Ron,

I have now checked every entry in the 1820 Royal Military Calendar. There are the following references to officers commanding converged brigade light battalions during the Peninsular War:

Volume 1

Wellington's report on Fuentes de Onoro, written at Villa Formosa on 8 May 1811, mentions:

Lt Col Williams (60th Regt) commanding light battalion of Maj Gen Picton's 3rd Div.
Maj Dick (42nd Regt) commanding light battalion of Maj Gen Nightingall's Bde.
Maj M'Donnell (92nd Regt) commanding light battalion of Maj Gen Howard's Bde.
Maj Ally (3rd Line Bn KGL) commanding light battalion of KGL Bde.

Wellington's report on Salamanca, written at Flores de Avila on 24 July 1812, mentions:

Lt Col Woodford commanding light battalion of Brigade of Guards.

Wellington's report on Vittoria, written at Salvatierra on 22 June 1813, mentions:

Lt Col Cadogan commanding light battalion of Maj Gen Walker's Bde.

Other references to individual officers are as follows:

Volume 4

Col Hepburn (3rd Foot Guards) commanded light battalion of Guards Bde 1813.
Lt Col Pearson (23rd Regt) commanded light battalion of Fusilier Bde 1810-1811.
Lt Col Greenwell (45th Regt) commanded light battalion of 3rd Div 1813-14.
Lt Col Dodgin (66th Regt) commanded light battalion of Maj Gen Byng's Div 1811-14.

Volume 5

Lt Col Gordon (50th Regt) commanded light battalion of right Bde of 2nd Div 1813-14.
Lt Col Auchmuty (7th Foot) commanded "some" light companies at Orthes & Tolouse.
Lt Col Lightfoot (45th Regt) commanded light battalion of right Bde of 3rd Div at Vittoria.
Lt Col Faunce (4th Foot) commanded light battalion of a Bde of 5th Div 1811-12.
Maj Mullins (28th Foot) commanded "some" light companies at Orthes.
Maj Carthew (39th Foot) commanded light companies of his Bde in 2nd Div at Albuera.

I have shown the ranks as they were in the Royal Military Calendar, but most were Majors at the time they commanded their Light Battalions.

In the cases where these officers are shown as commanding light battalions for several years the detailed text makes it clear that these were permanent appointments, in the sense that they held this post continuously throughout the period in question, so whenever the brigade moved or was in combat they would command their converged light battalion.

Bearing in mind that Wellington (or Wellesley as he was then) only had 8 british brigades when he returned to the Peninsula in 1809, and that by 1814 there were a total of 12 "normal" brigades (ie not counting the four light brigades of the Light and 7th Divisions - which did not use this converged light battalion system). There will also have been a number of officers commanding converged light battalions during the Peninsular War who had either died or left the Army by the time that 1820 Royal Military Calendar was published. In this context identifying 16 officers who commanded such converged light battalions at various times does seem to prove conclusively that they were in normal use, as indeed Wellington's General Orders required.

Rod