1811 GENERAL LORD CHARLES MANNERS NAPOLEON WAR LETTER SPY CAPT COCKS, SLENDER BILLY, ALMEIDA- BEVANS SUICIDE Start Price USD 2,100.00 Current Price USD 2,100.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, November 13, 2008 End Time Saturday, December 13, 2008 Location Missouri See more about '1811 GENERAL LORD CHARLES MANNERS NAPOLEON WAR LETTER ' Description NAPOLEONIC & PENINSULAR WAR ARCHIVES WITH THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR CAMPAIGN UPON US - WELLINGTON LANDS IN PORTUGAL AT MOUTH OF THE MONDEGA ON THE 1ST OF AUGUST OF 1808 - WE ARE PRESENTING QUALITY ORIGINAL SOURCE DOCUMENTS THAT WILL JUMP START OR ENHANCE ANY BICENTENNIAL EXHIBIT, COLLECTION, OR TRIP TO THE BATTLEFIELDS.   GENERAL LORD CHARLES SOMERSET MANNERS - ALS3rd (King's Own) Regiment of Dragoons SCARCE WAR DATE LETTER FROM THE PENINSULAR WARDATELINE: HEADQUARTERS - QUINTA DE ST JOÃO  -  10 JULY 18113 page Autograph Letter Signed (ALS) General Lord Charles Somerset Manners writes to the Chargé d'Affaires in Lisbon concerning the exploits of Intelligence Officer Captain Cocks, the arrival of Slender Billy, the parties of Lord March and the melancholy end of Lieutenant Colonel Bevan. THIS DOCUMENT IS COVERED BY OUR WRITTEN, SIGNED AND SEALEDLIFETIME GUARANTEE OF AUTHENTICITY A fascinating letter touching on some of the more controversial and engaging participants in the Napoleonic War and tying together the King's Own 4th Foot and the King's Own 3rd Regiment of Dragoons. Be sure to read the extensive notes below to get a feel for the breadth of subjects and characters mentioned in this letter.   Transcription: Quinta de St JoãoWednesday July 10 [1811] I take the liberty of writing you at Lisbon, where, I imagine you will arrive about the same time as this letter, to request you to have the enclosed given to my Servant. I shall have great pleasure in hearing from you in answer, with a happy account of a prosperous journey, if you can only spare time for 3 Lines.     His Highness arrived on Sunday; He is very gentlemanlike modest and unassuming. Lord Wellington seems to approve very much of him, and I hear means to appoint him extra Mil Sec Comm’g [Military Secretary to the Commanding Officer - Wellington]. Capt Cocks, who after his Reconnaissance up to Montijo had gone to Albuquerque, had a visit from the Enemy; and appears to have pleased Lord Wellington very much by withdrawing himself and party though the French  had come up between him and the British position. No other publick news, that has reached my ears, worthy of your perusal.     I mean to have another day at ????? in company with Colonel Campbell, who proposes going over before his departure. He was a little out of spirits last night – having heard of the melancholy end of Lieutenant Colonel Bevan, with whom he has some acquaintance. The precise reason for Colonel Bevan’s making away with himself is not ascertained; but it is generally supposed to have proceeded from depression of spirits caused by the Regiment under his command being one of those who ought to have prevented the escape of the garrison of Almeida – may you find a Captain R[oyal] H[ighness] who will give you as hearty a welcome with a more extensive knowledge of Comfort [missing] cabin as our friend ????                                         Adieu; most truly yours                                                                  C[harles] MannersP.S. The most favourable accounts from Lord March. I intend taking a pat of Windsor Soap as an apology for my second intrusion upon the General’s Hospitality. A grand Set off at the Adjutant General’s to the Prince of Orange 2 day. Lord Wellington dines there.To: Thomas Sydenham, Esquire, at Charles Stuart Esquire, Lisbon[franked] C. Manners NOTES A guide to the characters and events:       The addressee Thomas Sydenham was the British Chargé d'Affaires in Lisbon (under Sir Charles Stuart) and a close friend and protégé of Richard Wellesley, the Earl of Mornington, then British Foreign Minister in Spencer Perceval's cabinet (1809-1812) and Wellington's eldest brother.     "His Highness" refers to William of Orange, at this point the Prince of the House of Orange and heir to the crown of the Netherlands, and to which he succeeded upon the death of his father. Here he is arriving to become Wellington's ADC. We have handled several of his letters while he was an aide de Camp for Wellington in the Peninsula. He was apparently well liked and was nicknamed Slender Billy. William of Orange was the subject of particular controversy at Quatre Bras where the British considered his actions somewhere between incompetence and cowardice, while the Dutch consider his actions heroic given the conditions. Willem II (William Frederick George Louis - December 6, 1792 – March 17, 1849) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from October 7, 1840 until his death on March 17, 1849. Note that Willem is the Dutch form of William, who, educated at Oxford, actually used the English form, William, of his name within the family and among friends.     