Sir George de Lacy Evans

George de Lacy Evans (1787-1870) was born in Ireland and was educated at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (i.e. the training school for the Royal Artillery, the Royal Engineers and other technical corps) before heading off to India to join the army of the East India Company.  In 1806 he transferred to the British Army and secured a position in the 3rd Light Dragoons which enables him to serve in the Peninsular War.  Like a lot of British Auxiliary Legion officers, he was then transferred to America, where he served as quartermaster-general to General Robert Ross, who commanded the British troops in the US until his death in September 1814.  He appears to have been a staff officer at Waterloo, supposedly being the person who relayed to order to the Union Brigade to charge.

He then entered politics, and was a sitting MP for Rye when he was given command of the BAL.  His political career was resumed after the war ended, but he seems to have lost and regained his seat on numerous occasions.  In 1846 he was promoted to Major-General and then Lieutenant-General in 1854.  In that latter rank he participated in the Crimean War as the initial commander of the 2nd Division; however, he fell sick and had to relinquish command.  His political career continued - he was MP for Westminster from 1846-65 (Evans was a Radical) and consistently argued for reform of the Army, in particular the abolition of the purchase system.

His political career, especially as a Radical, no doubt contributed to the hostile treatment he and the BAL received in certain sections of the British press.  As I've noted elsewhere, the BAL fought under difficult conditions, often badly supplied and ignored by the British government. Evans seems to have been a thoughtful, competent officer, always fighting the authorities on behalf of his men; one sense the BAL could have done a lot worse in their commander.     

These figures are from two Perry packs - the Evans personality figure is from ISA2 and the foot figures are the rest of ISA37 (the mounted elements of which are here).  This command stand finishes off my most recent Carlist War stuff, save for a regiment of Isabelino cavalry, for which I need to get the correct lance pennants.     

3 figures. Painted August 2021.

British Auxiliary Legion / Isabelino mounted officers

These are mounted officer figures from two Perry First Carlist War packs - two are from pack ISA37 (British Auxiliary Legion staff) and the third, on the grey, is a Spanish colonel from ISA2.  These aren't supposed to represent any particular people; they are just generic figures to use as brigade commanders.  The Duke of Wellington and the army command in general were opposed to officers on half-pay heading off, in effect, to act as mercenaries in a Spanish war.  So the commander of the British Legion, George de Lacy Evans, had to look to his army friends and soldiers in India to fill his senior appointments.  

Two of de Lacy Evans' friends who were given brigadier-general rank were Charles Chichester and William Reid, who otherwise had very little to do.  Chichester went on to command the 81st Foot in 1839 and died in 1847, apparently with a reputation as the best regimental commanding officer in the British army.  Reid became governor of Bermuda 1839 and of Malta in 1851.  Another brigadier was Duncan MacDougall, who had fought in most of the major battles of the Peninsular War and then in the War of 1812, in which he served as an ADC to Major-General Robert Ross and then Sir Edward Packenham after Ross was killed (Packenham was himself killed trying to rally his troops at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815).  He was colonel of the 79th Highlanders when he resigned in March 1835 to join the BAL as its quarter-master general.  However, disagreements with de Lacy Evans over strategy led to MacDougall leaving the BAL a year later and resigning from the British army at the same time.  When the UK's national militia was revived in 1852, MacDougall formed the Royal Lancashire Militia Artillery, which eventually became part of the Royal Garrison Artillery.  I thought these thumbnail biographies are useful in showing that despite the original reservations of the likes of Wellington, service in the BAL does not seem to have had a particularly negative effect on the careers of its officers. 

3 figures. Painted August 2021.

1st Lancers "Reina Isabella", British Auxiliary Legion

The British Auxiliary Legion raised 2 regiments of lancer cavalry.  The first regiment, named "Queen Isabella" recruited in the south of England, having its headquarters at Kingston-upon-Thames in Middlesex.  Apparently many Poles and Germans joined, who proved to be excellent horsemen.  The second regiment, called the "Queen's Own Irish Lancers" recruited mainly in Cork, Ireland.  The northern provinces of Spain where the BAL was engaged was not really good cavalry country, and the two lancer regiments do not appear to have had many opportunities for classic charges.  In fact, it seems that it took some time after their arrival in Spain in July 1836 for the two regiments to be fully mounted. 

