Editor's note: In the era of the Modern General Staff, we sometimes forget that command and staff work was not nearly as professional or uniform as it is today. This article sheds an interesting light on one aspect of the British staff officer's campaign life: the General's mess. Readers may be surprised at the inconsistent and almost haphazard manner in which British General's formed and fed their staffs.
During the Peninsular War, the
British Army had an elaborate, yet
informal, system for the care and feeding
of its officer corps. This system was
based partially on regulation, but mostly
on long established custom. One
important aspect of this system was the
general's mess. Every general officer's
mess varied in size and quality depending
on the rank of the general, the size of his
command, his personal wealth, and the
period of the war.
By regulation, each general officer was authorized a personal staff of officers. The composition of this staff varied according to the general's rank, his duty position, and his ability to support the staff. A brigadier and a major general were authorized only one aide-de-camp; a lieutenant general two; while the commander of an army was authorized as many as he wished.
There were two possible financial
limitations, however, to the number of
aides a general might have. The first was
that the general had to pay some or all of
the aides' salaries out of his own pocket.
The British Treasury would only pay him
a small sum (nine shillings six pence per
day) for each of his authorized number of
aides. 1 This
sum was not enough to cover the aide's
salary nor would the Treasury pay for any
aide above the authorized numbers. This
could be a considerable expense since an
infantry captain made 10s6d per day; an
artillery captain 11s0d; and a cavalry
captain 14s7d. 2 The difference in pay or even
the full pay (in case of excess aides) had
to be paid by the general. 3
The second and probably the
biggest expense that the general had was
operating his personal mess. He paid for
any food and wine that was served. In
addition to paying his aides' salaries, the
general was also responsible for feeding
them and any other guests of the
mess. 4 At
higher headquarters this could include
visiting dignitaries and their entourages
as well as officers traveling through the
area . Wellington's mess usually had 12 to
20 people dining at any given meal. 5
In 1813, General Hope complained
to his wife that when he took over from
General Graham, it would cost him an
estimated 2,140 pounds per year to
operate the mess. Since his salary was
only 1,861 pounds per year, he had to
make up the difference out of his own
pocket. 6
At the lower levels, it was common
for even junior officers to be invited to
dine with the division or corps
commander. On the march to Madrid in
1812, Captain Webber, the second
captain in Maxwell's ninepounder battery,
dined with General Rowland Hill. He
noted that "Hill, who of course with his
staff had the best house in the place.
After an excellent dinner and the best of
wines-Madeira, Port and Claret-I took
leave." 7
The General's Establishment
To support his mess and to take
care of his personal needs, the general
had to maintain an establishment of
servants whom he was also responsible
for paying. This establishment varied in
size from general to general. In October
1813, the Marquess of Wellington's
establishment consisted of seventy
servants and other personnel, not
including his ten aides, two Spanish
liaison officers, and an interpreter. (These
thirteen individuals had an additional fifty
servants supporting them! One of his
aides, the Prince of Orange, had eight
servants!) 8
Wellington's Establishment
October 1813
Transporting the Mess
This establishment was under the
direction of Mr. Abordian, 9 Wellington's
butler and valet. When the headquarters
relocated, Wellington's chief aide,
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gordon,
was responsible for directing its
movement. This movement was probably
less organized than one would expect.
James Thornton, Wellington's personal
cook, normally received the name of the
town he was supposed to go to from
Gordon and then "found my way in the
best manner I could." 10 Start time for
the movement varied from 2:00 to 4:00 a.m.
during the retreat from Burgos in
1813 11 to
5:00 or 6:00 a.m. during the Waterloo
Campaign. 12
The number of animals used for the
movement of the mess was immense.
Thornton claims that there were at least
80 mules. (This figure is supported by the
20 muleteers on the establishment.) He
normally used six mules, three for
equipment and three for him and his
assistants to ride. 13 The butler also had a mule to
ride. During the march to Paris in 1815,
the establishment had five carriages.
"The first was the Duke's carriage
with four horses, driven by the head
coachman, the second was a carriage for
the plate with the butler and his
assistants driven by the second
coachman. The third was a sort of a
carriage for the kitchen furnace, with
myself and my assistants, the fourth was
the old Nelson with the coachman's
baggage, the fifth was the Duke's
curricle." 14
Feeding these animals was a major
undertaking. The British Commissariat
allocated five pounds of oats, barley, or
Indian corn and ten pounds of cut straw
for each mule. 15 Assuming that forage was
available, Wellington's mules ate a
minimum of 400 pounds of feed and
another 800 pounds of straw per day!
