Richard Sharpe and his "Chosen Men"

A Timeline for Richard Sharpe's Life

Compiled and annotated with matters Napoleonic, by Brian Timmins

Page Three of Three

Page 1	: 1769 to 1809
Page 2	: 1809 to 1813
Page 3	: 1814 to 1860

1814

Sharpe's Siege:

Richard Sharpe and the Winter Campaign, 1814 This is another of the episodes where the action is entirely fictional. It describes a 'commando' raid on a French coastal fort and involves the usual selection of nasty guys. There were many such raids in the Napoleonic Wars, so its' not unreasonable that a soldier like Sharpe might have been involved in one. This is an attack on the fort in the Bay of Arcachon, an attack that goes disastrously wrong because of Pierre Ducos' intervention. Sharpe finds himself stranded, surrounded and with only one very unlikely ally - Captain Cornelius Killick from Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Bamfield	Calvert	Maquerre	Catherine

Film Discrepancies:
Captain Killick does not come into the film at all because the soldiers march overland to the fort, rather than take ship.

11 January: Murat defects to the Allied forces.
16 January: Skirmish at Molins de Rey. France led by Mesclop versus Britain led by Clinton. No conclusive result.
29 January: Battle of Brienne, Napoleon defeats Blucher.
30 January: Battle of La Rothiere, Napoleon defeats Blucher.
10 February: Battle of Champaubert - Napoleon defeats Olssufiev.
11 February: Battle of Montmirail - Napoleon defeats Yorck.
12 February: Battle of Chateau-Thierry - Napoleon defeats Yorck.
14 February: Battle of Vauchamps - Napoleon defeats Blucher.
17 February: Battle of Valjouan - Grouchy defeats Wrede.
18 February: Battle of Montereau - Napoleon defeats Schwarzenberg.
15 February: Skirmish at Garris. France led by Harispe versus Britain led by Wellington. British victory.
15 February: Skirmish at Arriverayte. France led by Harispe versus Britain led by Hilll. British victory.
25 February: Storm of Saint Etienne. France fights Britain led by Hope. British victory.
27 February: Battle of Orthez. France led by Soult versus Britain led by Wellington. British victory.
27 February: Soult defeated at Orthez.
27 February - 28 April: Siege of Bayonne. France led by Thouvenot versus Britain led by Hope. French victory.
27 February: Battle of Bar-sur-Aube, Wittgenstein defeats Oudinot.
27 February: Battle of Orthes - Wellington defeats Soult.
2 March: Skirmish at Aire. France led by Clausel versus Britain led by Hill. British victory.
7 March: Battle of Craonne - Napoleon defeats Blucher.
9 March: The Treaty of Chaumont. The principal powers in the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon was Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria. Each agree not to negotiate a separate peace with French emperor and to supply 150,000 troops to bring about his final defeat. Britain, by now far the wealthiest nation in the world, is to finance the effort. The fall of Paris and Napoleon's defeat and exile cannot be far away now.

Sharpe's Mission:

This non-canonical film was built from the ground up by the production team - there was no book to base it on but it is really quite a good film. Colonel Cresson and General Calvet plan to capture Major General Ross, Wellington's intelligence chief. Gypsies are camping with the British, their women are causing a stir among the soldiers and Sharpe has settled into married life. Jane, however, is bored and looking to the future. She wonders how Sharpe will take to the social life back in England. Colonel Brand also arrives in the camp, he operates behind enemy lines and plans to destroy Calvet's powder supply. Sharpe is to act as his back up. They also require the services of explosives expert, Major Septimus Pyecroft. A war correspondant and poet, called Shellington, has also arrived and becomes enamoured with Jane. When Ross and Sharpe meet Pyecroft, he has a gypsy girl with him who was the only survivor from an attack on her family. In the British encampment, Zara spots one of her family's horses and her mother's ring in the possession of Brand and his men, confirming Sharpe's suspicions. Brand is luring them into a trap, with the goal of capturing Ross for his knowledge of Wellington's plans. All is not well for Sharpe however. His wife Jane is becoming more and more dissatisfied with his career as a soldier. Pyecroft has more luck; he and Zara become engaged.