On instance of a decent cavalry action is described by Brett in his "The British Auxiliary Legion in the First Carlist War".  On 1 October the Carlists attached the BAL's lines at San Sebastian, which the Carlists had been besieging for some time.  The Carlist attack began with an artillery bombardment that was particularly accurate as it was being directed by a BAL deserter who had served in the Royal Artillery.  Once the BAL's own guns had conducted some effective counter-battery fire (which managed to kill the BAL deserter in charge of the Carlist guns), the 1st Lancers were ordered to charge the Carlists who were attacking the flank of the BAL's position.  The charge made the Carlists retreat, but they then took position behind their own breastworks, which the cavalry were unable to attack.  The lancers in turn then took heavy casualties from the Carlist guns .  The limitations on cavalry were noted by the journalists attached to the BAL.  The correspondent of the Cork Evening Standard wrote the following day that "cavalry are of no use in this country."  

These figures are from the Perry First Carlist War range.  Save for the absence of csapska  covers, I expect these figures could also be used for the Sikh Wars and perhaps a few other things.  The lance pennants are from Adolfo Ramos.  These are the last Carlist War figures I'll be painting for a while.  I'll be concentrating on the AWI and 1815 for the next few months.

12 figures. Painted September/October 2012. 

   

Royal Marines

The Royal Marines were, with the Royal Artillery and Royal Marines Artillery, the only British regulars who were involved in the First Carlist War. Royal Navy transport ships were used to ferry around troops of the volunteer BAL and the British government gave permission to the British naval commander in the area, Lord John Hay, to take measures to protect ports under Isabelino control and then provide assistance to recover those ports which the Carlists had seized. The Royal Navy's support of the BAM and the Isabelino cause involved the provision of off-shore artillery and the participation of Royal Marine detachments in some of the land fighting.

The Marines appear to have first fought in small detachments but eventually a full battalion was landed which took part in the battle of Oriamendi in March 1837. At that battle, the BAL was pushed back by a large Carlist army and suffered heavy loss. The British press, ever keen to emphasise the role of the British regular troops, praised the Royal Marines for covering the retreat of the BAL. However, Sergeant Alexander Somerville of the 8th Regiment, recalled that the Marines fought a steady, but cautious, fight until they were withdrawn by Lord Hay on the basis that the Marines were exceeding their remit by becoming too involved in a pitched battle. There appear to be conflicting account of how the Marines performed; whether they were, in fact the rearguard saviours of the BAL or withdrew from the action prematurely.

Apparently at full strength the Royal Marines battalion deployed in the FCW was around 800 men, which means an 18-figure unit for my scale of 1:30 (or thereabouts). I particularly like the dynamic poses of the command figures in these Perry Miniatures packs.

18 figures. Painted October - December 2011.

7th Battalion, British Auxiliary Legion

I had not intended to paint more BAL infantry so soon, but I received these figures for Christmas and so I thought I'd just jump straight in. I like these "running at trail" poses as they are quite easy to paint and look dynamic. Michael Perry clearly enjoys sculpting figures this way, as there are other running-at-trail figures in his Sudan range. Basing them is a bit of a pain, as the figures have to be angled in such a way as to ensure that the muskets are not sticking into the figures in front. That said, I used the same sized bases as usual for the FCW and I don't think these look too crowded. As with the 10th battalion I used one of the Adolfo Ramos flags for the 3rd battalion and painted over the number to add a "7".

The 7th completes the BAL's "Irish Brigade" in my collection. I gave these figures the white summer trousers as a bit of a change from the Oxford blue and campaign dress looks I used for the 9th and 10th battalions and also because there is one specific reference to the 7th in white trousers, at the battle of Ayete (see below). Some sources refer to all the Irish regiments having a green cap band, but I'm not convinced by this and simply decided to use the facing colour of each battalion. The 7th was named "the Irish Light Infantry" and so I gave the unit a bugler figure rather than a drummer.

