Soldierly Somerset
From Andrew Roberts Sir: Although Byron Rogers is literally correct in stating that Lord Raglan 'had never even commanded a battalion in war' (Books, 17 April), it should not be thus surmised that he was some kind of military neophyte. As Lord Fitzroy Somerset he had fought at Rolica, Vimeiro, Talavera, Fuentes d'Onoro, Salamanca and every other Peninsular battle at which Wellington was present. He was wounded at Busaco, took the surrender of Badajoz, and lost an arm at Waterloo. As Wellington's military secretary, he established direct relations with all the battalion commanders in the Peninsula, and Napier records how this gave him 'an exact knowledge of the moral state of each regiment, rendered his own office important with the army, and [acted] with such discretion and judgment that the military hierarchy was in no way weakened'. Raglan was therefore clearly a very considerable soldier when he was appointed commander-in-chief in 1854, and as his DNB entry states, 'no man had served so thorough an apprenticeship in the art of leading troops'.
Andrew Roberts
London SW'3
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