Brand	Gypsy Girl	Pope	Pyecroft	Shillington

10 March: Battle of Laon - Blucher defeats Napoleon.
12 March: Wellington sent Beresford to Bordeaux with twelve thousand men; the Duc d'Angoulême entered the city, and Louis XVIII was proclaimed there. Wellington refused, however, to identify himself with a Bourbon restoration, as the allies were at that time negotiating with Napoleon.
13 March: Battle of Rheims - Napoleon defeats the Allies.
17 March: Battle of Fismes - Blucher defeats Marmont. France led by Captain Daunia versus Britain. French victory.
19 March: Skirmish at Vic-Bigorre. France led by D'Erlon versus Britain led by Picton. No conclusive result.
20 March: Skirmish at Tarbes. France led by D'Erlon versus Britain led by Wellington. British victory.
21 March: Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube - Schwarzenberg defeats Napoleon.
24 March: Skirmish at Etauliers. France led by L'Huillier versus Britain led by Dalhousie. British victory.
25 March: Battle of La Fere-Champenoise - Schwarzenberg defeats Marmont.
30 March: Battle of Paris - Allies Schwarzenberg defeats Marmont and Paris surrenders. The French army had inflicted a number of defeats on the Coalition since the Battle of Nations at Leipzig in 1813, but each one had taken its toll and the French were ill equipped to stem the Coalition's advance. Napoleon's plan had been to retreat with his remaining forces to eastern France where he would rebuild his army, leaving the defence of Paris to its garrison. With just 20,000 men and ill-motivated leaders, however, the city is no match for the forces ranged against it. The Defeat at Montmartre was too much and the next day Alexander I of Russia and Frederick William III of Prussia enter in triumph.
6 April: France is defeated. The Coalition ranged against it insists on its return to its pre-revolutionary borders and that Louis XVIII takes the throne lost by Louis XVI. Napoleon, after making one last effort to get his remaining army to march on Paris, abdicates in favor of his son, and, according to the Treaty of Fontainebleau, agrees to go into exile on the island of Elba, where he will receive a stipend of 2 million francs a year (which was never paid) and he could keep the title Emperor. Humiliatingly, he is given a kingdom as tiny as his ambitions have been great.
8 April: Skirmish at Croix D'Orade. France led by Soult versus Britain led by Wellington. British victory.
10 April: Wellington defeats Soult at Toulouse. Jane leaves Sharpe but takes all his money.
11 April: Napoleon abdicates unconditionally.
14-18 April: French forces opposing Wellington capitulate. Napoleon moves toElba, his wife and son take refuge in Vienna.
14 April: Battle of Bayonne. France led by Thouvenot versus Britain led by Hope. No conclusive result.
16 April: Battle of Barcelona. France led by Habert versus Spain led by Sarsfield. Spanish victory.
20 April: "Soldiers of my Old Guard, I bid you farewell. For 20 years I have constantly accompanied you on the road to honour and glory. In these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have invariably been models of courage and fidelity. With men such as you, our cause could not be lost; but the war would have been interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have entailed deeper misfortunes on France."

I have sacrificed all of my interests to those of the country.

I go, but you, my friends, will continue to serve France. Her happiness was my only thought. It will still be the object of my wishes. Do not regret my fate; if I have consented to survive, it is to serve your glory. I intend to write the history of the great achievements we have performed together. Adieu, my friends. Would I could press you all to my heart."

- Napoleon, 20 April 1814, in a speech to his veteran soldiers.

