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The Life of
A Regimental Officer
During the Great War
1793-1815
COMPILED FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF
Colonel SAMUEL RICE, C.B., K.H.
51ST LIGHT INFANTRY
AND FROM OTHER SOURCES
BY
Lieut.-Col. A. F. MOCKLER-FERRYMAN
William Blackwood and Sons
Edinburgh and London
1913
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The period of English history covered by thecontents of this book is one of very considerableinterest, for within that period Great Britain roseto be a mighty power, saving Europe from destruction,and gathering to herself the commerceof the world. One has only to glance at a chronologicaltable of events to satisfy oneself that, from1793 to 1815, the British Navy and British Armyfought continuously and desperately in the makingof the Empire, winning many great andglorious victories by sea and by land, and handingdown to posterity the names of British sailors andsoldiers to be sworn by as long as the BritishEmpire shall exist. It was an age of heroic deedsby heroic men. Let us call to mind how the Navyfought at Cape St Vincent, Camperdown, the Nile,Copenhagen, and Trafalgar; and how the Armyfought in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. Letus think of the countless minor expeditions in allparts of the world in which army and navy togetheradded to their laurels; of such sailors as[vi]Nelson, Cochrane, Collingwood, Duncan, Hood,Hawke, Howe, Hotham, Jervis, and others, andof such soldiers as Wellington, Moore, and allthe former's famous generals; and let us rememberthat it was by such victories, won by such men,that England gained her place in the world.
The stories of the lives of the great soldiershave been written over and over again; we knowall about their strategy and their tactics, andhow they guided the machines confided to theircare; but of the lesser men, who, as it were,helped to turn the wheels of, or to apply oil to,the machinery, we know very little. Withouttheir aid the machine must have come to astop; and how they kept it going deserves tobe remembered.
Samuel Rice, extracts from many of whose letterswill be found in the following pages, was one of ahost of Englishmen who played a part—eventhough it may have been an insignificant one—inthe making of the Empire. He was, in everysense of the word, a Regimental Officer—one whonever sought and never accepted employment outsidethe Regiment. Joining the 51st in 1793 asEnsign, he served with it, in good times and in bad,until 1831, the last fourteen years in command.He represents a type not uncommon at the commen