Tom Plunkett was a crack shot who first made his name in the disastrous British expedition to Buenos Aires in 1807 where the English were trying to hold a convent which was being besieged by the Spaniards. Riflemen Fisher and Plunkett of the 95th were on record as then shooting every Spaniard who came within their range.
The enemy reckoned the position of the English was desperate enough for a cease-fire and one of them carrying a white flag of surrender, came within Tom's range. He was heard to say, "I'll have a slap at that fellow with his white handkerchief," and shot him dead. When asked in later life how many Spaniards he had killed in this action, he replied, "I think I killed about twenty, Sir. And I shot a gentleman with a flag of truce Sir." (Someone had obviously explained to him that to have done so was not cricket!)
Ned Costello takes up the story. Tom's Battalion of the 95th was with Sir John Moore on the retreat to Corrunna. The French were pressing the English pretty hard in the Astorga area, led by French General Colbert who rode openly here and there and seemed to be leading a charmed life until Tom Plunkett came into the frame. General Paget, Tom's General, was so irritated at Colbert's apparent invincibility that he rode up to the Rifles and offered his purse to any one who could strike down the General. Tom Plunkett took up the challenge. In the words of Ned Costello:
Plunkett immediately started from his company, and running about a hundred yards nearer to the enemy, he threw himself on his back on the road, which was covered with snow, placing his foot in the sling of his rifle, and taking deliberate aim, shot General Colbert.
General Colbert's Trumpet Major, following closely, shared his master's fate. Tom, was chased by a dozen vengeful French troopers, but roundly cheered by his fellow riflemen. He received the General's purse as promised, and a handsome commendation, delivered to his Colonel, the gallant Sydney Beckwith. When Tom reached Corrunna he added a number of other French officers to his tally whom he had struck down by his exceptional skill with the rifle.
Tom's Weakness
He had, however, one great weakness which was to hinder his long-term prospects in the Army. Tom was a 'thirsty' soul. He was promoted to Sergeant but this did not last long. One day he was preparing his men for parade before his Company Commander, the Hon Captain Stewart. So obviously tipsy was he that his men started to giggle at his antics.
The Pay Sergeant, his senior, tried unsuccessfully to restore order, and the two men fell out. Captain Stewart came up in the middle of the drama, and Tom was put under arrest and confined to his quarters. Tom, who, when sober was noted for his easygoing temperament and good humour, was altogether a different animal when drunk. He vowed vengeance on his Captain. He barricaded the door of his billet and then loaded 10 or 12 rifles belonging to colleagues on fatigue duty. He took the best one, cocked it and placed it at an open window in order to shoot his Company Commander as he passed by.
Perhaps because he was so tipsy, his plan was an open secret. Captain Stewart avoided that part of camp. Colleagues unsuccessfully persuaded him to give himself up, but eventually broke in to his billet and Tom ended up in 'jankers'. Popular though he was, there was no way his behaviour could have been overlooked. He was found guilty at regimental court martial, reduced to the ranks and sentenced to 300 lashes.
Once he had sobered up, he expressed genuine contrition for his misdeeds, but the enormity of his behaviour could not be ignored. Popular Tom's corporal punishment upset almost everyone in the regiment. Tom was particularly upset as not too long before, he had been singled out as a model soldier.
Punishment
Ned Costello describes the scene.
Such was Tom's reputation in the regiment that the punishment ceased on the 35th lash. He soon recovered his reputation, and was after a short time made up to Corporal. He survived the Peninsular campaign but got shot through the forehead at Quatre Bras, and was invalided to England, pensioned off at six pence a day. He protested in no uncertain terms to the Lords Commissioners with such strength that he nearly lost what pension he had been granted. He then went to Ireland, where he arrived in rags and again re-enlisted in the army, During this chapter in his military career, the regiment was inspected by the District Commander, no less a person than his old CO in the 95th, General Sir Sydney Beckwith.
Costello tells the General's reaction on meeting someone from his old regiment.
In walking down the front rank, scrutinising the appearance of the men, the General suddenly came to Tom, distinguished as he was by two medals on his breast.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" said Sir Sydney. "Surely you are Tom Plunkett, formerly of my own regiment."
"What's left of me, Sir," replied Tom, who was seldom deficient in a prompt reply.
"And what has again brought you into the service?" enquired Sir Sydney. "I thought you had passed the board at Chelsea?"
"So I did," said Tom; "but they only allowed me sixpence a-day Sir; so I told them to keep it for the young soldiers, as it wasn't enough for the old, who had seen all the tough work out."
"Ha! the old thing, Tom, I perceive," observed Sir Sydney, shaking his head; then immediately remarked to the Colonel of the regiment, as he proceeded down the ranks - "One of my bravest soldiers." That evening, General Beckwith dined in the Officers' Mess and Plunkett was sent for and asked to give a toast, which he did to "the immortal memory of the poor fellows who fell in the Peninsula." After this he with a present from his old Commanding Officer, and shortly afterwards was made up to Corporal. Presumably through Sir Sydney's good offices, his pension was later reassessed at one shilling a day.
Last Years
Tom married around the time of Quatre Bras, but his luck ran out as his lady was standing too close to an ammunition dump and her face was badly disfigured. She was allowed a shilling a day pension in compensation.
Tom - ever a restless soul - tried his luck in Canada: the Government there offered all pensioners so much land, and this was paid for by immigrants commuting their pensions. This was not a success, and he and his wife returned to England, living in dire poverty.
Tom's 'thirst' never left him, and the last we hear of him was when Ned Costello met him, poverty-stricken, selling matches in a London street.
Tom Plunkett was one of the unsung heroes of the Napoleonic Wars who, apart from playing a starring role in Ned Costello's "Adventures of a Soldier" played a walk-on part in Willoughby Verner's "History of the Rifle Brigade". Such people are much neglected in accounts of the Peninsular War in favour of the more glamorous people such as Wellington, Craufurd and Beresford. But without such people as Tom, 'thirsty' though he was, the outcome of the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo might have been very different.
Sources:
The History of the Rifle Brigade by Willoughby Verner
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
"Buglers, do your duty," exclaimed Colonel Beckwith in a voice husky with emotion . . . Tom only once attempting to catch the eye of the Colonel with an imploring glance, while he exclaimed in broken accents - "Colonel, you won't, will you? You won't - you cannot mean to flog me!"
Adventures of a Soldier by Edward Costello
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