Sharpe's Revenge:

The episode starts with Sharpe taking part in the climactic battle at Toulouse. In the chaos of the first days of peace, the Emperor's personal treasury gets 'lost'. Sharpe is accused of the theft, smells Ducos's involvement and so the chase is on. It takes Sharpe and Harper to Normandy where, in a dilapidated chateau, Sharpe meets Lucille, who shoots him and then nurses him better. The novel marks the last time Patrick Harper fights as an actual member of the British Army, as he receives his discharge, signed personally by the Duke of Wellington, at the book's end. Also feature is the departure of another key character from the series, Captain William Fredrickson.

Calvert	Ducos	Lucille	Molly Spindacre	Wigram

Film Discrepancies

11 May: Wellington becomes Duke.

Sharpe's Justice:

Another non-canonical episode written especially for the TV in which the war is apparently over and Sharpe ends up assigned to the backwaters of Yorkshire in a town called Scarsdale. Harper goes with him and they meet up with the local yeomanry, and their commander, Captain Wickham. (Personally I wonder if George Wickham was deliberately (or subconsciously) named after the officer of the same name in Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice". In P&P Wickham and his wife Lydia Bennett go north to Newcastle in September of 1812. It is not unreasonable to assume that George Wickham might have been posted to somewhere like Scarsdale). Daniel Hagman is there in search of work and they meet Matt Truman, the leader of the revolution (Sharpe's half brother). And like any family reunion, they spent most of their time taking swings at each other. He is to protect Parfitt's mills from this revolution. In London, Jane is finding life as a mistress difficult. She is shunned by society., including Lady Anne Carmoynes (once a mistress herself). Lady Anne shows up to advise Sharpe of the political machinations against him, again for her usual price. She also tells Sharpe Jane is in the neighbourhood. Sharpe rides off to demand his money. The mill barons plot to rid themselves of Sharpe, their competitors and Truman in one fell swoop. Truman is killed, Sharpe, now on the wrong side of the law, ambushes the ambush, though the steam engine he's meant to be protecting bounces away down the hill. The dastardly yeomen are arrested. After a final confrontation with Jane, Sharpe returns to Lucille in Normandy.

Parfitt	Sally Bunting	Truman	Wickham

September - June 1815: The Congress of Vienna was a conference between ambassadors from the major powers in Europe - Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria - seek to determine the post-war order across Europe. It was chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and held in Vienna. Its purpose was to redraw the continent's political map after the defeat of Napoleonic France the previous spring. France - represented by its clever and devious foreign minister Talleyrand, who now serves Louis XVIII as once he served Napoleon - does better than might be expected. It is allowed to keep some territory added to its eastern borders since 1792 and gets back most of its overseas territories seized by Britain. Before the Congress ends on 9 June 1815, Austria carves up northern Italy between itself and Piedmont-Sardinia, where the pre-Napoleonic royal dynasty is restored, as they are in Tuscany, Spain and elsewhere. A new Swiss confederation, with permanent guarantees of neutrality, is formed, and a new German confederation is created among the old Holy Roman Empire statelets. Prussia gains huge amounts of territory, including half of Poland; Russia takes the rest. The division of Europe turns out to be remarkably stable. The continent will not see another war such as those during Napoleon's era for almost a century.

1815

Sharpe's son, Patrick Lassan, is born.