He was born in The Hague, the son of King William I of the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina, princess of Prussia. His maternal grandparents were Frederick William II of Prussia and his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. When William was three he and his family fled to England after allied British-Hanoverian mercenaries left the Republic and entering French troops joined the anti-orangist Patriots. William spent his youth in Berlin at the Prussian court. There he followed a military education and served in the Prussian army. Afterwards he studied at the University of Oxford. It  was to his friends at Oxford that this letter was written. He entered the British Army, and in 1811, as aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, took part in several campaigns of the Peninsular War, where he was mentioned in dispatches and noted approvingly by Wellington. He returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became sovereign prince following the defeat and retreat of Napoleon from the Low Countries following the battle of Leipzig. In 1815 William became crown prince and he took service in the army when Napoleon I of France escaped from Elba. He fought as commander of combined Dutch and Belgian forces at the Battle of Quatre Bras (June 16) and the Battle of Waterloo (June 18), where he was wounded. He was considered a hero although his military inexperience was the cause of several critical errors.     In 1816 William became briefly engaged with Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, only daughter of George IV of the United Kingdom and Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage was arranged by George but Charlotte did not want to marry William so the engagement was broken. On February 21, 1816, William married Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia, sister to Czar Alexander I of Russia, who arranged the marriage to seal the good relations between Imperial Russia and the Netherlands. On February 17, 1817 his eldest son Willem Alexander was born (the future King Willem III) in Brussels, where he lived. He enjoyed considerable popularity in Belgium, as well as in the Netherlands for his affability and moderation, and in 1830, on the outbreak of the Belgian revolution, he did his utmost in Brussels as a peace broker, to bring about a settlement based on administrative autonomy for the southern provinces, under the House of Orange-Nassau. His father afterwards rejected the terms of accommodation that he had proposed. Relations with his father remained tense. In April 1831 he was leader of the ten day campaign in Belgium which was driven back to the North by French intervention. European intervention established Leopold of Saxe-Gotha on the new throne of Belgium. Peace was finally established between Belgium and the Netherlands in 1839.      On October 7, 1840, on his father's abdication, Willem acceded the throne as Willem II. Like his father he was conservative and less likely to initiate changes. He intervened less in policies than his father did. There was increased agitation for broad constitutional reform and a wider electoral franchise. And though he was personally conservative and no democrat, he acted with sense and moderation. The Revolutions of 1848 broke out all over Europe. In Paris the Bourbon-Orléans monarchy fell. William became afraid of revolution in Amsterdam. One morning he woke up and said: "I changed from conservative to liberal in one night". He gave orders to Johan Rudolf Thorbecke to create a new constitution which included that the Eerste Kamer (Senate) would be chosen indirectly by the Provincial States and that the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives) would be chosen directly. Electoral system changed into census suffrage in electoral districts (in 1917 census suffrage was replaced by common suffrage for all adults, and districts were replaced by party lists of different political parties), whereby royal power decreased sharply. The constitution is still in effect today. He swore in the first parliamentary cabinet a few months before his sudden death in Tilburg, North Brabant (1849).     "Capt Cocks", later Major, was the Honorable Edward Charles Cocks, son of John Cocks, of London. He served in various capacities in the Peninsular war. He was attached to the regular Spanish army for a time and also with the 16th Light Dragoons. He worked as an intelligence officer behind enemy lines [as referenced in this letter], performed special missions for Wellington, and was a field officer commanding soldiers. His family wanted him in Parliament, but Charles, as he was called, loved soldiering more than anything else. He was the consummate professional soldier, very much in his element in the war in Spain. In a letter to his uncle, Charles wrote: “Few regard soldiers in their true light, that is as a body of men giving up many individual pleasures and comforts for a general national advantage, coupled certainly with the hope