This of course does not include the
horses, cattle, and goats that also
accompanied the mess.
Location of the Mess
The location of the mess while on
campaign was usually far in the rear of the
army, especially when contact with the
enemy was expected. During the battle of
Salamanca, Wellington's mess was
originally located in the village of
Arapiles. There his cook:
"met the Duke and all his staff, I
think about one or two o'clock in the day.
He immediately ordered us back about a
league in the rear, where he came to us
and took some refreshment with all his
staff, in a farm yard on the ground-in
less than half an hour he left us, and
desired us to pack the things with all
speed, and go to the rear, and wait for
orders. We remained in a farm house till
the middle of the following day, when
Captain Canning came to us on the edge
of a river that runs through Salamanca,
ordered us to advance to the town (the
name of which I forget) about five
leagues in front, where we arrived for the
evening-I did not see him that
night." 16
At Vittoria, the mess was located
about three leagues from the city. There it
stayed until 5:00 p.m., when a dragoon
arrived and directed that they proceed
into the city. They occupied the same
house as Joseph Bonaparte had the
previous night. Wellington ate his dinner
at 11:00 p.m. The next day the mess
moved to Pamplonal. 17
At Toulouse in 1814 it was much
the same. The mess was four leagues
behind the lines and moved into the city
the day after the battle. 18 During the
Waterloo Campaign, Thornton stayed in
Brussels until 18 June. On 16 June,
Wellington ate breakfast at 6:00 a.m. and
departed Brussels about 10:00 a.m. That
afternoon, Thornton packed a basket of
food and sent it with the butler to
Genappe. Two days later (18 June), the
butler returned at 4:00 a.m. and:
"told me I was to go or send my
assistant to Waterloo, as the Duke
wished to have a hot dinner on that day -- I immediately arose and went to market,
procured a quantity of provisions and
packed them in baskets -- the butler did
the same with some wine, tea, sugar, etc.,
and he sent them off by two men to
Waterloo. I then
accompanied by the butler arrived at
Waterloo at 11 o'clock. I cooked the
dinner and the Duke came home at half
past 12 o'clock at night and dined." 19
Other General's
Establishments
The size of a general's mess below
the army level was usually much smaller.
Some, however, were quite large. General
Hope, complaining to his wife again,
stated that "Apart from himself he had six
officers to lodge and board, besides. . .
the two or three who tumbled in every
day from the Army who had to be
fed." 20
General Cole's mess was
particularly noteworthy. Francis Larpent,
Wellington's Judge Advocate General,
noted in his diary that:
"General Cole lives very
comfortably to do this even in his way, he
has now traveling with him about ten or
twelve goats for milk, a cow and about 36
sheep at least with a shepherd, who
always march, feed on the roadside, on
the mountains and camp with him. When
you think of this, that wine and
everything that is to be carried about,
from salt and pepper and teacups, to
saucepans, boilers, dishes, chairs and
tables, on mules, you may guess the
trouble and expense of a good
establishment here." 21
Operating the Mess
There is little information available
on what was fed to the members of
Wellington's mess. Thornton does not
mention any specific meals in his book. It
is safe to assume that beef (the standard
ration for the British soldier) and mutton
or goat was on the menu most of the time.
Fresh fruit, vegetables, chickens, and
eggs were procured locally when
available and any game brought down
during the many hunts were always a
welcomed addition. Surprisingly
chocolate was readily available in Spain
during the war. More exotic delicacies had
to be imported from England. Much of the
correspondence sent home were requests
for specific items. An example of this (and
probably a good list of what was in a
standard field larder) was in a letter sent
home by General Robert Long in 1811:
"I have received the packages from
MacKay, but his Vermicelli and mustard
were both musty, for which he ought to
be scolded . I have no objections to
receive a fresh supply of some hams,
vermicelli, curry powder, mustard, pepper,
spices, and pickles, in sauces. They make
a bad ration go down wonderfully.
Colonial products such as tea, sugar and
coffee, are procured easily here. Another
supply of medicated brandy (one bottle). .
