The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 4 October 1836
“Brooks’s, Oct. 4th.
“. . . When I was at Stoke I fell in love with
Wellington’s Peninsular dispatches,
published by Gurwood; but as my supply
from that library is now cut off, and the book itself too dear to buy, I am
living upon Napier’s Peninsular
War, which has been given me by Lord Allen, because he hates it so much. . . .
Napier is a clever man, and has taken great pains with
his subject; but he undertakes too much in his criticism upon all the French generals in Spain, and ![]()
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all their acts. The Beau,* the real
official and efficient observer of all, pretends to no such universal insight
into the tactics of his enemy as is claimed by this subaltern in his own
camp.†. . .”
Joshua William Allen, sixth viscount Allen (1782 c.-1845)
The son of the fifth viscount (d. 1816); educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he served
under Wellington in the Peninsular War. Thomas Creevey described him as “a penniless lord
and Irish pensioner, well behaved and not encumbered with too much principle.”
John Gurwood (1790-1845)
After service in the Peninsular War he was private secretary to the Duke of Wellington;
he died a suicide.
Sir William Francis Patrick Napier (1785-1860)
British general; served in Spain and Portugal (1808-13); author of
History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to
the Year 1814, 6 vols (1828).
Arthur Wellesley, first duke of Wellington (1769-1852)
The Dispatches of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington, K.G. during his
various Campaigns in India, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low Countries, and France, from
1799 to 1818. (London: Murray, 1834-1838). Released in parts, with later supplements.