As I've noted before, the BAL suffered dreadfully from sickness during its stay in Vitoria during the winter of 1835/6 (losses were so great that two battalions were disbanded). In the spring the Legion left Vitoria to march towards Santander and the coast. Eyewitnesses reported most favourably on the appearance of the Irish Brigade, whose soldiers seem to have best endured the hardships of winter and typhus. From Santander the Legion was taken by sea to San Sebastian with the intention of launching attacks on the Carlists' positions outside the town. The Carlists lacked the strength (and navy) to effectively besiege San Sebastian, but their presence tied down the Isabelino troops inside the town and for that reason the Crown needed the Carlists removed. So came about the battle of Ayete on 5 May 1836, the Legion's first major engagement and also its bloodiest. On the evening before the battle, Brigadier Charles Shaw, the commander of the Irish Brigade, wrote of his concerns about frontally assaulting entrenchments with untried troops. The Legion attacked the first line of positions at dawn, with orders not to fire but simply to charge with the bayonet. Many units failed to do this, being distracted by the amount of fire poured on them, but it was noted that the 7th obyed these orders and closed with the enemy very quickly. The fighting over the second line of Carlist defences was particularly bitter. The 7th and 9th battalions charged and were repulsed 3 times. Then the 10th managed to catch up with them the brigade's officers started to lead a new attack. Colonel Charles Fitzgerald of the 9th rallied the brigade with these words: "Irishmen! Tenth, Ninth, Seventh; Munster boys, bog-trotters, ragamuffins, come on with ould Charlie - I'll stand here by myself till I'm shot, if ye don't come." These words had the required effect and the second line was taken. The Carlists' next position, the fort of Lugariz, was carried by the 4th and 8th battalions and a Royal Marine battalion, which had just arrived by boat and which were supported by a well-aimed bombardment by the Royal Navy ships anchored off San Sebastian. By the close of the battle, the Irish Brigade had lost 27 officers and some 400 men. The Legion's losses were so heavy that The Times newspaper accused the BAL's commander, General Evans, of making "a Bunker Hill display". However, the Legion had acquitted itself very well and delivered an impressive victory to its Spanish paymasters.

20 figures. Painted January 2010.

British Auxiliary Legion Artillery (2)

As stated in my previous post on British artillery in the First Carlist War, the prohibition on regular army units serving in Spain was relaxed in order to provide the British Auxiliary Legion with trained artillery and engineering specialists. The legion did raise its own artillery crews, but these were supplemented by men from the Royal Artillery and the Royal Marine Artillery. The figures here are the Perry Miniatures pack of a Royal Marine rocket troop.


The Royal Marine Artillery was formed in August 1804, allegedly as a result of legal proceedings which held that Army officers were not subject to the Navy's orders. Its immediate purpose was to serve in bomb-vessels and gun-/rocket-boats (previously functions of the Royal Artillery) and to teach other marines and sailors how to operate guns. However, the men soon found themselves deployed in action on land at sieges and other engagements. 3 companies were raised initially but a 5th was added at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The corps was reduced to 2 companies in the early 1830s but expanded significantly in the following decades due to the demands of the British Empire and the need for trained artillerists on ships of both the Royal Navy and the merchant navy. By 1859 the Royal Marine Artillery comprised 16 companies and was formed into a separate division. In addition to Spain in the 1830s, the artillery saw service in the Crimea, Canada, China , New Zealand, South Africa, Egypt, the Sudan and Burma, usually as part of a naval brigade. The division was particularly heavily engaged in the 1882 Egyptian campaign and the Sudan. The marines seems to have specialised in capturing enemy guns and then turning them on their former owners - they did this at Kassassin and El Teb two years later. The Royal Marine Artillery's life as a separate division ended in 1923 when it was amalgamated with the rest of the Royal Marines.

These figures and equipment were painted the same way as before - Foundry "British Gun Grey 108" for the rocket launcher and "British Royal Blue 74" and "Deep Blue 20" for the crew. It seems that the men of the Royal Marine Artillery were called the "Blue Marines" because of their uniforms. I think this is an excellent set - certainly something you don't see on the tabletop that often and adds colour to the period. Again, I imagine that it's use is not limited to the FCW.

Painted January 2010.

British Auxiliary Legion Artillery (1)

I've mentioned before how the British Auxiliary Legion in the First Carlist War was essentially a volunteer force, with active officers in the British regular army being discouraged from joining the Legion. The only "regular" troops who served in the war were men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. This reflected , in part, the specialisms of these units and the fact that the Legion would not be able to rely on the support of trained artillerists, for example, unless such people were drawn from the ranks of the regular armed forces. Consequently, an exception was made by Lord Hill, the C-in-C of the British Army, to his general veto on serving men joining the Legion as regards the artillery - Captain J.N. Colquhoun and a certain numnber of NCOs and privates were allowed to serve with the Legion with guaranteed reinstatement at the end of the war.