of personal fame and at the same time preserving more individual independence than any class of men....Men unused to war and ignorant of its ways regard soldiers as pernicious characters because they always figure them as intent on the destruction of their enemy, but a soldier only meets his foe now and then and he is every day engaged in reciprocal offices of kindness with his comrades....for my part I think there is much less ferocity in putting your foe to death when you see him aiming at your life, than in coolly rejoicing in your cabinet at home at successes purchased by the blood of thousands--Your dutiful and affectionate nephew, E. Charles Cocks”     On October 8, 1812, at the age of 26, Charles Cocks was acting as a field officer in the siege of Burgos. In the hours before dawn he led his men up a slope to regain the outer wall. When he reached the top, a French soldier fired straight at him. The ball passed through his chest, piercing the artery above his heart. He died instantly. That morning Wellington strode into Ponsonby's office, paced to and fro without speaking for several minutes. He started back toward the door, saying only, "Cocks is dead" before he walked out. Later Wellington wrote, "He (Cocks) is on every ground the greatest loss we have yet sustained." When Wellington stood at his graveside, ashen-faced and remote, none of his officers dared speak to him. The Duke of Wellington stated: "had Cocks outlived the campaigns ... he would have become one of the first Generals in England." 50 years following his death the family changed the name from Cocks to Somers-Cocks. [extracts from Intelligence Officer in the Peninsula Letters and Diaries of Major The Honorable Edward Charles Cocks 1786-1812, Julia V. Page, editor (1986, Spellmount Ltd)"Colonel Campbell"     Possibly Lt Colonel Campbell who led the 94th Regiment, and 2nd Battalion of the 5th through the breach to storm the Ramparts in the successful recapture of Ciudad Rodrigo on 19th January of 1812.     Possibly Major-General Sir Colin Campbell, KCB (1776-13 June 1847) who was a British Army officer and colonial governor. Then Lt. Colonel Colin Campbell was on Wellington's staff and likely would have been at headquarters.      Possibly Sir Colin Campbell (1792-1863) On 28 January 1809 Campbell became a Lieutenant and in 1810 he joined the 2nd Battalion in Gibraltar. Lieutenant-General Colin Campbell (unrelated but then Military Governor of Gibraltar) then attached Campbell to the Spanish army where he served with them until December 1811 (during this time he was at Portalegre). He then rejoined the 2nd Battalion. In January 1813 he joined the 1st Battalion of the 9th, under the command of Colonel John Cameron. Campbell served at the battle of Vittoria and the siege of San Sebastian. On 17 July 1813 Campbell led the attack on the fortified convent of San Bartholomé; on 25 July he led the unsuccessful attempt to storm the fortress itself. He was wounded twice and subsequently was recommended for promotion. On 9 November 1813 he was given a company in the 60th rifles. He was awarded a pension of £100 a year for his wounds, and ordered to join the 7th battalion of the 60th rifles in Nova Scotia. "Lord March"     Charles Gordon Lennox (1791 - 1860) later 5th Duke Richmond was an Aide de Camp and assistant Military Secretary to the Duke of Wellington from July 1810 to July 1814. He was wounded at Orthes in February in 1813. Although he had been painfully wounded on his thigh which meant he could only walk with the support of sticks, Wellington rode several miles to see him when he heard March had been injured, and it is reported he came from the room in tears. Before inheriting the Dukedom of Richmond in 1819 he was the MP (Tory) for Chichester. He married the eldest daughter of Lord Uxbridge and was, as one would expect, at the famous Duchess of Richmond ball in Brussels on the eve of Waterloo."the melancholy end of Lieutenant Colonel Bevan"     Born in 1778, Charles Bevan was commissioned into the 28th Foot with whom he served in Egypt, at Copenhagen, Walcheren and in the Peninsula. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 18th January, 1810 and appointed to command the 2nd Battalion 4th Foot, then stationed at Colchester with the 1st Battalion. The 2nd/4th embarked for Ceuta in North Africa, opposite Gibraltar, arriving on 21st march 1810, but unfortunately during the passage a storm had driven some of the transports ashore near Cadiz and some three hundred men of the regiment were taken prisoner; the Battalion remained in Ceuta until April 1812. Meanwhile the 1st/4th had left Colchester and embarked from Harwich for Spain on 25th October, 1810. In early January 1811 Bevan was appointed to command the 1st/4th in the place of Lieutenant Colonel James Wynch.     