Solo Campaign - Excremento Profundo

 

Spencer Perceval - recently assassinated Prime Minister

no longer available to defend Wellington

Weeks 17 and 18 of my solo Peninsular campaign are in the process of being written up. Without wishing to give away the exciting bits of the plot, let it be said only that the continued run of bad results for the Allied Army has eventually resulted in a motion being tabled to remove Wellington from command. Despite the extraordinary alarm and distraction provided by the assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, just a week earlier, a vote in the British Parliament on 20^th May 1812 gave a substantial majority in favour of Wellington's removal. A further motion that the British Army be withdrawn from Portugal was defeated, however.

With immediate effect, Sir Thomas Graham, as senior British officer with the army will assume temporary command of the British and Hanoverian forces, until a permanent commander is selected and appointed. Here is a list, in seniority order, of the prominent candidates – some are unavailable through duties in remote parts of the Empire, many are in dubious physical health, some are plainly unsuitable for a major field command.

The successful candidate may be any of these, or may be someone else – the army works in mysterious ways. I have discounted the Duke of York himself from being seriously considered for the job. With all due appreciation of previous comments on this subject (most of which are reflected in the list) I would be very interested in any further nominations, applications(!) or comments.

Name	Age @ May 1812	Rank / date	Rating (1=poor, 3=good)	Current job	Comments
John Pitt, Lord Chatham	56	General, 1801	1	Governor of Jersey	Well connected politically, commanded army in Walcheren
Sir Banestre Tarleton	58	General, 1812	3	Governor of Berwick	Hero(?) of AWI, was strongly fancied to command in the Peninsula in 1809, but Wellington was preferred. Prominent Whig
Sir Eyre Coote	50	Lt.Genl, 1801	2	Governor of Jamaica	Another AWI veteran, unpopular
Sir David Baird	55	Lt.Genl, 1805	3		Highly rated, aggressive commander – was badly wounded at Corunna – health uncertain
Sir John Hope, Earl of Hopetoun	47	Lt.Genl, 1808	2	Military Governor of Ireland	Poor health – recently served in Peninsula
Sir Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge	44	Lt.Genl, 1808	3		Commanded cavalry under Moore with distinction – was unable to serve with Wellington because of family difficulties (having eloped with Wellington’s sister-in-law)
Sir John Stuart, Count of Maida	53	Lt.Genl, 1808	2	Governor of Grenada	Victor of Maida, but overall lack of experience and not rated highly – health not good.
Sir Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch	64	Lt.Genl, 1810	2	in Portugal	Competent commander, but (again) has repeating health problems
Sir John Murray	44	Lt.Genl, 1812	1		Very poor reputation – unable to follow orders
Sir Rowland Hill	50	Lt.Genl, 1812	2		Should be in Portugal, but he’s not in my campaign army(!). Wellington regarded him as the best of his subordinates
William Carr Beresford	44	Lt.Genl, 1812	2	Commander,  Portuguese Army	Wellington’s official deputy in the PW, because of his local rank. Good administrator but hesitant, ineffective battlefield commander.