The British government also allowed the Royal Navy to take action to prevent ports on the Atlantic coast falling into Carlist hands or, when they had already done so, to assist in their recovery. This policy enabled men from the Royal Marines and Navy to participate in various actions in the war. For example, in Spring 1836, ships of the Royal Navy transported the Legion from Santander to San Sebastian to assist in the Isabelino attack on the Carlist positions there. Lord John Hay, the commander of the British naval squadron, landed a force of marines and Royal Artillery to assist the Legion's assault on the Carlist fortifications at San Sebastian. Don Carlos seems to have noted the distinction between the voluteers of the Legion and the regular British forces - he decreed that the latter would be respected as prisoners of war, whereas the former were liable to summary execution if captured.

The uniform worn by the Royal Marines artillery and the Royal artillery seems to have been largely the same, so this 6-pounder can do for either. The gun was painted with the Foundry "British Gun Grey 108" palette, which I think is a pretty good attempt at the blue-grey colour of guns during the 19th century. The barrel was painted using the Foundry "Bronze Barrel 103" palette, which is slightly darker than my normal method but quite effective too, I think.

4 figures. Painted November 2009.

10th Battalion, British Auxiliary Legion

For my second British Auxiliary Legion battalion I thought I'd do another of the Irish units. The 10th Battalion was named the Munster Light Infantry, although I don't think there was any particular distinction in training or use between those battalions which were called "light infantry" and those that were not. There does seem to be evidence, however, that the battalions were often organised into "English", "Scottish" and "Irish" brigades, so the 10th was a natural successor to my 9th "Irish" Battalion.

I wanted to portray this unit in a really ragged state. As mentioned before, the BAL suffered appallingly during its first Spanish winter, with many troops falling victim to disease and the cold. In addition to having trousers in different colours and painting lots of patches, I used green stuff to rough-up some of the trousers and tunics and I also opened up a couple of shoes to show bare toes underneath. I then added lots of mud to the figures once the painting was complete. I think the result looks suitably shabby, although I'll ensure my next BAL units are much more regular in appearance. The Adolfo Ramos flag collection for this period seems to do 4 numbered flags for the BAL infantry - the 3rd, 4th, 8th and 9th battalions. It was simple enough to paint over the 4th's flag and replace the "4" with a "10"; one trick I've picked up when amending flags is to paint the numbering in black first and then go over that in gold (or whatever), so that the gold top colour has a small black border to help the numbers stand out.

The reason why I paint FCW units in pairs is that each command pack in the range contains sufficient figures for 2 units. Given my self-imposed rule of not buying any more FCW figures until I paint the ones I have, this means that I always have two similarly-posed units to paint before I can order any new figures. So at the moment I am working on the second greatcoated battalion of the Borbon Regiment and the second of my pair of provincial regiments (the first of which will be posted at the end of this week). I'm now very close to Baby Zero Hour, but I think the next pair of FCW figures will be some Isabelino light infantry or perhaps the new BAL figures running at trail. I will then have a dozen or so Isabelino units so it will be time to turn to the Carlists.

20 figures. Painted August/September 2009. Flag by Adolfo Ramos.

Rifle Brigade, British Auxiliary Legion (2)

I forgot to post pictures of the remaining BAL riflemen, which I painted back in June. I spotted them on a shelf when I was looking for a particular music CD! The Perry range has 3 riflemen packs, 1 command and 2 rank and file. The command pack contains the rather elegant officer featured here - perhaps Captain Costello himself. Whereas the first batch were painted largely in regulation uniform, this second batch have locally made trousers of various hues, including a couple of pairs of grey ones taken from the Isabelino infantry; I deliberately wanted a more "on campaign" look.


Perry Miniatures have just released some mouthwatering BAL goodies for this range - infantry running at trail, Scottish battalion command, Royal Artillery and a Royal Marines rocket detachment. Given that the artillery and Royal Marine units were drawn from the British regular armed forces, these figures could be used for other "colonial" conflicts in the 1830-40s. I'm currently finishing the last figures of my second BAL infantry battalion and have started on a unit of Isabelino provincial militia.


8 figures. Painted June 2009.

