I am researching the life of Captain Sir Thomas Staines RN, who (among many other astonishing episodes) fought a duel in 1817 with 'Major Holbrook'. I have been unable to find any information about this officer...can anyone supply more details about his full name, regiment and background?
Thanks
soon, the biggest volume, 288 pages, of the series
This groundbreaking book offers a detailed exploration of the dress of the regiments of Light Infantry and other support troops in Napoleon's Grande Armée, including foot and horse artillery, sapeurs, musicians, and carabiniers. For the first time in two centuries, it accurately examines how these troops were clothed and equipped.
Paul Dawson’s research draws from over 1,000 archive boxes in the Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre and the Archives Nationales in Paris. These documents reveal how the 1806 uniform regulations and Bardin regulations were implemented in practice, offering insights previously unavailable to the public.
The archives focus on the annual inspections of regiments, where the condition of uniforms and equipment was assessed. Soldiers' uniforms were provided through stoppages in their pay, with a prescribed lifespan for each item. The regimental Council of Administration also drew funds for clothing renewals, repairs,…
Who could imagine today that women were fully part of the military community in France in the modern era? Yet far from being isolated and marginalized, these service auxiliaries occupied "support" roles alongside the soldiers, constantly adapting and accommodating themselves to gender norms and the grueling daily lives of the men over whom they watched over. The author breathes new life into these women forgotten by history, the followers or companions of the armies, tracked down in war archives and memoirs of soldiers and officers from the late 18th century, the revolutionary armies, and the First Empire. This book reassigns their rightful place to these wives, mothers of soldiers, prostitutes, cantinières, and laundresses who participated in the campaign community alongside the men. It recounts their experiences, often underestimated or invisible in official accounts. Another vision of the practices of war "at ground level", from the female side, which broadens the…
another book from the Wilkin, or rather a trilogy about the 1500 letters from Napoleonic soldiers kept in the Archives of Liège and reproduced in 3 volumes (in french)
With the trilogy 'Lettres de Soldats au service de la France', produced with his father René Wilkin, Bernard Wilkin, archivist at the State Archives in Liège, gives a voice to the more than 25,000 people of Liège who enlisted in the armies of the French Republic and Empire between 1795 and 1815. A unique, human and moving testimony.
For 20 years, the current province of Liège was a department of the French Republic and then of the French Empire. More than 25,000 of its sons participated in the wars of this era. They wrote to their families to recount their training, their suffering, their hopes, their loves, and their vision of the countries they crossed.
The State Archives in Liège…
Thanks Ron for digging up the additional information on Holebrook.
For a variety of reasons, I now believe that 'Major Holbrook' was a complete fiction to conceal the identity of the woman who was the cause of the duel with Staines. In fact the other participant in the duel was probably named Halford, the brother of the man (who was Staines' cousin) whose wife Staines had seduced!