Royal Artillery

Major General William Furneaux (1791 to 1862) served in the Napoleonic Wars, or more properly the Peninsular Wars, in Spain.

He served in a number of different artillery battalions over the years, starting his armed service at the age of 17 as a 2nd lieutenant and retired as Major General at the age of 64 (see table below for his service record summary).

According to military records, he was present at the Battle of Albuera (1811), Seige of Badajoz (1812) , and the Battle of Castalla (1813) in the Peninsular Wars. He then served in Gibraltar, Canada and Bermuda.

In all of the sieges, in the Peninsular Wars, it was the guns which where decisive in order to break down the walls of the defending cities.

The service summary is: “Joined the army in the lines in front of Lisbon, marched with the 6th Brigade […] to the Battle of Albuera and remained for some time in the field. Afterwards returned to Lisbon and fitted out a H 6 pounder Brigade and joined the 6 Division under […] served as the covering army at the siege of Badadjoz. Then attached to the Holcombe heavy and forces […] and was appointed Acting Brigade Major to the united force of artillery in which capacity retained to serve until after Castallan where I was ordered to join at Gibraltar.”¹ He was also awarded a service clasp for the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo² which for some reason isnt mentioned in this short summary of service.

The mention of Brigade Major above is interesting, as it was a staff officer position and was responsible for most staff functions with the exception of the commissary in a brigade ³. It was possible to be both a Lieutenant and a Brigade Major. In early 1804 the brigade major post was promoted to a deputy adjutant general and remained that way for the remainder of the war ⁴. Thus William Furneaux was acting in a senior staff position in the headquarters of the artillery.

Military Service History for Major General William Furneaux ^​*​5

Date	Location	Rank / Life Event / Battles
1808	UK -> Iberia	2nd Lieutenant (enlisted)
1810 – 1811	Peninsular War (Spain) 10th Company, 8th Battalion
1811-1813	Peninsular War (Spain) 2nd Company, 2nd Battalion 1811: Portsmouth; March; September – Oporto; October – Villa de Ponte; December – Almeida October 10 to May 12 –> 10/8 Battalion June 12 to April 13 –> 3/6 Battalion (acting Brigadier Major) 1812: June – to east coast of Spain;	Lieutenant Battle of Albuera (1811) Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812) Seige of Badajoz (1812) Acting Brigade Major on the East Coast Battle of Castalla (1812) Lieutenant Battle of Albuera (1811) Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812) Seige of Badajoz (1812) Acting Brigade Major on the East Coast of Spain Battle of Castalla (1812)
1813	Gibraltar
1816	Canada	Married Maria Holmes (Quebec)
1827	Canada	Captain
1831	Nova Scotia, Canada
1841	UK	B. Major
1843-45	Canada
1847	UK	Lieutenant Colonel
1850 to 1855	Bermuda	Colonel (1854)
1855	UK	Major General (retired 1860)

Footnotes

1. Verbatim from what can be read from his service record ↩︎
2. Wellington’s Guns: the Untold Story of Wellington and his Artillery in the Peninsula and at Waterloo ↩︎
3. https://www.napoleon-series.org/resources/bibliographies/british-memoirs-of-the-napoleonic-wars/brigade-majors/ ↩︎
4. MacArthur, R. (2009). BRITISH ARMY ESTABLISHMENTS DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS (PART 2) CAVALRY, ARTILLERY, ENGINEERS AND SUPPORTING UNITS. Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 87(352), 331–356. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44231710 ↩︎
5. These records are drawn from various , including William Furneaux service history available at the National Archives and the excellent Wellington’s Guns: the Untold Story of Wellington and his Artillery in the Peninsula and at Waterloo ↩︎