Biographies

Generallieutenant August Wilhelm Anton, Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau (1760-1832) Gneisenau was Blücher’s Chief of General Staff in the Prussian army of 1815. He was born in Saxony and entered Prussian service in 1786 with a light infantry formation, but only began combat a decade later. Previously, he had been in the service of the English […]

Napoléon Gourgaud du Taillis was born in Paris on 27 Feburary, 1922, and he was to leave his inimitable stamp upon the Napoleonic world. Descended directly on the one hand from General Baron Gourgaud, the emperor's First Officier d'ordonnance (a specially created title) and companion in the emperor's exile on St Helena, and from General […]

Gaspard Gourgaud was born in Versailles on 14 November, 1783, son of Etienne-Marie, “Musician Ordinary” violinist in the king's chapel, and Hélène Gérard, nursemaid to the Duc de Berry. He was furthermore the grand-son of the celebrated comic actor Dugazon (pseudonym for Pierre-Antoine Gourgaud) and nephew of Madame Vestris (née Françoise Rose Gourgaud). He was […]

Believed to be son of Charles III, King of Spain, Gravina was of noble Sicilian origin. Educated at the Academy of the Marine Guard at Cartagena, he went to sea at the age of 12, beginning his career fighting Barbary pirates. In the period 1779-1782 he was present at the Spanish blockade of Gibraltar. In […]

Fact file Born 25 October, 1759, died Dropmore Lodge (Buckinghamshire), 12 January, 1834 MP for Buckingham 1782-84 MP for Buckinghamshire 1784-90 Created 1st Baron of Grenville on 25 November 1790 (then becoming Leader of the House of Lords) Chief secretary for Ireland 1782-83 Paymaster and Joint Paymaster 1783-89 Vice-president of the Board of Trade 1786-89 […]

Generalmajor Karl Wilhelm Georg von Grolman (1777-1843) Karl von Grolman was the quarter-master general in Blücher’s headquarters. This meant that  after Blücher and Gneisenau, he was the most important figure on the battlefield in June 1815. In particular, he led the Prussian assault on Plancenoit. He came from a traditional Prussian family and joined the […]

His career began brilliantly under the Restoration, during which time he served in Spain in 1824 and in Egypt in 1828, and in 1831 he was appointed secretary of legation in Mexico. Chargé d'affaires in Bogota in 1838, he was to intervene in a number of delicate situations regarding Latin America, most notably in La […]