PENINSULAR WAR AND WALCHEREN Autograph diary kept by Captain the Hon William Crofton (1787-1814), Coldstream Guards, during service on the Walcheren Expedition and during the Peninsular War, kept in two sections, the account of the Peninsular War written at intervals from 7 March 1810 to 31 March 1814, beginning on board ship off Cape Finisterre, his arrival at Lisbon, covering a court martial, the influx of deserters ('...they tell strange stories of starvation etc but look healthy...'), moving through destroyed and deserted towns ('...I found a coblers [sic] utensils in the great church just as he left them...'), preparing for battle ('... the most beautiful sight I ever saw - the whole of the English army in two lines...'), and the aftermath ('...hundreds of dead & dying...'), the siege and capture of Ciudad Rodrigo ('...The Batteries begin to have effect, the upper part of the wall being breached... Stanhope had a horse killed under him... the scene was dreadful - one sight particularly - which was numbers of both sides who had been blown up who were yet alive...'), travels through various towns, rejoining the regiment during operations against San Sebastian, wounded by a shell splinter ('...it struck on the side pocket of my shooting jacket which being filled with a Pocket book & some paper, the blow was deadened... doctored it with brandy... The town was this morn assaulted by the 5th Div...'), at Los Palages ('...The communication by shoals of boats all pulled by women - who also do all the work... some of them are handsome... Today the siege was turned into a blockade...'), and much else, the last entry reporting that '...Ld W has moved close to Toulouse. Beresford had entered Bordeaux... & feted high and low...'; the account of the Walcheren Expedition from 29 June to 20 September 1809, plus lists of officers serving in the Peninsula and routes covered, reversed at one end, his ownership inscription at both ends, some deleted accounts scribbled on inner covers, with a note by H.A. Caulfeild made after the last entry: 'Uncle William Croftons Diary ends here. on the 31st of March 1814 at Bayonne, where he was killed at the Sortie on the following 14th of April - 15 days after', followed by a further memorandum headed 'After the Crimea' by the second Earl of Charlemont, late Captain of the Coldstream Guards, giving more information on his death, gleaned from a fellow officer, c.190 pages, plus 38 blank leaves, a few leaves excised, old stain to a few leaves and light dust-staining, original calf, repaired, clasp lacking, rubbed, oblong 8vo (96 x 157mm.), Low Countries and Iberian Peninsula, 1809-1814; in a black cloth solander box by The Chelsea Bindery Footnotes: 'THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SIGHT I EVER SAW - THE WHOLE OF THE ENGLISH ARMY IN TWO LINES': THE DIARY OF A CAPTAIN IN THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS KEPT DURING THE PENINSULAR WAR. Captain the Hon William George Crofton, son of Sir Edward Crofton and Anne, Baroness Crofton, was born on 27 August 1787 and was killed near Bayonne five days after Napoleon's abdication. A memorial to him is in the Royal Military Chapel, Wellington Barracks: 'In memory of Lieutenant and Captain the Hon. William Crofton. Coldstream Guards, 1803-14. He served at Copenhagen and Walcheren. He commanded the Grenadier Company, 1st battalion, in the Peninsular War during the Campaigns 1811-12-13 -14, and was wounded at Burgos. Overpowered on Picquet by the French Sortie from Bayonne, he refused to surrender and died at his post 14th April 1814.' The first section of the journal runs from 29 June 1809 to 20 September 1809, and covers the Walcheren Expedition, an unsuccessful expedition to the Kingdom of Holland in order to capture the towns of Flushing and Antwerp. The second, much longer, section going on to describe his time in the Peninsular, with the last entry made on 31 March 1814, just fifteen days before his death in action. It has all the immediacy and uncertainty of a record written on the spot during the confusion of war and without the luxury of hindsight, as for example in the entry written on 26 July 1813 during the siege of San Sebastian: '...There is a great expectation of something taking place in front - there have been some sharp affairs in the night of which we do not know the particulars...'. Nor are we spared the full horror of war, as in the entry made on 20 January 1812 during the taking of Ciudad Rodrigo: '...To day several explosions took place also - the scene was dreadful - one sight particularly - which was numbers of both sides who had been blown up who were yet alive - groaning - their heads were so swelled you could not distinguish which was the face & which the back & as black as soot...'. As in the Great War a century later, the record of such horror is compounded by what those actually doing the fighting regard as crass military incompetence, with little to show by way of glory; as in his account of the suicidal attack on San Sebastian of 24 July 1812: '...The town was this morning assaulted by the 5th Division - but the[y] were repulsed & beaten back with the loss of 36 Officers & 400 men - the attack was made by the sap which was carried from the convent strait... the business was completely botched - in the first place they started before it was daylight & when the sea was so high only one file could pass at a time - then our own Artillery had no notice of it & continued playing... the first they knew of it was from seeing the dead and wounded lying about when day broke - when they stopped firing - before they had ceased a French Officer was seen distinctly to come down the breach & help-up some of our wounded - the heavy fire obliged him to retire but the moment it ceased he came down & never ceased till all that lay were got in... Every body seems disgusted & disappointed at this failure as it is attributed to want of arrangement & blundering - The 5th Division give Graham the credit of it...'. Provenance: Bonhams, 7 June 2011, lot 118. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: • • Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing