All Blog Posts (26)

Today I visited Buckingham Old Gaol museum, which is well worth a visit for those interested in the history of the volunteer soldier in the 18th and 19th centuries.

There are three display cabinets maintained by the Bucks Military Museum Trust (who have a good website) which contain artefacts relating to the Royal Bucks King's Own Militia, Bucks…

A little bit outside the dates for this group, but do get in touch with Rachel Anchor if you are interested.

Crimean%20conference%202013.doc

International Conference, Rostrevor, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Weekend conference around the end of September 2013 (date to be finalised)

Call for Papers

Seeking to bridge these two interlinked wars by examining some of the key characters and moments in each.

Whether on the plains of Maida in 1806, when his famous 20th Regiment played a key role in defeating Napoleon’s ‘Invincibles’, or in his amphibious assault on Washington…

Don'd know who this is,  but before responding Google the email, seems very busy on different sites

I will be giving a talk entitled 'The material life of the militiaman: uniforms, 1757-1815' at the 'British History in the Long Eighteenth Century' Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, 5:15 on Wednesday 27 June:

http://www.history.ac.uk/events/seminars/107

As an extra incentive, there's the end of year party afterwards. Hope to see some of you there!

This post may be of interest to members:

The Influence of the Napoleonic Wars upon the British Military, 1815-1854

Thoughts welcomed

Ross

This might be of interest to you all.  Any help you can offer is welcome!

http://poststar.com/news/local/professor-wants-battle-site-protected-from-more-damage/article_c3944e0c-3116-11e1-a29e-0019bb2963f4.html

The following post on the Birmingham "On War" may be of interest to members. It relates to a fortcoming chapter on Tranformation and Innovation in the British Military. Thoughts are always welcomed on the blog.

An Army Transformed?

Ross

Click on the link to see the Tour de Mortella in St Florent Bay which inspired the English Martello Towers.

http://paglia.orba.free.fr/rando/agriate/salec44.htm

Hey guys,

Just a quick post to let you know that I've set up a twitter feed for Waterloo 200 which can be found at http://twitter.com/#!/waterloo200org!

If there's anything that you would like putting up there or anything that you think would make an interesting tweet, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Cheers,

Gem.

During the South American Independence Wars there were some 6,000 british and irish men who joined Bolivar's Army. One of the most notorious unit was the Rifles Battalion which distingushed itself in the 1823-24 Peruvian Campaign which ended at the Battle of Ayacucho.…

As part of my current research i've been working on a set of two registers containing summaries of General Regimental Courts Martial held between 1812 and 1829. There are no trial transcripts in the document, just the name, rank and regiment of each soldier, along with the date and place of trial, and a short summary of charge and sentence. Yet somehow, in these cursory, almost terse summaries, there are fascinating glimpses into the lives of individual soldiers.

It is all…

What an amazing experience the Festival of History at Kelmarsh was! Spanning 2000 years of history, you could see everything from the Roman Legion's battle tactics, through the Medieval Jousting tournaments, to 18th century Redcoat troops!!! and finally to the World War Two display which included an airfight between a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt. Well worth the visit (and maybe booking in for two days as there is no time to see everything in just one!)

Despite the torrential…

I have recently updated my website to include the reviews of Wellington's First Battle, these can be found at http://www.caseshotpublishing.com/review/

Thanks 

Garry Wills

Here is the video of the demonstration from the 33rd Regiment of Foot. Enjoy!

http://lutube.leeds.ac.uk/hy10gmb/videos/5558

I would just like to say a massive thank you to Kevin and Matthew for organising such a wonderful conference!

I have learnt so much over the two days there, and am hoping to go through all the notes I took over the next few weeks to try and put everything I heard into context. Every paper was thoroughly enjoyable and without doubt inspiring! Well done to everyone who contributed a paper! I have been converted to 18th century and military history and cannot wait to get started…

If you are coming to the conference (or if you aren't) and you are a tweeter, you may wish to tweet the event using the hashtag #soldiersconf

You can link your status updates on this site to Twitter.

@historymatt

Hello

I have just published my new book, Wellington's First Battle, which tells the story of the Combat of Boxtel focusing on the action at Schijndel on the 15th September 1794, when Wellington was first engaged against the French.  The book is based on new archival research both in the UK and Holland and pulls together all the available information regarding this small action.  More information is available on my website…

For what it is worth, Pen & Sword have just reprinted my The Amateur Military Tradition, 1558-1945 (originally MUP 1991 and last seen at about £100 on Abebooks) as Britain's Part-Time Soldiers: The Amateur Military Tradition, 1558-1945 in paperback at £12.99. There is a new updated introduction and bibliography for the second edition reviewing new contributions to the field since 1991.

Ian Beckett

I am working on a biography of General Ross' career, not least its links to Irish history. For details of my work see www.themanwhocapturedwashington.com

I'm puzzled by a reference to 'Hushoe' that has arisien. A United Irishmen pamphlet linked the burning of the public buildings in Washington, Waterloo and 'Hushoe' as examples of British 'barbarism'. For the life of me I have never heard of 'Hushoe'. I wonder…