Rod
Thank you. Nice research. Certainly proves the point that Wellington’s orders were followed. And shows that he relied upon and made good use of his light troops.
Should you wish to take this further, you could reference the Gold Medal lists published in the yearly army lists which indicate which officers received a medal for commanding light battalions. I believe that the lists began appearing in 1816 or 1817.
Not certain how many officers died between 1815 and 1820 but here are the links for the 1815 Royal Military Calendar
Merry Christmas
Ron
Vol 1
http://books.google.ca/books?
id=gWK5AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:0etWXb1dNnNUd&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Vol 2
Vol 3
Light Battalions at Albuera, specifically.
In 2006, there was a thread on the 5/60th Foot’s involvement there. There was no consensus as to where or how they were deployed. If they were part of converged light battalions , then they are not identified as such.
Some points:
1. three companies attached to the 2nd Division: 2nd, 4th and 5th.
2. Captain John Macmahon (or McMahon) 2nd Coy with Colborne’s Brigade, Captain Peter Blassiere 4th Coy with
Abercromby’s Brigade and Lieutenant John (or Ignace) Franchini 5th Coy with Hoghton’s Brigade.
3. None of the company commanders received a Gold Medal signifying that they commanded a unit or equivalent in the battle. Macmahon received the Silver MGSM as being present under fire at Albuera. The other two company commanders died before the medal was awarded.
4. Major John Galiffe, regimental major 5/60th Foot was present and only received a Silver MGSM for Albuera.
5. Captain Carthew was senior to Captain Blassiere but junior to Captain Macmahon.
6. Total casualties for the 3 companies 5/60th were 2 killed and 19 wounded. The lieutenant wounded, Ingersleben, was reported as being in the 2nd company. It is unfortunate that the casualties were not broken down by company.
I found no mention of brigade light battalions in Butler, Sherer, Leslie, Beamish or Colborne.