author
Sir William Warre
1784–1853
A British army officer with a gift for vivid observation, he is best remembered for the letters he wrote during the Peninsular War. Those firsthand accounts helped preserve the feel of campaign life as well as the larger sweep of the conflict.
1 Audiobook
Letters from the peninsula, 1808-1812
by Sir William Warre
About the author
Born in Porto, Portugal, on April 15, 1784, he came from a family connected with the port wine trade and was educated at Harrow before entering the British Army. He joined the 52nd Foot in 1803 and built a career that would be closely tied to the long struggle against Napoleon in the Iberian Peninsula.
During the Peninsular War, he served with distinction and became especially valuable because he knew Portugal well and spoke the language. He worked with senior commanders including William Beresford and Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, and his service eventually led to high rank in the army; he later became a lieutenant-general and colonel of the 94th Foot.
Readers know him best through Letters from the Peninsula, 1808–1812, a collection of his wartime correspondence published after his death. The book stands out for its direct, personal view of marching, fighting, and daily military life, making it appealing not just to historians but to anyone who likes eyewitness writing from a dramatic period of history.