Subtitled ‘Unpublished & Rare Memoirs of the 52nd Regiment of Foot’, this handsome volume is a companion to Mr Glover’s earlier book of memoirs by members of the 43rd Foot. It begins with a ten-page History of the 52nd Foot in the Peninsula and at Waterloo and summarises the regiment’s active service year by year, from 1809 to 1815.

The remainder of the book is devoted to the personal accounts, which are:

Journal of Volunteer J.W. Firon at Belle Ile, Ferrol and Cadiz, 1800-1801
Letter by Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Colborne describing attacking the Upper Teson redoubt in 1812
Diary of Lieutenant Colonel John Hunt, 1812-1813
Reminiscences of Brevet Major William Rowan, 1803-1814
Letter by Major Charles Rowan describing wounding of Major George Napier at Ciudad Rodrigo 1812
Letter by Captain John Ewart describing storm of Ciudad Rodrigo
Letters by Lieutenant Charles Booth, 1805-1812
Account of Battle of Nivelles 1813 by Lieutenant George Gawler
Extract of letter by Lieutenant Edward Northey about action at San Munoz 1812
Letters by Captain Henry Dawson, 1810-1812
Letters by Lieutenant Charles Dawson, 1811-1812
Extracts from letters by Lieutenant Frances John Davies, 1808-1813
Letter by Lieutenant John Gurwood regarding taking the cannon at Sabugal 1811
Memorandum on Sabugal by Lieutenant Robert O’Hara
Journal of Corunna and Walcheren by Ensign Charles Paget
Journal 1811-1814 of Surgeon John Gibson
Narrative of life and adventures of Private Eli Gill from 1802-1814 (see Waterloo Archives Vol. XIII for his account of that battle)

Several of these accounts have been published previously. For example, the Corunna Journal of Charles Paget appeared as With Moore to Corunna in 2018, edited by Charles Esdaile, but the fuller version here includes his journal for the Walcheren expedition; Major Rowan’s letter appeared in the Life and Opinions of General Sir Charles Napier in 1857; while Captain Ewart’s letter, and the letters of Lieutenant Booth and Lieutenant Davies were originally published in various issues of the 43rd & 52nd Light Infantry Chronicle.

All the accounts benefit from numerous informative footnotes provided by the editors that would not have accompanied their original publication. However, footnotes 5, 6 and 7 on page vii of the Foreword have not been printed in the order in which the publications are listed in the text, a surprising error in an otherwise high quality book.

Eight pages of colour and monochrome illustrations, bound into the centre of the book, reproduce the illustration of an officer and private of the 52nd by Charles Hamilton Smith that appears on the dustjacket; Colonel James’s maps of the battles of Sabugal and Orthez; a print depicting the forlorn hope at Ciudad Rodrigo; the Military General Service medal of Private James Morris; the Regimental Medal for the storming of Badajoz; portraits of Sir John Moore and five officers of the 52nd, and photographs of two private soldiers.

Such memoirs and reminiscences may not have a direct application to the creation of wargame rules and scenarios, though some may offer anecdotes that can be incorporated into roleplaying games or skirmishing games like Sharp Practice, but they remind us that the battles we recreate on tabletops with model soldiers were fought by human beings, not inanimate pieces of metal or plastic, and give us a greater insight into the ‘foreign country’ that was the past. This is a volume that collectors of Napoleonic period memoirs will definitely wish to add to their libraries.

Arthur Harman, Miniature Wargames

"This is a boon for skirmish wargamers a bit weary of stories from the 95th Rifles and perhaps looking for some more 'ordinary' accounts to whet their appetites and spark their imagination."

Wargames Illustrated – Issue 421, January 2023