 1.2. The Military in the Age of Enlightenment............................................... 3 1.3. Historiography of military engineering during the Peninsular War......... 9 1.4. Structure of Thesis............................................................................... 15 SECTION 2. HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT............................... 17 2.1. Britain in the Long 18th Century ........................................................... 17 2.2. The British Government during the Napoleonic Wars ......................... 19 2.3. Military responsibilities outside of the Cabinet..................................... 28 2.4. The Board of Ordnance ....................................................................... 31 SECTION 3. THE RISE OF THE SCIENTIFIC SOLDIER.............................. 36 3.1 Overview............................................................................................... 36 3.2. Education, Training and the rise of the Scientific Soldier. ................... 37 3.3. Analysis of Royal Engineers Officers.................................................. 78 3.4. Careers of the Engineer officers.......................................................... 89 3.5. Conclusion from Section 3................................................................. 116 SECTION 4 – OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE .......................................... 118 4.1. Overview of Section 4........................................................................ 118 4.2. Sieges in the Peninsula ..................................................................... 119 4.3. Torres Vedras and other defences .................................................... 205 4.4. River and Road Communications...................................................... 208 4.5. Surveying and Reconnaissance ........................................................ 214 4.6. Activity with the Army on Operations................................................. 218 4.7. Relationship with the Royal Staff Corps ........................................... 223 4.8. Improvements in Training and Experience ........................................ 224 4.9. Review of performance during the Peninsular War. .......................... 229 SECTION 5. AFTER THE PENINSULAR WAR........................................... 232 5.1. Introduction........................................................................................ 232 5.2. 1814-15, Holland, America and Waterloo.......................................... 232 5.3. From the Napoleonic to Crimean wars .............................................. 235 5.4. The Army’s response to education .................................................... 238 SECTION 6. CONCLUSIONS...................................................................... 240 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 248 APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 258 ii TABLES AND FIGURES. Table 3a. Size of the Royal Military Academy. ................................................. 40 Table 3b. Occupation of fathers of Royal Engineer officers. ............................ 80 Table 3c. Breakdown of obtaining first commission.......................................... 82 Table 3d. Actual and Establishment levels in the Royal Engineers. .............. 91 Table 3e. Royal Engineer Officers by Location. ............................................... 92 Table 3f. Newly Commissioned Engineer Officers............................................ 92 Table 3g. Officer numbers summary................................................................. 93 Table 3h. Officers killed and wounded in the Peninsula ................................... 95 Table 3i. Time taken to reach Lieutenant-Colonel In the Army....................... 101 Table 3j. Royal Engineer Officers by seniority, Part A.................................... 102 Table 3k. Royal Engineer Officers by seniority, Part B................................... 104 Table 4a. Casualties at sieges and major battles. .......................................... 120 Table 4b. Comparison of sieges and blockades............................................. 121 Table 4c. Sieges : Reasons for surrender to the French. ............................... 122 Figure 4.1. Map of Badajoz............................................................................. 124 Table 4e. Timeline for first siege of Badajoz................................................... 125 Table 4f. Timeline for second siege of Badajoz.............................................. 145 Table 4g. Comparison of the ordnance at the start of the sieges of Badajoz. 147 Table 4h. Guns available each morning of the 2nd siege of Badajoz. ............. 148 Table 4i. Timeline for siege of Ciudad Rodrigo............................................... 154 Table 4j. Timeline for third siege of Badajoz................................................... 163 Table 4k. Timeline for siege of Burgos. .......................................................... 177 Table 4l. Timeline for first siege of San Sebastian. ........................................ 184 Table 4m. Timeline for second siege of San Sebastian. ................................ 195 Table 4n. Summary of outcomes of sieges. ................................................... 201 Figure 4.2. The notebooks of G.I.P. West. R.E. and C.R. Scott. R.S.C. ........ 225 iii LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A Royal Military Academy syllabus, 1792. Appendix B Royal Engineer operational experience prior to the Peninsular War Appendix C Royal Engineers in the Peninsula by month Appendix D Pay and Allowances Appendix E Royal Engineer commissions by year, 1758-1822 Appendix F Time taken to reach Lieut.-Colonel in the Royal Engineers Appendix G Alphabetical list of officers of the Royal Engineers 1808-15 Appendix H List of officers of the Royal Engineers 1808-15 by seniority Appendix I Key Engineer Officers during the period 1808-1815 Appendix J Time taken to reach brevet army ranks Appendix K Sieges during the Peninsular War Appendix L Glossary of engineering terms Appendix M British river crossings during the Peninsular War iv ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviation Description ADC Aide-de-Camp ADD British Library Manuscripts BL British Library CRE Commanding Royal Engineer. EIC East India Company IGF Inspector General of Fortifications. The most senior Royal Engineer. NAM National Army Museum QMG Quarter-Master-General RA Royal Artillery RE Royal Engineer REM Royal Engineers Museum RMA Royal Military Artificers RSC Royal Staff Corps RSM Royal Sappers and Miners WD Wellington’s Despatches. 1st Edition unless stated otherwise. WO War Office papers, National Archives. WSD Wellington’s Supplementary Despatches v ABSTRACT The second half of the 18th century saw the formation of the first establishments to provide formal training to officers prior to receiving their first commission. The first school, the Royal Military Academy, was formed in 1741 by the Board of Ordnance to train Artillery and Engineer Officers. It was 1800 before the army formed a similar establishment and the building blocks were in place for the creation of the Scientific Soldier. This thesis will look at the formation of the Royal Military Academy and look at the training that officers received with a focus on those officers destined to serve during the Peninsular War. The complementary roles and training of the Royal Military Artificers and the eventual formation of the School of Military Engineering will be described. A thorough review will then be undertaken of the officers in the Royal Engineers, the numbers, their background, the locations they served in and the tasks they carried out. A new review of the sieges during the war will be completed using unpublished material. The other roles undertaken by the Royal Engineers in the Peninsular
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