Wow! eBook
Wellington's Lieutenant Napoleon's Gaoler: The Peninsula Letters and St Helena Diaries of Sir George Ridout First Edition
Author(s): Gareth Glover (Author)
- Publisher: Leo Cooper Ltd
- Publication Date: 14 July 2004
- Edition: First Edition
- Language: English
- Print length: 356 pages
- ISBN-10: 1844151417
- ISBN-13: 9781844151417
Book Description
The Author wrote numerous letters home from the campaigns that he fought with Wellington in the Peninsular when he was commanding his Regiment. He was therefore in a senior position and privy to secrets of the war. He is often caustic regarding his superiors including The Iron Duke himself. He packs his letters with interesting descriptions of the life and his surroundings. Once Waterloo was won and Napoleon defeated and captive, Bingham was selected to accompany him on his journey on HMS Northumberland to final exile at St Helena.. There he remained with his captive until relieved by another officer(Sir Pine-Coffin) in 1818. The diary for this period is full of fascinating descriptions of the deposed Emperor and the habits of him and his staff.
Editorial Reviews
From the Author
Years ago I read a snippet in a historical journal regarding a copy of the peninsula letters of George Bingham having been placed in the United Services Library. This intrigued me, as I had never heard of this gentleman and was aware that there are vitually no memoirs of the 53rd regiment in Spain. On further investigation I read of Bingham’s role in St Helena and became quite excited when I discovered that his journals and letters of this period still existed in other archives.Having obtained permissions from the various bodies involved I have been able to bring all of the known surviving works of George Bingham back together again for the first time in well over a century. I soon discovered that the letters and journals formed a huge body of work and provided a mass of first hand historical material written with great immediacy directly after events occurred and written home to his family purely for their eyes only. George is often very candid regarding other officers around him and their actions, indeed like many others, he was far from supportive of Wellington in the early days of the campaigns. The letters provide a fascinating insight into the daily life of a battalion in Spain and a very important source for the part taken by the 53rd (and latterly the 2nd Provisional regiment)in the various actions in which they fought.The diaries onboard the Northumberland and at St Helena are again written immediately after the conversations with Napoleon and are free of the ‘political’ writings of most of the memoirs of this intriguing period when too many reputations were at stake to allow for the truth to be given freely! They provide an honest view of the man and his situation and George is often critical of all sides during these difficult final years of the ex emperor.I became completely enthralled by the writings of George Bingham and I feel very priviledged indeed to have been able to perform the services of bringing these incredibly important documents into the public domain.
