Twenty Five Years in the Rifle Brigade

Octavo, 435 pp. Marbled, paper-covered boards, half leather, re-backed in a lighter-coloured leather with, what is possibly the original spine label. Some rubbing and wear to the cover edges, touches of scuffing at the corners, but really a rather nice copy of this rare title. The endpapers have been sympathetically renewed. Former owner's name on the title page in pencil. Amongst all the soldiers' memoirs that emerged from the Peninsular War, very few (only two, to my knowledge) were written by quartermasters. Although published posthumously, the memoir here was taken faithfully, indeed literally, from the author's MS. Surtees [1781-1830] was born in Northumberland to a tradesman and received a reasonably good education. The memoir begins with his participation in the ill-fated Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. He ends up in Spain by way of Ireland and Denmark (when the British were besieging Copenhagen in 1807). As a quartermaster, he usually observes the war from a distance, but his memoir is no less informative for being told from that detached standpoint. Indeed, his tales of behind-the-lines efforts to keep the infantry supplied with food and their baggage fill in an important part of the overall picture of the war in the Peninsula. Fascinating, too, the way these memoirs reference each other. On p. 90, for example, mention is made of the Irish sharpshooter Thomas Plunkett [1785-1839] of the 95th Rifles, who killed the French General Colbert at the Battle of Cacabelos in January 1809. His fellow Irishman, Edward Costello, also mentions Plunkett in his 'Adventures of a Soldier' [1841]. Surtees often writes about the harsh conditions the enlisted men suffered, including the summary court-martial for unfortunate remarks made within the hearing of the officers. He has trouble with the bullocks pulling the carts and is exasperated with the muleteers. He records, too, the tedious, frustrating negotiations with the Spanish officials in towns for provisions. Of the importance of his role, he writes, 'The comfort and efficiency of an army in the field depend more on the abilities and zeal of officers in the Quartermaster-general's department than on any other branch of the service.' The last few chapters cover his posting to the United States and his eventual return home, where tragically, his wife dies in Dublin.…