Rifle Brigade, British Auxiliary Legion (1)

In addition to "regular" infantry battalions, the BAL included a corps of riflemen. The man charged with raising this unit was Edward Costello, a sergeant in the Peninsular War who had been given the rank of lieutenant in the BAL's 7th regiment. Costello's recruiting was successful, and within 8 weeks he had 500 men. The corps fought in all the major engagements in which the BAL found itself. As with other infantry units, the riflement were dressed and equiped as per their regular army counterparts - rifle green coatees with red facings and black equipment. These figures are based on Napoleonic-sized skirmisher stands, measuring 40mm x 20mm. I'm afraid I don't know enough about Napoleonic uniforms to know whether the figures in forage caps would be suitable for that period. These are nice figures, though - full of animation and character. The paints used for the coatees were Foundry's "Russian Green" 69B and C (the A shade is almost black and so unusable) highlighted with "French Chasseur a Cheval Green" 71B and C. As they are skirmishers, I gave the figures a bit of a mud dusting on their knees and trouser bottoms.

10 figures. Painted May/June 2009.

9th Battalion, British Auxiliary Legion

In 1834, an alliance was formed between the Spanish regime and Great Britain, France and Portugal to support Queen Isabel in her struggle against Don Carlos. Lord Palmerston's Whig government was sympathetic to the more liberal regime of Queen Isabel. By the time of this "Quadruple Alliance", Britain had already had some involvement in the civil war that had struck Portugal; in July 1833 a Royal Navy squadron under Admiral Sir Charles Napier had defeated a pretender fleet in the fourth Battle of Cape of St Vincent. Now, in support of Isabel, British ships patrolled the north west coast of Spain in an attempt to police the flow of arms to Carlists. In 1835, following a run of Carlist victories in the field, the Spanish Ambassador to the Court of St James asked the Lord Palmerston's government if more direct military assistance could be provided in Spain (the Ambassador, General Miguel de Alava, was said to have been the only man to have been present at both Trafalgar and Waterloo). Given the government's reluctance to commit British regulars, the Ambassador asked if Spain itself could recruit volunteers to form a legion that was equipped and paid directly by the Spanish crown. This was agreed to, although it necessitated a suspension of the Foreign Enlistment Act which prevented British subjects from entering the service of a foreign power.


Recruiting and training began in 1835. The Legion was to comprise of 8,500 infantry (in 10 battalions), 550 rifles, 700 cavalry and 300 artillery. The men were all volunteers. Many, if not most of the rank and file would have had no experience of soldiering. The officers came from a variety of backgrounds: some were bored regular army or East India Company soldiers who resigned their commissions and joined the Legion to see some action; others were political idealists wishing to fight the forces of reaction and absolutism. Command was given to Colonel George de Lacey Evans, a 48-year old Waterloo veteran. Support for the Legion divided along party political lines. The Tory opposition objected to a British mercenary force fighting against Don Carlos in the name of the Catholic church (disregarding the fact that Carlos had the support of the more extreme end of the Catholic church). The Duke of Wellington, aided by the commander-in chief of the British army, Lord Hill, was instrumental in the establishment of a ban on the appointment of regular British officers to commissions in the Legion. Nevertheless, some officers defied this ruling, either taking leave or selling out in order to join the Legion.


I will describe the fortunes of the Legion in later posts. This first unit is the 9th Battalion, the Irish Grenadiers. The Legion had 3 Irish infantry regiments, which were brigaded together under Brigadier-General Charles Shaw, a veteran of 1815 and the Portuguese civil war. The brigade quickly won a reputation for being one of the toughest units of the Legion. The uniform generally follows that of British line infantry of the period. I have combined figures in shakos and forage caps. The grenadier company has white plumes and tassles, the light company has dark green. Trousers are reported as being white in summer and "Oxford blue" in winter, which is what I have adopted here. There are a couple of "goggle eyes" in the ranks. I admit that it's taken a bit of practice to get used to painting the eyes on Michael Perry's figures for this period. I think I've now worked out how to do it, but some of the early figures should really have ben re-done. The trousers were painted with Foundry palette "British Royal Blue 74", highlighted with the A and B shades of "Deep Blue 20", as palette 74 is far too dark to have much of an effect.


20 figures. Painted April/May 2009. Flag by Adolfo Ramos.