William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| William Beresford | |
|---|---|
| October 2, 1768 – January 8, 1856 | |
.jpg) Field-marshall Beresford - Coudelaria de Alter, Portugal |
|
| Allegiance | England, Portugal |
| Service/branch | Army |
| Unit | General, Field-marshall |
| Battles/wars | Peninsular War |
| Other work | Governor of Jersey |
William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Conde de Trancoso, 1st Marquês de Campo Maior GCB GCH (October 2, 1768, Ireland – January 8, 1856, Bedgebury), British soldier and politician, illegitimate son of George de la Poer Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford.
A general in the British Army and a marshal in the Portuguese army, who fought with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and in 1828 held the office of master-general of the ordnance in Wellington's first ministry.
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[edit] Early Campaign Experience
He entered the British Army in 1785 as an ensign in the 6th Regiment of Foot and the next year he was blinded in one eye due to an accident with a rifle. He remained in the service being promoted to captain by 1791 with the 69th Regiment of Foot. He distinguished himself at Toulon (1793), in Egypt (1799-1803) and in South Africa (1805). From there he fared across the South Atlantic to South America to invade the River Plate region (Argentina), with a small British force of 1,500 men, departing on April 14, 1806. Following his move to the South African city of Cape Town, Beresford, spurred on by Sir Home Popham, decided to attack Buenos Aires in Spanish South America. No attempt was made to gain authorization from the Crown for this undertaking. In the invasion of the River Plate, Buenos Aires was occupied for 46 days. However, the British force couldn't maintain itself in the face of local opposition and an uprising. After a relentless two-day fight with the Buenos Aires and Montevideo militia, the British were defeated and forced to capitulate. Bereford had to surrender, remaining prisoner for six months. After which he managed to escape and arrived in England in 1807.
[edit] Peninsular War
In that same year he was sent to Madeira, which he occupied in name of the King of Portugal, remaining there for six months as Governor and Commander in Chief. The exiled Portuguese Government in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, where the Portuguese Royal Family had taken refuge, realised the necessity of appointing a commander-in-chief capable of reorganizing and disciplining the Portuguese Army. The Portuguese government asked Britain for a general to fulfil this role, and Beresford was chosen for that mission. He was appointed Marshal and Commander in Chief of the Army by Decree of March 7, 1809 and took the command on the 15th of the same month. Days before, he had already arrived at the Tagus with two British divisions. At that time, Marshal Soult had already crossed into Portugal where he occupied the Province of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. Beresford quickly implemented reforms to improve the discipline and organization of the forces placed under his command.
From the General Headquarters, then at the Largo do Calhariz, he dispatched many "daily orders" altering some points of the Infantry ordnance, creating a general command of Artillery, establishing the separation of the batallions and severely punishing the insubordination of a grenadier battalion. On April 22 Sir Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington, disembarked in Lisbon, and took over the command of all the Anglo-Portuguese troops. The allied armies marched to the North. Wellington moved from Coimbra directly to Porto, which he entered on May 12, and Beresford marched through the Province of Beira, arriving that same day at the banks of the Douro river, in the area of Lamego. Wellington's troops made a forced crossing of the Douro and defeated the French, Soult was obliged to withdraw from Oporto. Soult was outnumbered and was expelled from Portugal; the positioning of Beresford's forces compelled the French to leave Portugal by the poor roads through Montalegre, they managed to cross the border only after sacrificing their artillery and baggage, and facing numerous difficulties.
So ended the Second French Invasion of Portugal, the allied armies moved back to the South, the British concentrating at Abrantes and the Portuguese at Castelo Branco, with the intent of cooperating with the Spanish against Marshal Victor. The Anglo-Portugues forces under Wellesley moved into Spain in the Talavera campaign, Beresford remained on the Águeda River covering the Spanish-Portuguese border. After Wellesley's return, now as Lord (Viscount) Wellington, following the Battle of Talavera Beresford re-entered Portugal, where he distributed the army at various locations established his General Headquarters in Lisbon. From Lisbon he dispatched numerous orders and instructions for the reform of the Portuguese military.
In the same year (1809), and the following year he made tours of inspection of the corps that were found quartered in the various provinces and he corrected any defects he noticed and established rules for the functioning of the different branches of the military service. In this way he improved the functioning of the Portuguese Army so that they might face the forces of Napoleon that were invading the country for the third time. The good results of his efforts were proven at the campaign against Masséna in particular at the Battle of Buçaco, September 27, 1810 where the Portuguese troops played a prominent part, and also in the defence of the Lines of Torres Vedras). The most notable action in which Beresford held independent command occurred in 1810 when a combined Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army under his command, intercepted a French army commanded by Marshal Soult who had been ordered by Marshal Auguste Marmont to move to protect the important Spanish fortress-city of Badajoz. As the French forces retreated from the Lines of Torres Vedras, Beresford marched towards Badajoz, which he laid siege to. Having, however, received notice that Soult was approaching, he lifted the siege and posted his army at Albuera in a defensive position. There he defeated the French forces on May 16th 1811. After the very bloody Battle of Albuera the French were forced to retreat, though the seige of Badajoz had to be subsequently abandoned. Meanwhile, on May 13, 1811, he was created 1st Conde de Trancoso in Portugal by decree of Prince Regent John.
