Sir Nicholas Trant and the Defeat of the French in the Peninsular War

A very good officer, but a drunken dog as ever lived.

Such was the Duke of Wellington’s alleged assessment of Sir Nicholas Trant. But this book provides a complete reappraisal of Trant’s career, contrasting all too vividly with Wellington’s dismissive remark.

At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Trant, who had originally enlisted in the army of Louis XVI, volunteered for the Duke of Brunswick’s coalition army that fought at Valmy in 1792. Trant later served in Flanders and Flushing, took part in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1795, and was at Minorca in 1798. He later fought with distinction at Alexandria, by which time he was a lieutenant-colonel; having achieved this rank without purchase.

He is best remembered for his service in the Peninsula, where he acted as Wellington’s liaison officer with the Portuguese, recruiting, organising and training the local militia, while also serving as Governor of Oporto. Trant’s capture of Coimbra at the head of his militia in 1810 was described by Napier as ‘the most daring and hardy enterprise executed by any partisan during the whole war’.

Drawing upon family archives and letters, Stephen J. Wright has ensured that this overlooked hero of the Peninsular War finally gets his due.