With The Firearm Revolution out next week, I'm delighted to announce that you can hear me talk about it in person *and live-streamed* at the @royalarmouries.bsky.social on Wednesday 29 April. Book here for your ticket / online link. 2pm UK, 3pm CET, 9am EST.
Still time to sign up for next week's online talk, with Tom Golding-Lee talking about the men who took part in Britain's ill-fated attempt to seize Cartagena from Spain in the War of Jenkins' Ear.
7.00pm on Tuesday 14 April; register for free at my.demio.com/ref/IZ0H7aYY...
Oh, that is interesting. I’d not thought of the difference between infantry and cavalry and it is so marked, much more than I would have guessed. And the Welsh and Irish don’t have the same difference. Thought provoking.
Also the number of Scots is high…
Almost as of the Scots were heavily represented in the army…. (But perhaps you have figures for that too?). Anyway congratulations Steve on a wonderful achievement
Yes, I can sympathise with both those arguments. I wish we lived in more enlightened times…. Still keep it in mind just in case.
You wouldn’t think of writing a full biography yourself? or perhaps a monograph on Dundas and the conduct of the war (possibly limited to the 1790s, though that would mean leaving out Trafalgar)? Well informed people have v different and strong views on the subject, so it would be valuable (& fun)
"Contrasted Drummers", a humorous 1790s print depicting a stocky British soldier with a bass drum confronting an slender Frenchman with a much smaller drum. From the Bodleian Libraries.
Delighted to learn that my PhD dissertation has received the 2026 Research Prize from the International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music.
The book version, Musical Warriors: British Military Music and the Napoleonic Wars, is out early next year with @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social
Congratulations Eamonn - looking forward to the book
A very entertaining and interesting article that shows the trouble that ‘dull’ garrison life could breed among young officers…
Congratulations - and thanks for some welcome if unsurprising news
In our next free online talk, on 16 February, Dr Nicola Martin will be speaking about how the British Army's experience of pacifying the Scottish Highlands after the '45 Rising helped shape its approach to dissent in the Americas three decades later.
Register at my.demio.com/ref/sknZMpZz...
Good luck, though I’m sure it will go well. And won’t it feel good to put it behind you? (Not the thesis, let alone the Fencibles, but the viva…)
There's a lot going on the world, but I was glad to see an article of mine published in the @jbritishstudies.bsky.social
Read about Shadrack Byfield, an English War of 1812 veteran who buried his own arm, designed a custom prosthesis, and wrote multiple memoirs: doi.org/10.1017/jbr....
Awww thank you - that’s a nice, unexpected Christmas present
Merry Christmas to all and thank you to the Society and all the contributors - I really enjoy these personal recommendations of favourite books on particular subjects.
Thrilled to have been invited back by the @napwarspod.bsky.social to finally discuss my thesis. As Zack said, I am clearly post-submission: how I see the fencibles and their place in the period has changed so much in 4 years
For the better, if I do say so myself 😅
open.spotify.com/episode/0Xz2...
🙄
The British Army and the American War, 1775-83: Fresh Perspectives
Saturday 14 March 2026
Please save the date for our forthcoming conference to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and the British Army’s doomed efforts to prevent it.
Details at www.sahr.org.uk/view-event.p...
Very pleased my life of Wellington is included in this list - thank you
Sad news…
That is very sad - such a good historian. Thanks for letting us know.
Story of two First World War letters home from Australian soldiers on board ship headed to Europe found in a bottle on a West Australian beach. #FirstWorldWar #WW1 #Anzac
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
Hi Sam, glad you’ve been enjoying it and hope that Yale will sort it out for you.
😂
Yes, I understand the staff just opened the door and gently ushered it out and it climbed a nearby tree.
Two pictures of a koala in a library
Unexpected visitor to a suburban library in Adelaide last night
In this sample article from our Journal, Pete Starling looks at a scheme from the 1850s to train young African men as medical officers for Sierra Leone: www.sahr.org.uk/docs/shar-boys-of-colour-draft-sahrs1120.pdf
Join us to get access to over 400 Journal issues: www.sahr.org.uk/membership.php
Thanks - I’ve read Robin’s (he was my tutor at Uni of Adelaide eons ago), but will look out the Peden and anticipate David French’s volume … and yours too
Is there a good single volume book on British grand strategy in the Second World War? The weight of the official history is more than a little daunting …