26 February: Napoleon escapes from Elba.
1 March: Napoleon returns to France.
20 March: The Hundred Days. Napoleon returns to power in Paris, three weeks after landing with a boatful of supporters at Cannes. French troops sent to oppose him have instead joined him, including the chief of the French army, Marshal Ney, who had promised Louis XVIII to bring the ex-emperor to Paris 'in an iron cage'. Napoleon is feted and carried shoulder high into Tuileries. Louis himself has fled the city. The period from now until 8 July, when Louis is reinstalled on the throne, will come to be known as the 'Hundred Days'. Napoleon's fate is sealed, however, by defeat at Waterloo in June. "Great events ever depend but upon a single hair. The adroit man profits by everything, neglects nothing which can increase his chances; the less adroit, by sometimes disregarding a single chance, fails in everything" - Napoleon.
15 June: Napoleon collects his army on the Sambre, attacks the Prussians at Charleroi and drives them back towards Ligny. Then he invades the Netherlands.
16-17 June: The Prussians are able to concentrate at Ligny and the British at Quatre Bras. Napoleon is slow to attack, and appears to wait until midday. Ney just manages to hold his own against the British and Napoleon succeeds in forcing the Prussians from Ligny. The success would be decisive except that both the Emperor and Ney summon d'Erlon's corps of 20,000. D'Erlon is confused by the contradictory orders and stays put. Napoleon makes a fatal error in the direction of the Prussian retreat. He sends Grouchy with 30,000 men to Namur, but Blucher has retreated to Wavre. The British and Belgians retire to Waterloo, ground that Wellington has selected.
18 June: The Battle of Waterloo. The British troops are posted on high ground from Hougemont, behind La Haye Sainte to Papelotte. The French are on the hills opposite, from Hougemont, past La Belle Alliance, to Frichermont. There has been heavy rain overnight and Napoleon chooses not to attack until almost midday. The lost hours prove to be important as Grouchy has not held the Prussians and three quarters of their force is now marching from Wavre towards Waterloo. Napoleon directs his first assault against the Chateau of Hougemont. He believes capturing this is a preliminary to the main attack. He did not take into account British stubborness in its defence and troops are engaged there all day. In the end, the French fail to capture the Chateau. At half past one, d'Erlon leads an attack on the British left between Papelotte and La Haye Sainte. The French are driven back with heavy losses. From four to six o'clock, assaults, led by Marshal Ney, are directed against the British right centre (to the west of the Charleroi road). Now the approach of the Prussians towards Plancenoit was clear and Napoleon has to cover his line of retreat. He sends some battalions of the Imperial Guard against the Prussians, troops that would be invaluable to Ney. Ney's cavalry has spent itself against British infantry squares to little effect. Between seven and eight o'clock, Napoleon orders a general assault on the British position. Ney leads the Old Guard, but is repulsed. The battle is over. About nine o'clock, Wellington and Blucher meet at La Belle Alliance. There are heavy losses on all sides: British 13,000, Prussians 7,000, French 25-30,000.

Sharpe's Waterloo:

When Napoleon escapes from Elba, Sharpe is settled in Normandy with Lucille, but a sense of duty recalls him to the army, and he is promoted to Lt. Col. in the 5th (Belgian) Light Dragoons, under the command of William, Prince of Orange. The only plot in this book is the one where Sharpe does have to settle accounts with the man who poached his second wife. The story of the battle is so dramatic, so unlikely and so full of suspense that fiction is scarcely needed. Nevertheless the book does suggest that perhaps it was not the enemy who shot the Prince of Orange. The totally incompetent William, Prince of Orange, is more concerned with cutting a dash at a grand society ball in Brussels, than listening to Sharpe's scouting reports. Sharpe and Harper are given a post at the farm at La Haie Sainte where Harris and Hagman die. Woefully undefended, the men there repulse attacks from the French in bloody combat. The Prince of Orange makes horrenduous mistakes, from Quatre Bras to Waterloo. Eventually, Sharpe has had enough and tells Orange so! Having removed himself, Sharpe requests leave to join his old regiment, the South Essex. Wellington agrees and Sharpe takes them into a final attack on Napoleon's Old Guard. At the height of the conflict, just as victory seems impossible, he takes command and the most hard-fought and bloody battle of his career becomes Sharpe's own triumph.

Wellington Orange Sharpe	Uxbridge	Lucille & Sharpe

Film Discrepancies

7 July: The allies advance to Paris, which they reach on July 7th. After abdicating in Paris on June 22nd, Napoleon flees to Rochefort and surrenders to the captain of the British man-of-war Bellerophon. Later he is exiled to St Helena in the South Atlantic.
17 October: Napoleon arrives on the south Atlantic island of St Helena, where he has been exiled following his defeat. The Coalition forces have decided to send him as far away as possible to minimise the possibility of him making another attempt to return to power. They are probably wise to be cautious: Napoleon had already made an abortive attempt to escape to America before being put on a ship for exile.