At the beginning of July 1811 he was again in Lisbon, where he applied himself to new work in the administration of the Portuguese Army, where he remained until the end of that year. He then joined Wellington in his investment of Ciudad Rodrigo. He accompanied, after this fortified town had fallen, the army to Alentejo, and participated in the second Anglo-Portuguese Siege of Badajoz. After Badajoz had been stormed the two Generals, Wellington and Beresford, again took up position on the Águeda, and from there launched the Salamanca campaign. On July 22, 1812, the important Battle of Salamanca was fought, giving the Anglo-Portuguese forces a decisive victory over the French under Marshal Marmont. In the battle Beresford was badly wounded, when he was ordering the advance of one of the Portuguese brigades.
He retired to Lisbon and stayed in Portugal until May of the next year (1813). Meanwhile he was also created 1st Marquês de Campo Maior in Portugal by Prince Regent John on December 17, 1812. Beresford rejoined the campaigning army, and assisted in the battles that were fought in France and were the last clashes of the Peninsular War.
[edit] Later career
After peace was declared he went to England on leave and came back again to Lisbon to reassume the command of the Portuguese Army. He didn't limit himself, however, to that role, and intended to intervene in the general politics of the country, from this he came into conflict with the Regency. He then determined to go to the Court in Rio de Janeiro. He departed to there in August 1815 and returned in September 1816, invested with wider powers than the ones which he had previously enjoyed. Beresford took a high hand in his dealings with Gomes Freire de Andrade (1817) and, put into a difficult situation, he returned to Brazil, obtaining from John VI the confirmation of the powers he had already attained, which he desired to see amplified.
He returned to Portugal with the title of Proconsul; however, the Revolution of 1820 intervened; the British officers, for the most part, had been discharged, and the revolutionary government based in Lisbon didn't even consent that Beresford could disembark. Beresford returned to Portugal in 1827 at request of the Regent, Infanta Isabel Maria of Braganza, but gave up his ambitions due to the resistance he found among the Portuguese Army and returned to Britain.
[edit] Legacy
Napier, in his History of the Peninsular War, severely criticized the tactics of Beresford at the Battle of Albuera, which gave origin to a heated correspondence between the Marshal and the Historian. The published letters of Beresford which are mentioned below refer to this controversy. Wellington himself had no illusions over Beresford's ability as a General, but he apreciated his abilities as a military organizer that he recommended, in case of his death, that Beresford succeeded him in command. He published: Strictures on Certain Passages of L. Col. Napier's History of Peninsular War; Further Strictures; Refutation of Col. Napier's Justification, London, 1831-1834, 3 Vol.; Letter to Charles Edward Long, Esq. on the Extracts Recently Published from the Ms. Journal and Private Correspondence of the Late Lieut-Gen. R. B. Long, London, John Murray, 1833; A Second Letter to Charles Edward Long, Esq. on the Ms. Journal and Private Correspondence of the Late Lieut. General R. B. Long (1834). Also of interest is the Colecção das Ordens do Dia (Collection of Orders of the Day) produced by Beresford's general headquarters nos Anos de 1809 a 1823 (for the years 1809 to 1823), Lisbon, 13 Vol. (at the Library of the English Institute of the University of Coimbra).
As a reward for his services in the fight against the French he was created Viscount Beresford by the British Crown. He was the last titular Governor of Jersey; since his death the Crown has been represented in Jersey by the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. Beside many national and foreign decorations he had the Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword. Some authors infer that he also had the title of 1st Duque de Elvas; but no document recording the granting this title is extant.
[edit] Family
He married without issue his first cousin Hon. Louisa de la Poer Beresford, widow of Henry Thomas Hope and daughter of William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies and wife Elizabeth Fitzgibbon. None of his Portuguese titles were renewed in his nephews though they kept using them.
[edit] References
- ISBN 0-9522930-7-2, The Fatal Hill: The Allied Campaign under Beresford in Southern Spain in 1811, Mark Sunderland, Thompson Publishing, London 2002, Long Review
- Zúquete, Afonso Eduardo Martins, Nobreza de Portugal e do Brasil (3 Volumes), Volume Second, p. 474-7, Lisbon, 1960.
[edit] External links
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Hildebrand Oakes, Bt |
Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance 1823–1824 |
Succeeded by Sir George Murray |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Marquess of Anglesey |
Master-General of the Ordnance 1828–1830 |
Succeeded by Sir James Kempt |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by New Creation |
Viscount Beresford 1823–1854 |
Succeeded by Extinct |
| Preceded by New Creation |
Marquis of Campo Maior (in Portugal) 1812–1854 |
Succeeded by Extinct |
