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Who is the British soldier who published his memoirs before 1827?

I read the German translation of the Recollections of a British soldier who served in the Peninsula. The title is "Soldatenleben" = Soldier's Life. He speaks of his voyage from Jersey to Lisbon, his comrads "John" and "Cochran", the defence of Cadiz against the French, the siege and pillage of Badajoz, the execution of deserters at Campo Mayor. Anybody know the English first edition and the name of the soldier (private, infantry)?

Thanks in advance!

8 comments

8 Comments

Eckhard M. Theewen

Mar 20

Bravo Daniel!

Daniel Studer

Mar 20

Eckhard, how about this one? It seems to contain practically all the keywords you mentioned (names, places, events; Badajoz is spelled "Badajos"; I don't know if "John" refers to a "comrade". At first glance, I see a reference to General John Hope only, p. 166) ...

Joseph Donaldson, Recollections of the Eventful Life of a Soldier, Philadelphia, 1845.

Wrote his Recollections between 1817 and 1827, see introductory notice, p. vi. Was a private in the Napoleonic Wars (cf. p. 92), only became a sergeant in the service of the East India Company in 1815 (introductory notice, p. vi)

https://books.google.ch/books?id=PVQDAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=de&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Edited

tomholmberg

Mar 19

Title: Recollections of the Peninsula / Author(s): Sherer, Moyle, 1789-1869, author. Publication: London : Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row, Year: 1823 Description: 3 unnumbered leaves, 262 pages, 6 unnumbered pages ; 23 cm 8vo

Eckhard M. Theewen

Mar 19

Recollections of the Peninsula, 3rd Edit, London 1824, is by J. M. Sherer, an officer. Our man is a private.

Title and author of the German translation of "Soldatenleben" will be listed in vol. 3 - in preparation - of my 2 vol. Napoleonic Bibliography of 2024.

Eckhard M. Theewen

Mar 18

Thank you, Alfred, I am the author of the German compendium of military memoirs, see my reply above.

Edited

tomholmberg

Mar 18

Possibly

Journal of a Soldier of the Seventy-first or Glasgow Regiment ... from 1806 to 1815. By Captain Thomas Pococke

Title:

Soldatenleben. [A free translation of "Journal of a Soldier of the Seventy-first or Glasgow Regiment ... from 1806 to 1815." By Captain Thomas Pococke.].

POCOCKE, Thomas.  Year: 1822 General Info: In : Fischer (C.A.) Kriegs- und Reisefahrten, etc. Tl. 2. 1821, etc. 8°.

Edited

Eckhard M. Theewen

Mar 18

Replying to

Thank you very much.

Unfortunately Pococke is not the source, cf. my Bibliotheca Napoleonica, Kritische Bibliographie der deutschsprachigen Augenzeugenliteratur

der Napoléonischen Kriege 1804–1815, vol. 2 nr. 3007: "¬ Erinnerungen eines Soldaten der britischen Armee über den Krieg auf der Iberischen Halbinsel, Schlachten von Vimeira und Coruña, Fuentes de Oñoro, Erstürmung des Fort

Almarez, Schlachten von Vittoria und Pamplona, Orthez, Bayonne und Toulouse, und Feldzug in Belgien mit der Schlacht von La Belle-Alliance. Der anonyme Autor der Memoiren, angeblich Thomas Pococke (BL 10027.aaa.5), soll nach neuesten Studien aus mindestens zwei Soldaten bestanden haben, und zwar James Todd und Joseph Sinclair vom 71. Regiment ((Daly, S. 230, Fn. 125). Somit liegt hier ein Memoirenwerk vor, dass bereits im Original vom Herausgeber Howel aus mindestens zwei Quellen zusammengeschmiedet und alsdann von Fischer unter erneuter Bearbeitung nur auszugsweise veröffentlicht wurde. Der historische Wert der deutschen Bearbeitung ist demnach sehr gering."

Alfred Brans

Mar 18

Replying to

Kriegs- und Reisefahrten - Fischer - Google Boeken

Only part 2 of the book is on Google Books, and that contains the story Tom refers to, but that a quite different journey.

I have a dutch edition and that has a different story from the Peninsula.

That is said to be Recollections of the Peninsula. 3 Edit. London 1824.

But recently a compendium of all books in german has been published. So I would give it a try on the german website Napoleon online. Some one that bought it might tell you what's the book you refer to.

Alfred