. and if they canbe procured, two or three
cocklocks for tapping and drawing off
with keys any liquor from barrels." 22
In a letter the following year,
Long's larder must have been close to
depletion, as he requested the following
be sent to him:
"Two small hampers equal size and
weight with a cargo of cheeses, spices,
peppers, mustard, pickles (particularly
walnut), currie, vinegar (burgundy and
raspberry), hams or tongues." 23
The quality of the food varied
during the war and at least one general
had the reputation for always having
good food. Lieutenant Rice Jones, Royal
Engineers, claimed that General Crauford
of the Light Division
"is particularly civil, and although
he rides hard every day and knocks up
my horses, which are not the best in the
world, yet he keeps one of the best tables
in the army, and as I live with him, and my
health is such as to enable me to stand
the fatigue, I do very well." 24
Unfortunately, Jones does not
mention what was served. Life in the field
could be rough even for general officers.
Long writes in December, 1812, that
despite his efforts to obtain higher
quality fare from England, the food was
poor when Wellington dined with him. So
poor in fact that the only positive things
he had to say about the meal was that
the:
"bread, though indifferent, was
positively not moldy. I stuffed his skin
full of new wine, and if he did not feel the
effects of it within a few hours it was not
my fault." 25
While in cantonments, meals were
served in Wellington's mess at 9:00 or
10:00 a.m. for breakfast and at 6:00 p.m.
for dinner. 26
Lunches were not regularly scheduled
because Wellington was usually out
riding. Then, he rarely took anything
other than some bread and a hard boiled
egg, which he carried in his pocket. 27 Thornton does
not detail how the meals were served or
what they were served on. General Long,
however does. In a letter home he states
that:
"I am much distressed for plates
and dishes, my canteen holding only half
a dozen rusty tin ones. Now I think you
might procure me a small set of the
cheapest Wedgewood, sufficient let us
say for 12 persons; viz:
Thornton, Wellington's cook from
1812-1813, normally only had one English
assistant to help in the preparation of the
meals and a Portuguese man for cleaning
up. 29 If they
were in permanent quarters they used the
kitchen in the house. On the march a
kitchen was improvised:
"with poles and a tarpolain, a table
on trestles to prepare my dinners in. There
was a mound of earth thrown up in the
shape of Balloon, and niches cut round
this in which we made fires and boiled the
sauce pans. We had a larger niche cut out
for roasting, we stuck a pole in the top of
that, and dangled the meat, when it rained
hard, they had nothing but cold meat and
bread." 30
Billeting
As would be expected Wellington
always had the best house in any town he
stayed. If the house was large enough, his
aides were billeted there, if not they
received lodging in buildings close by. If
a suitable billet was not available while
campaigning, Wellington had a large tent
to sleep in. This tent:
"was enclosed in a large Marquee,
the Marquee serving for sitting and
dining room, the gentlemen of the staff
had a tent each smaller than the Marquee.
. . the gentlemen's [had] small
Marquees." 32
While campaigning Wellington's
servants lived better than the average
British soldier. They all received salaries.
Long complained that he had to pay his
servants five shillings a day plus board. A
British private received one shilling a day
and had to pay for his own food!
Furthermore, while the typical soldier had
no tent for most of the war, Thornton
wrote that he:
"had a round tent to sleep in, the
butler one also, my two assistants had
one between them, the Duke's footman
and all the staff servants had one tent for
two servants...." 35
Hazards to the Mess
The typical general officer or officer
on Wellington's staff probably did not
endure as much hardship as did the
British soldier while on campaign. There
are numerous accounts, however, of
problems that did occur. Most happened
during the movement of the mess and at
times they were catastrophic.
Breakage of equipment was a
continuous headache. As shown
previously, most of the plates, pots, and
equipment used in the mess were
transported by mule. Mules were used for
several reasons, primarily due to the poor
roads throughout most of the Peninsula.
Thornton described how he packed his
equipment:
"The tables were folded boards
with hinges, the legs were separated and
when put up formed a sort of tressel, and
they were packed on the side of the mule.
