Walcheren 1809

Napoleonic War scholar Martin R. Howard presents a revelatory history about a little known British military campaign in Walcheren 1809.

In July 1809, with the Dutch coast a pistol held at the head of England, the largest British expeditionary force ever assembled, over 40,000 men and around 600 ships, weighed anchor off the Kent coast and sailed for the island of Walcheren in the Scheldt estuary. After an initial success, the expedition stalled and as the lethargic military commander, John Pitt, Lord Chatham, was at loggerheads with the opinionated senior naval commander, Sir Richard Strachan, troops were dying of a mysterious disease termed Walcheren fever. Almost all of the campaign’s 4,000 dead were victims of disease.

The Scheldt was evacuated and the return home was followed by a scandalous Parliamentary Inquiry. Walcheren fever cast an even longer shadow. Six months later 11,000 men were still registered sick. In 1812, Wellington complained that the constitution of his troops was much shaken with Walcheren.

One of the most disastrous campaigns in British military history, Walcheren 1809: Scandalous Destruction of a British Army explores every aspect of the mission from the command decisions to the tragic aftermath.

“For anyone with a soldier or sailor at Walcheren this book tells the story well, explaining with documentation how details may differ in other histories. For researchers, the bibliography of official documents and identification of numerous surviving memoirs is excellent.” —FGS FORUM