Following the British victory over the French at the battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May 1811), French Marshal André Massena ordered the besieged garrison at Almeida under General Brennier to break out and rejoin the French forces near Ciudad Rodrigo via the bridge at Barba del Puerco over the river Agueda. Wellington anticipated this move and ordered General Sir William Erskine to extend his 5th Division northward as far as the Bridge of Barba del Puerco by sending Colonel Bevan and the 4th Foot to the rocky defile which overhangs the bridge. Meanwhile, Campbell’s 6th Division and Pack’s Brigade were to continue the investment of Almeida. The orders were sent out by 2 p.m. on the 10th and reached Erskine at his Headquarters by about 4 p.m. Although Erskine subsequently claimed to have sent the orders immediately to the 4th Foot at Val de Mula, it would appear that they were not received until around midnight.    The French unit’s escape was carefully planned to carry out a strategic withdrawal and pass over the stone bridge on the River Agueda. The Spanish call this area Barba del Puerco. At midnight on the 10th of May 1811, the garrison of Almeida (about 1400 men), in three separate detachments, left the fortress. They conducted their march with such quietness that they succeeded in slipping through the siege lines and eluding the allied sentry units [2nd Regiment of Foot and Portuguese pickets]. They had virtually completed their escape before their flight was discovered. Belatedly the French troops were pursued by Pack’s and Campbell’s Brigades towards the bridge at Barba del Puerco.    Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bevan, having not received his orders around midnight, had decided to wait the few hours until day-break before moving. However, on hearing gunfire, Bevan ordered the 4th Foot (King’s Own Regiment) to move off quickly towards the bridge. The French arrived at the bridge first, pursued by Pack’s force. The first contingent of the French hastened their march across the bridge and joined the main French forces on the hilly grounds above the Agueda. The second contingent (the second column of march) was slowed down while descending the mountainous steep road from the town of Barba del Puerco (today known as Puerto Seguro) which lead to the bridge. The King’s Own with the 36th Foot were able to attack the second French column in flank as it was descending the steep road to the Bridge. British attacks onto the bridge and attempts to catch the French were brutally repulsed under a withering fire from the entrenched French troops is the hills on the east side of the river. Neither Lieutenant Colonel Cockrane’s determination – partially supported by a force of Campbell’s 36th Regiment of Foot – nor the 4th Foot, rushing proudly onward, were successful; quite the contrary, British columns were decimated. Compelled to recoil, further severe losses were suffered in the intensive fire fight.     Wellesley, who had correctly anticipated this very situation, was appalled at both the French escape and the British losses. He noted that, “the 4th Regiment, which it is said did not receive their orders before midnight, and had only two and a half miles to march, missed their road and did not arrive, at Barba del Puerco till after the French”. In a later dispatch he said, “the enemy are indebted for the small part of the garrison which they saved principally due to the unfortunate mistake of the road to Barba del Puerco by the 4th Regiment”. In a letter to Lord Liverpool he said, “Thus your Lordship will see, that, if the 4th Regiment had received the orders issued at 1 p.m. before it was dark at 8 o’clock at night, or if they had not missed their road, the [French] garrison must have lain down its arms.”     But it may not have been quite as simple as that. Wellington was asked to formally hold a court of inquiry for prosecution into the affair. The request was not granted (possibly because it might have shown that Erskine had been incompetent, as he certainly was later in the war, and would impair the credibility of the army and fail to inspire confidence in the command structure). It was only much later that the excuse given by Erskine, that the 4th had “taken the wrong road”, was shown to be fabricated. Bevan was accordingly deprived of this right to defend himself.      When it became apparent that Bevan would not receive his day in court, he could not tolerate this stain on his and his regiment’s honor and shot himself on 8 July 1811, a most sad day for the British army. The funeral service - which was attended by all the officers of the division - was held on the 11th of July in the border town of Portalegre. It was here, in the castle yard, that Bevan was buried. A memorial stone was engraved with words of honour: “This stone is erected to the memory of Charles Bevan Esquire. Late Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th or King’ s Own Regiment with intention of recording his virtues. They are deeply engraven on the hearts of those who knew him and will ever live in their remembrance”.     