The kitchen furniture was packed
inboxes, and carried on the backs of the
mules." 36
Constant loading and unloading,
the mules losing their footing, slipping,
and jostling caused by the gait of the
mule, all led to the breakage of the
equipment. General Long was so
frustrated by it that he ordered a special
case be built to carry his dinnerware
"to be neatly, equally and securely
packed in two baskets covered with oil
cloth or horse skin, so as to be quickly
and easily put up and taken out, to be as
nearly as possible of the same weight,
and a small space to be left in each basket
for table clothes. In general plates travel
best when arranged edges upwards. I
wish the whole to go in the smallest
possible space consistent with security
and celerity in packing. Now the sooner
the above could be procured and sent the
better. Let them be plain but neat, and
strapped round with canteen straps and
brass padlocks." 37
These breakage problems were
minor compared to those encountered by
Lieutenant George Simmons of the 95th
Rifles during the retreat from Talavera in
1809. General Crauford placed him in
charge of a detachment that was
responsible for escorting some military
prisoners, and policing up stragglers
and baggage. He found several
stragglers, but only one baggage cart:
Crauford's personal cart filled with food
and wine. The mules hitched to the cart
were either too tired or too stubborn to
move, so one of Simmon's soldiers
volunteered to ride the lead mule.
At first even this did not work, so
they took the slings off their rifles and
beat the mules until they started moving.
Much to Simmon's surprise, the mules
bolted, throwing the rider off.
Compounding his problems with the
runaway cart was the steepness of the
road. The mules could not slow down and
crashed. The cart, the food, and the wine
were destroyed and the mules were
injured.
Upon reaching his destination
Simmons left the prisoners and stragglers
under guard and marched to Crauford's
headquarters, not with trepidation at
having to inform the hottest tempered
general in the army that he lost his
baggage, but to tell him how well he
performed his duties! Crauford was
waiting for his baggage to show up, for
he had guests and wanted to provide
them with a meal. Needless to say, Black
Bob was furious with Simmons and
ordered him to take the prisoners to their
regiments and have them flogged! 38
"However excusable such a stretch of
authority might have been in ordinary
circumstances, we felt that in our
situation it was carrying the privileges
of military rank too far, and no one
seemed inclined to exchange the
comparative comfort of the place we
occupied for a bivouac in the open street,
exposed to the pelting of the storm,
merely to gratify the spleen of Sir David's
cook. Brigadier General Fane, who was
one of the party, remonstrated with the
aide-de-camp on the harshness and
indelicacy of sending such a message to
a number of officers, and he, who
seemed uncomfortable at being obliged
to deliver it, quitted the room without
insisting on our departure." 39
There are two other pieces of
information in the above passage that
relate to the dynamics of the mess. The
first was that Baird's cook was a woman.
The second and most important was
that at the end of a disastrous retreat,
when everyone was miserable and
hungry, a general officer did not offer
the comforts of his billet to another
general!
A general's mess was also vulnerable
to pilfering by his own soldiers during
times of hunger, which were usually
during the ill-prepared for retreats that
seemed to plague the British Army
during the Peninsular War. An
unknown soldier of the 71st Highland
Infantry wrote that during the retreat
from Burgos in 1812 that he was so
hungry at one point that when he was
assigned fatigue duty with Wellington's
mess he thought it was a great job. Not
because they fed him, but because he
got to feed Wellington's hunting dogs,
which he did, and eat his own fill of the
dogs' food (brokenbiscuits) at the same
time! 40
During retreats, baggage trains were
particularly vulnerable to both getting
lost or captured. Movement of the mess
could be haphazard even during an
advance when things were going well.
During a retreat, when the enemy was
pressing hard, the baggage train was
often overlooked or left to fend for itself.
During the retreat from Burgos, General
Chowne, commander of the 2nd
Division, lost his baggage for four days. 4l
Capture of the general's mess by the
enemy also occurred a surprising
number of times. On 11 January 1809,
General Baird's carriage and baggage
straggled too far behind and were
captured by French chasseurs. 42 No one
in the 15th Hussars probably felt any
sympathy for his predicament after the
shabby treatment he gave them two
nights before! General George
Dalhousie, commander of the 7th
Division, had not only his baggage
captured by the French, but also some
of his servants during the retreat from
Burgos. 43
Conclusion
This article is only meant to be a brief
look at the various aspects of a British
general's mess during the Peninsular
War. Unfortunately the mess was one
topic rarely touched upon in most
memoirs of the period. Those authors
who did discuss the mess, rarely talked
about it in depth. Too often they assume
that the reader was more interested in
an overview of the battles they fought
rather than inter-personal dynamics or
the details of daily existence on
campaign. Yet it was the relationships
formed in the mess, plus the care and
feeding of the offices and men, that
were critical to the success of a unit
during a campaign.