1816-20: Sharpe lives as a farmer in Normandy with Lucille. Sharpe's second daugter, Dominique is born.
1816: Sharpe's Ransom:

It's Christmas and Sharpe is peacably minding his own business - farming with Lucille when some out of work French soldiers, who are roaming the countryside as bandits, decide to visit Sharpe and relieve him of the Emperor's treasure he rescued and they tink he has. Sharpe, of course, never had the treasure, so the outlaws hold his family hostage and Sharpe has to rely on the locals, who dislike the Englishman amongst them, to help him.
1817: Sharpe's Challenge:
Non-canonical film made into a single sort of compilation or smörgåsbord of the three "Indian novels" - Sharpe's Tiger, Sharpe's Triumph and Sharpe's Fortress. It was set after Waterloo I presume because they couldn't be bothered to make everyone look younger.

Historical background to Chile in 1820: Ambrose Bernard O'Higgins was born in Ballinary, County Sligo, Ireland; date uncertain. He inherited his father's estates, Hacienda Las Canteras in Las Laja near Los Ángeles (Founded as Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles - "Our Lady of the Angels" - in 1739 by Manso de Velasco, originally a Spanish fort, Los Ángeles is now the capital of the province of Biobío). Opponents of the independence, the royalists who wanted Chile to return to royal rule, began to foment opposition to the Congress. This period of Chilean history is termed the Patria Vieja (The Old Mother Country). Bernardo recognized the need for an armed militia and using his inheritance, formed two cavalry companies with the huasos, or cowboys, and peasants who worked his estates. Following instructions in military tactics from Colonel Juan MacKenna, he assumed the rank of Colonel. His militia got the first taste of battle in the 1813 Sorpresa del Roble, where Bernardo distinguished himself for bravery in leading a cavalry charge against the royalist factions. His exhortation "¡O vivir con honor o morir con gloria!, ¡El que sea valiente que me siga!" (Live with honor or die with glory. He who is brave, follow me) lives in Chilean history. Bernardo and thousands of Chileans stayed in Argentina for three years while they gathered support, honed their battle skills and made plans to retake Chile. In January 1817 O'Higgins returned to Chile with the Argentine general José de San Martín in a march over the Andes that has been compared to Hannibal's crossing the Alps. They met and defeated the royalists on February 12 at Casas de Chacabuco and took Santiago. Bernardo O'Higgins became Director Supremo de Chile. He turned his attention to building the country, as his father had done before him. With the help of San Martín and Thomas Cochrane (later 10th Earl of DunDonald), he created the Chilean navy and the accumulation of troop ships. This fledgling navy took part in the conquest of Peru in 1821, and San Martín became protector of Peru. With this accomplished, Don Bernardo focused on the situation at home, particulary the legal, educational and social systems. He established courts, colleges, libraries, hospitals, cemeteries and modernised the cities. He was energetic and honest, but he moved too quickly for the established pillars of society. In 1823, he agreed to resign and left the country with his mother, his sister and his son, to settle in Lima. He died in Lima on October 24, 1842. His last words were "¡Magallanes, Magallanes!". He was buried with great honor in Lima. In 1866 his remains were brought back to Chile by the Chilean navy and buried in the Cementerio General de Santiago. The bicentenary of his birth, 1978, was named the Year of the Libertador Bernardo O`Higgins. In 1979, on his birthday, his remains were moved, with pomp and ceremony to the Altar de la Patria. Don Bernardo O'Higgins is remembered and honored throughout Chile with streets, schools, national parks and thousands of boys named after him. Not bad for an illegitimate Irish-Chilean little boy who wasn't expected to amount to anything.