Bevan’s wife and children in England were informed that he had died of fever. It was not until 1843, that his eldest son, Charles found out the sad truth about his death from an uncle, Admiral James Richard Dacres, who wrote informing him that the 4th had received their orders too late and that neither Bevan nor his Regiment were at fault. Although this letter clearly shows what those in the field thought of the matter.     A final note on "a pat of Windsor Soap". A scented soap well known for its excellence. [Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)] It would seem that Manners was in dutch with General Charles Stewart, Wellington Adjutant General and brother to Lord Castlereagh, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, and wanted to make amends by bringing what was likely a rare commodity at the frontier headquarters. This is a remarkable contemporary letter that ties together all of these people and events. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Showing Almeida, Barba de Puerco, Agueda River, Val de la Mulla and Ciudad Rodrigo Biographical Note GENERAL LORD CHARLES SOMERSET MANNERS(24 October 1780 – 25 May 1855)      General Lord Charles Henry Somerset Manners, KCB was a British soldier and nobleman, the second son of Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland, and Lady Mary Isabella Somerset. He entered the army as Cornet in the 10th Dragoons in 1800; became Lieutenant in August, and Captain in September of the same year; and attained the rank of Major in Oct. 1808. In that year he served in Spain, and was in the action at Benavente. In 1809 he served as Aide- de-camp to Lord Chatham in the expedition to Walcheren, and was present at the siege of Flushing. He also served in Spain, and commanded the 3d Dragoons at the battles of Salamanca, Vitoria, and Toulouse, for which he received a medal and two clasps. He became Lieut. Colonel in the regiment on the 2d July, 1812. In 1815 his Lordship was nominated a Companion of the Bath, and in 1838 he was advanced to the rank of a Knight Commander. On the 6th November 1817 he was appointed Aide-de-camp to H. R. H. the Prince Regent, with the rank of Colonel in the army. His Lordship became a Major-General in 1825, a Lieut. -General in 1838, and was appointed to the command of the 3d Dragoons in November 1839. He attained the full rank of General in 1854. During nearly the whole of his military career Lord Charles Manners was a knight of the shire in Parliament.     Lord Charles Manners was an excellent horseman. A contemporary report from the War reported that "having one day unexpectedly come upon a French cavalry picket, they gave chase, until a brook was reached, which Lord Charles, in the Melton fashion, immediately cleared, taking off his hat, and bidding the Frenchmen ( who were so surprised as not to fire until too late), "Adieu, messieurs" A caricature published at the time, descriptive of the event, called "A Belvoir Leap" or "Teaching the French Good Manners!" is in the possession of the late lordship's god-son, Mr. Charles D. Johnson."      He was lieutenant colonel of the 3rd (King's Own) Regiment of Dragoons in 1815, during the Waterloo campaign. After a brief appointment to the colonelcy of the 11th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, he was transferred to the colonelcy of the 3rd, which he commanded until his death in 1855. Document Specifications:  A very fine handwritten ALS letter signed by General Lord Charles Henry Somerset Manners as Major in the King's Own or 3rd Dragoons in Quinta de St João and dated Wednesday, July 10 [1811]. Folded letter measures 9⅛" tall x 7¼" wide (232mm x 185mm). On one folded sheet (forming four pages) of batonne laid paper, watermarked with crest, with wax seal tear and integrated address panel. Writing on three pages as shown, address on fourth page. This is a fascinating and wide ranging letter by one the King's Own Dragoons. It touches on a number of notable characters and events that are often not documented by such personal observations. A unique letter which would handsomely enhance and help anchor a collection of Peninsular War Letters.From the Sir Charles Stuart, Lord Rothesay, Correspondence. Stuart was His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal during the greater part of the Peninsular War (10 January 1810 to 26 May 1814). He was a personal friend and confidante of Wellington and Nelson, a sitting member of the Portuguese Regency (the only British Subject in the war ever permitted to hold an official position in a foreign government while also representing Britain), and later ambassador to Netherlands & France. The most important foreign diplomat of the Peninsular War, his archive of diplomatic, military and intelligence dispatches are second only to Wellington's Dispatches. Offered by Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd   No Reserve - Free Shipping – No Auction Buyer’s FeesWhat You Bid Is What You Pay!! All items include a written guarantee of authenticity to the successful bidder and are accompanied by a full color picture receipt for your insurance and inventory records. 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