VERY SLIPPERY FELLOW, A: The life of Sir Robert Wilson, 1777-1849

In 1794, as an ensign in the 15th Light Dragoons, Wilson fought in the celebrated Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies where a handful of cavalry smashed a much larger French force. In 1804 he became a lieutenant-colonel in the 19th Light Dragoons. He was expelled from Russia as a spy after the Treaty of Tilsit. During the Peninsular War he organized Portuguese soldiers into the Loyal Lusitanian Legion. On 12 August 1809, Wilson with 4,000 men, including two battalions of the Legion, was defeated by French forces under Marshal Michel Ney at Puerto de Baños. He lost nearly 400 men while inflicting 185 casualties on the French. Wilson returned to Russia in 1812 as a liaison officer. He was a sharp observer during the events of Napoleon’s disastrous retreat from Moscow and was present at the Battle of Krasnoye. Dismissed from the army for inciting the Household Cavalry to mutiny at the funeral of Queen Caroline, he was eventually reinstated and became Governor of Gibraltar. Wellington considered him a very slippery fellow”