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3 days ago · posted in General Discussions

Using AI to Digitize the Challis Index

I have been working with the Gemini AI to translate handwritten Portuguese documents and have had about 95% success rate. The two main issues are reading numbers and the choice of words used does not necessarily reflect 200 year old Portuguese. So I decided to see if it works for the Challis Index. I took its abbreviation file and converted it to a text document. I then uploaded the first 23 Challis pdf files which consisted of about 230 index card images.

It took about five minutes to convert it to digital file. I found only three minor errors. . . changing Abell to Abill.

Attached is the end results.

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Daryl Hosking

2 days ago

I'I'in the process of setting up a major AI pipeline of historical document processing. The key is multi stage multi modal.

Sourcing, cataloguing, referencing, OCR, translation and final processing are completely seperate problems :-(.

There are tools such as have been mentioned, along with brute strength via LLM, but these can all get VERY expensive if applied bluntly at volume.

I'm setting up a multi level approach using cheaper options first, assessing, and triaging to selectively higher process based on results.

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Jonathan North

6 days ago · posted in General Discussions

General Rossetti, aide de camp de Joachim Murat

Another request for a pdf, if possible, this time of Rossetti's journals which, I hope, cover his time in Spain. I think they might be here, but there doesn't seem to be a pdf on this side of the Atlantic:

https://www.google.com.sg/books/edition/_/88d77kG6SjcC?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVpsT-gKOXAxUD1zgGHS3yCV8Q7_IDegQIAxAD

Is it me, or is finding accessible versions of periodicals getting worse? :-/

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David Hollins

4 days ago

It is in the BNF https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb32857075n.public

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Jonathan North

6 days ago · posted in General Discussions

Intelligence from Spain

I wonder if anyone has access to this article and can share a scan?

«Informes sobre España (diciembre 1807 a marzo 1808) del gentilhombre Claudio Felipe, conde de Tournon-Simiane, al emperador Napoleón I», en Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, 1955, t. CXXXVII, pp. 315 y ss. Traducción, comentarios y notas de Manuel Izquierdo Hernández.

It is a report to Napoleon on the state of Spain in late 1807.

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David Hollins

4 days ago

The whole Bolton series is on archive.org but it looks like a complicated search! https://archive.org/details/boletnrealacad5556realuoft/page/n5/mode/2up

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David Hollins

13 days ago · posted in The War at Sea

Nelson’s 1805 watch

Quite a complex instrument, although he didn’t get much use out it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKMXS9UTix4 It went for £152k.

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paulmartinovich

Oct 07

Small problem with timing...Nelson and the Victory reached England after the chase to the West Indies on August 18th. The watch could not possibly have been made between then and August 20th, when it is said to have been presented. The Victory had been away from Britain for two years, so if the officers had clubbed together to commission the watch, they would have had to have sent their instructions (and the money) to the watchmaker from the Mediterranean many months earlier. Is there any documentation for such a possibility?

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David Hollins

30 days ago · posted in General Discussions

Zey seek ‘im here, zey seek ‘im there

Delving back into the world of intelligence and spies, I was delighted to see that no less than Jean Tulard has been taking an interest in the subject in this 30 min talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbxB-97npws There is not much new in it, but I am sure a wider audience would be attracted to the subject if someone like Tulard is speaking. It does bring out the importance of strategic intelligence, especially with efforts to get information about North Africa.

Then I came across this short 8 minute podcast about an Austrian intelligence operative called Redisch, who covered his tracks by trading in tea. The History of Austria: Empire, Collapse, and Reinvention — Fexingo History | Austrian Spies: The Redisch Network in Napoleonic Wars (it’s the Sept 11th edition)

https://www.podbean.com/ei/dir-wkmcm-31023048 I cannot find anything in print, so it seems to be material from the archives.

Then in a random search, I came…

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Skip Smoyer

Sep 20

No doubt every country had some kind of spy/ intelligence operation.

Do run across Russians spying in my readings.

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Jonathan North

September 17, 2026 · posted in General Discussions

Dos de Mayo

Does anyone know of any French eyewitness accounts of the uprising in Madrid on 2 May 1808? Most histories seem to rely on Murat's reports. But were there any participants who left eyewitness testimonies?

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Jonathan North

Sep 18

I have come across some Polish accounts from members of the Imperial Guard: Zaluski and Mikułowski. But I think there must be some testimony by French soldiers and officers.

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David Hollins

September 3, 2026 · posted in General Discussions

The 100 Days and 10 Years - plus ca change!

I realise this is not a political board, but it seems that nothing changes in politics nor history. I noted that within four hours of Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister of the UK, some journalist was already talking about what the next PM would be doing in the first hundred days.

Now, of course, the term “the Hundred Days” was not coined by Napoleon, but by Comte Chabrol, prefect of the department of the Seine, who addressed the King in a speech that began "Sire,—One hundred days have passed away since your majesty, forced to tear yourself from your dearest affections, left your capital amidst tears and public consternation.” It had however also marked a time of great activity by Napoleon, which is probably why the term was popularised by US President FD Roosevelt in a radio speech on July 24, 1933, marking the start of his Presidency (although…

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Alfred Brans

Sep 03

It's the Metric System, we use now and then.

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paulmartinovich

September 1, 2026 · posted in General Discussions

Major George Halford

I am trying to determine the location of Major George Halford of the 59th foot in 1817. I know he fought through the Peninsular War with the 2nd Battalion, was not at Waterloo, and later joined the 1st Battalion in India. The question is: when did he go to India, and thus was he still in Britain in 1817?

Apologies if I have already asked this question on the old forum, but I don't have access to the posts from that much-lamented site.

Thanks

Paul Martinovich

186 Views

David Hollins

Sep 02

Here is an interesting item from some American auctioneers https://auction.potterauctions.com/online-auctions/potter-potter/staines-sir-thomas-1776-1830-pair-of-indentures-on-ve-8854686

Looking at Halford, there is a family memorial in what was St Margaret’s church in Canterbury: https://warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/306056/ “:Memorial tablet to the Halford family, including Major George Halford, who died while returning home from India on sick leave. St Margaret's Church Canterbury was converted into 'The Canterbury Tales' visitor attraction in 1986. This memorial is apparently still in place, but concealed behind the exhibition panelling.”

There is also a Richard Halford, who was an Alderman in Canterbury https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/richard-halford-17541823-alderman-and-chamberlain-75910 (1754-1823) I wonder if Richard the banker and George are his sons?