Footnotes
1 Ward, S.G.: Wellington's Headquarters;
Oxford University Press; Oxford; 1957, p. 36. Related:
Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents #11 This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com
Bonduc
Smily
3 Footmen
2 Grooms
3 Cooks
3 Assistant Cooks
1 Italian
3 Carmen
20 Muleteers
2 Orderly Dragoons
3 Farriers
2 Huntsmen
6 Orderlies
3 Orderly Sergeants
Sergeant Smithroe
12 Portuguese
Dragoons
1 Goatboy
3 Women
"1 and 1/2 dozen soup
plates
4 dozen meat plates
a Soup
tureen
4 Medium sized dishes for joints of
meat
10 or 12 small side dishes for made
dishes, vegetables, etc.
2 Butter
boats
1 dozen good sized tea
cups
1 dozen saucers
A good Wedgewood teapot and milk jug
and slop dish".28
During retreats, when discipline
often broke down, outsiders could also
disturb the tranquility of the mess.
Captain Alexander Gordon, of the 15th
Hussars, relates in his memoirs that at one
point during the retreat to Corunna in
January, 1809 he and many other officers
and soldiers occupied the bottom floor of
the same building as General David Baird
and his staff, who had the upper floors.
The kitchen was packed with a large
number of troops from many different
regiments. All were trying to crowd
around the fireplace to get warm and to
dry their clothing when in came the
General's cook, who demanded to not only
have access to the fire so she could boil
some tea, but insisted that no one else be
allowed near it! She became quite
incensed when the crowd refused to
comply with her demands and soon she
left in a huff. A short while later, Baird's
aide, Captain Alexander Gordon, of the
Third Guards (Gordon later became Wellington's chief aide)
came down and insisted that everyone
leave the premises. Captain Gordon, of
the 15th Hussars, wrote:
2 Glover, Michael: Wellington's Army;
Hippocrene Books; New York; 1977, p. 96
3 Ward, p. 36
4 ibid, p. 36
5 Thornton, James: Your Most Obedient
Servant; Webb & Bower; Exeter; 1985, p. 64
6 Ward, p. 38
7 Webber, James: With the Guns in the
Peninsula; Edited by R. Wollocombe; Greenhill Books; London; 1991, p. 43.
8 Ward, pp. 194-195
9 Thomton, p. 55
10 ibid, p. 61
11 ibid, p. 74
12 ibid, p. 111
13 ibid, p. 61
14 ibid, p. 111
15 Ward, p. 79
16 Thornton, pp. 65-66
17 ibid, pp. 84
18 ibid, pp. 92
19 ibid, pp 95-98
20 Ward, p. 38
21 Aitchison, John: An Ensign in the
Peninsular War; Edited by W. Thompson; Michael Joseph; London; 1981, p.260
22 Long, Robert: Peninsular Cavalry General:
The correspondence of Lieutenant-General Robert Ballard Long; edited by T.H.
McGiffie; Harrap & Co; London; 1951, p.149
23 ibid, p 228
24 Jones, Rice: An Engineer Officer Under
Wellington in the Peninsula; Edited by H.V. Shore; Ken Trotman; Cambridge; 1986, p. 111
25 Long, p. 242
26 Thornton, p 57
27 ibid, p. 74
28 Long, p. 176
29 Thornton, p. 57
30 ibid, p. 107
31 ibid, p. 58
32 ibid, p. 105
33 Long, p. 176
34 Glover, p. 26
35 Thornton, p. 105
36 ibid, p. 35
37 Long p. 144
38 Simmons, George: A British Rifle Man; Edited by W. Verner; Greenhill Books; London; 1986. p. 26
39 Gordon, Alexander: A Journal of a Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign; Worley Publications; Tyne & Wear, UK.; 1990, pp. 188-189
40 anon., A Soldier of the Seventy-first; Edited
by C. Hibbert; Squadron/Signal Publications; Warren MI; 1976, p. 76
41 Webber, p. 117
42 Gordon, p. 195
43 Thornton, p. 81
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