1820

Sharpe's Devil: Sharpe is commissioned by the Countess of Mouromorto to travel to South America to find out what has happened to her husband Don Blas Vivar (an acquaintance first met in Sharpe's Rifles), who had disappeared while acting as Spanish Captain General in Chile. While en route to Chile, with the ever faithful Harper, he calls in at St Helena and has a meeting and talk with Napoleon. He then goes on to meet the real historical character in the shape of Lord Cochrane, the 'sea devil' who is ultimately involved in helping one Bernardo O'Higgins, another real historical character, drive the Spanish from Chile.

1821

15 April - Death of Napoleon
He dies in exile on the south Atlantic island of St Helena. His last words were: "À la tête de l'armée."

Extract from the last will and testament of Napoleon Bonaparte

This 15th April, 1821, at Longwood, Island of St Helena. This is my Testament, or act of my last will.
I die in the Apostolical Roman religion, in the bosom of which I was born more than fifty years since.
It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.
I have always had reason to be pleased with my dearest wife, Maria Louisa. I retain for her, to my last moment, the most tender sentiments - I beseech her to watch, in order to preserve, my son from the snares that yet environ his infancy.
I recommend to my son never to forget that he was born a French prince, and never to allow himself to become an instrument in the hands of the triumvirs who oppress the nations of Europe: he ought never to fight against France, or to injure her in any manner; he ought to adopt my motto: "Everything for the French people".
I die prematurely, assassinated by the English oligarchy and its tool. The English nation will not be slow in avenging me.
The two unfortunate results of the invasions of France, when she had still so many resources, are to be attributed to the treason of Marmont, Augereau, Talleyrand, and Lafayette. I forgive them - May the posterity of France forgive them as I do.
I thank my good and most excellent mother, the Cardinal, my brothers, Joseph, Lucien, Jérôme, Pauline, Caroline, Julie, Hortense, Catarine, Eugène, for the interest they have continued to feel for me. I pardon Louis for the libel he published in 1820: it is replete with false assertions and falsified documents.

1848

As a footnote to the Peninsular War, in 1848 the government issued a medal called the General Service Medal - over 30 years late. One of the real heroes of the war was one Thomas Patton, an Irishman from Ballyshannon. He finished a Serjeant in Her Majesty's 28th regiment of foot (which regiment later became The Gloucestershire Regiment which received the appellation "The Glorious Glosters" as a result of their inhumanly brave fights during the Korean War at Imjin river and later Hill 235 - since renamed 'Gloster Hill') and had fought in 21 actions from Copenhagen to Waterloo. He was wounded in the right shoulder at Talavera, and severely through the right knee at Majo Heights; in the head at Palias, and in the left arm at Waterloo. Thomas Patton received the MGS medal with 8 clasps as a Private. (Talavera, Busaco, Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse). He also received the Waterloo Medal for his services in Captain Charles Cadell's Company of the 28th. He was sentenced to receive 300 lashes for taking a Frenchman's musket and equipment, but fortunately this punishment was remitted on account of his gallantry.

1852

14 September: The death of Wellington ("Old Nosey" as he was always affectionately known by the men under his command) took place suddenly at Walmer Castle on 14 September 1852. He lay in state there until 10 November and then in Chelsea Hospital until 17 November. He was given a state funeral and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. He was 83 years old and aside from his various military campaigns had been an MP, Governor of Seringapatam, Ambassador to France, Prime Minister, Minister without portfolio to Robert Peel and latterly Commander-in-Chief of the army. He had had steel shutters fitted to the windows of his London Home - "Number 1, London" (nowadays, Apsley House) - on the basis that they were cheaper than replacing the glass each time the "London mob" broke them. It was this event which had earned him the latter-day nickname - "The Iron Duke".

1860

Some sources say that in this year Richard Sharpe dies at the age of 83 years and is buried on his estate in France. However Bernard Cornwall says... "I have never written about Richard Sharpe's death. I have said Sharpe dies an old man, but have not yet said how or when.".