Wellington's Peninsular Regiments (1) The Irish

Men-At-Arms 382
By Mike Chappell
Colour Plates by the Author
Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2003
ISBN 1-84176-402-7
48 Pages, Softbound

Reviewed by John Prigent

It’s been quite while since we had new titles from Osprey on Wellington’s British troops, and one might have been forgiven for thinking that this was because the subject was exhausted. Not so! Here’s the proof, in the form of part 1 of a series looking at his men in the Peninsular War.

This one deals with his Irish soldiers, both infantry and cavalry. They formed 40% of his army, and not just in the specifically “Irish” regiments though those are the subjects here. The cavalry regiments included are the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards and 18th Hussars, and on the Foot side we have the 27th Enniskillen, 87th Prince of Wales’s Own Irish and 88th Connaught Rangers Regiments.

The text here tells the stories of all five regiments during the Peninsular campaigns, and makes a great read. The contemporary illustrations are backed up by photographs of some surviving uniform items, and further supplemented by really good colour plates.

This is an excellent reference for figure modellers – and will make interesting reading for anyone with Irish ancestors, too.