MARSHAL WILLIAM
CARR BERESFORD
Marcus de la Poer Beresford read history at Trinity College Dublin, before qualifying as a lawyer. Marcus retired from legal practice in 2010 after three decades as a partner in the Dublin firm of A & L Goodbody in order to return to his first love, history. His earlier research and postgraduate thesis focused on Ireland in the eighteenth century and the Irish diaspora following the Treaty of Limerick in 1691. He is a distant relative of William Carr Beresford.
www.marcusdelapoerberesford.ie
MARSHAL WILLIAM
CARR BERESFORD
‘The ablest man I have yet seen with the army’
MARCUS DE LA POER BERESFORD
First published in 2019 by
Irish Academic Press
10 George’s Street
Newbridge
Co. Kildare
Ireland
© Marcus de la Poer Beresford, 2019
9781788550321 (Cloth)
9781788550338 (Kindle)
9781788550345 (Epub)
9781788550352 (PDF)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Interior design by www.jminfotechindia.com
Typeset in Garamond Premier Pro 11/14 pt
Jacket design by edit+ www.stuartcoughlan.com
Jacket front: Marshal Beresford by Thomas Lawrence. By kind permission of Historic England.
Jacket back: Marshal Beresford unhorsing a Polish lancer at the Battle of Albuera, 16 May 1811, by Franz Joseph Manskirch, engraved by M. Dubourg. Author’s own collection.
CONTENTS
De la Poer Beresford Family Tree
2. The Capture of the Cape Colony and the Rio de la Plata Expedition of 1806–1807
4. The Defeat of the First French Invasion of Portugal and the Convention of Cintra, 1808
5. Portugal and Spain: From Lisbon to La Coruña, 1808–1809
6. First Steps in the Rebuilding and Reform of an Army: The Campaign in Northern Portugal, 1809
8. The Portuguese Army, 1809–1810
9. The Third French Invasion of Portugal, 1810–1811
10. The French Retreat from Portugal, March–May 1811
11. The Battle of Albuera and its Aftermath, May–June 1811
12. The Portuguese Army Goes From Strength to Strength, 1811–1812
13. Preparation for and Participation in the Campaign of 1813, Leading to the Invasion of France
14. Winter in the Pyrénées: The Battles of Orthez and Toulouse, 1814
15. Family, Friends, Finance and Politics
16. Beresford’s Contribution to Allied Success in the Peninsula
17. Portugal and Brazil, 1814–1820
Brief Chronology of the Wars with France, 1793–1814
Definitive Convention for the Evacuation of Portugal by the French Army
Endnotes
Manuscript Sources
Bibliography
Index
DE LA POER BERESFORD FAMILY TREE
ABBREVIATIONS
| AHM | Arquivo Historico Militar |
| AMM | Arquivo Municipal de Mafra |
| BL | British Library |
| HMC | Historical Manuscripts Commission |
| NA | National Archives, Kew |
| NAM | National Army Museum |
| NLI | National Library of Ireland |
| NYA | North Yorkshire Archives |
| PRONI | Public Record Office Northern Ireland |
| TCD | Trinity College Dublin Library |
| TT | Torre do Tombo, Lisbon |
| USL | University of Southampton Library |
| WD | The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington |